Sanctuary

Martin Puryear’s Sanctuary is a peculiar sculptural work that demands examination.  The piece towers at around twelve feet creating a variety of experiences at different distances.  The tall and slender base suggests organic limbs.  In contrast, the geometric structure that crowns the form with a synthetic element.  The combination of pine, maple and cherry creates a natural disposition within an artificial form.  This artwork is intriguing if nothing else.

The wheel at the base of the sculpture is reminiscent of ancient technology. The loose geometry of the form sets it apart from the rest of the piece.  It seems to almost accessorize the sculpture.  This makes the piece seem functional, although it is clear that the artist had no intent of this object serving a practical purpose. 

The long bark covered natural branches that make up the general frame of the piece seem to almost embrace the wheel at its base.  This implied grasping might suggest human dependence on mechanical structures.  In this way it may also persuade the viewer to reflect on their own dependence on or distance from machines.  These branches seem to represent legs.  They curl at the bottom in a way that displays a likeness of human feet.  The left branch bends perfectly around 70 degrees and crosses over the right branch.  This mirrors the human form more than any other part of this sculpture.  The two limbs cross exactly as a person would casually cross their legs.

The open-ended cube features the wood in its most synthesized form.  It is composed of several perfectly shaped, sanded, and stained wood.  This variety of prisms forms a perfect cube with two square openings.  The position of the cube at the top of the piece suggests that it may be the head of a lifelike being.  At close range this head like structure invites the viewer to look up toward the figure.  This gives the work a sense of wisdom. 

This piece is clearly meant to give human qualities to wood.  The sculpture is a great exhibition of the medium.  The wood is used in both natural and refined forms and shaped in both geometric and organic orientations.  It demands that the viewer examine their relationship with the natural world and perhaps their specific connection to wooden structures. 

 

Lucy in the Field with Flowers

 Lucy in the Field with Flowers is an oil painting that was retrieved from a dumpster in Boston.  The artist was never discovered.  The painting depicts an old woman(or an old man in a dress) dancing in a field of flowers on a bright spring day.  She seems to be half seated in a red armchair but still standing.  An offensively bright sunset lights the entire scene.  The piece is captivating to say the least, but for all the wrong reasons.  It is likely that the artist’s identity was never discovered because he or she would rather forget that they created it.

This artwork is funny, but it's not that funny.  The woman’s face looks rather manly which works for a quick chuckle, but isn’t worth the amount of time that was likely put into this piece.  The arms on the figure seem distorted and sloppily executed.  The legs appear to be way too small for her body, and the flesh tones include a bright pink highlight that is challenging to view. 

It is very difficult to look at this work for very long because of the awful use of color.  The artist clearly had no restraint with his palette.  The colors are all in great contrast and which keeps the eye bouncing around but never focusing on the image as a whole.  The hues that make up the sun drenched sky are the most offensive.  The combination of bright yellows and yellow greens distract the viewer from the and make the rendering look flat.  The palette used on the grass in the foreground is very similar to the sky which further confuses the audience.  The white petals on the flowers seem to simply float on a layer above the rest of the painting.  They do not appear to make contact with any other elements in the picture. 

This painting is awful.  It is just tough to examine.  The color is bad, the composition is sloppy and the proportions are skewed.  It is hard to imagine that anyone enjoyed making it.  Perhaps this artist has moved on to make works that were more prettily executed, but this one would have to be seen as a learning experience at best.

Black Dogs

“We’re not stealing a snake man.”

Patrick Sullivan and his friends are constantly seeking a new scam and nothing is off limits.  These kids have stolen stereos, safes, guitars and petty cash so deciding to steal over two hundred thousand dollars from Led Zeppelin would only make sense.  In Black dogs Jason Buhrmester presents a fictional rendition of the events leading up to the robbery of Zeppelin at the drake hotel in July of 1973.

Frenchy, a Music enthusiast who lives in his mom’s basement, Keith, who specializes in the installation and theft of car stereos, and Alex, a friend who was recently released from prison for a previous crime round out Patrick’s crew.  They get stoned and argue about music like normal kids, but it would seem their thrill seeking tendencies are insatiable.  The boys are ruthless to say the least.  They manage to break into friend’s homes to steal valuable, rob a pawnshop of a rare guitar, and steal a safe containing tapes that may incriminate a district attorney.  They get into bouts with a Christian biker gang, run from the police, and quarrel amongst themselves constantly.  Despite the wreck less attitude shared by the group, they mange to end up on top by the end of this unheralded adventure. 

This book was a quick and fun at times.  It gets right into the plot with no back-story and moves at a nimble pace until it is finished.  There is no lesson to be learned and there are no hidden meanings.  The story is action packed with a few jokes peppered in here and there all set to a classic 1970s rock and roll soundtrack.  Black dogs is very short and could be easy to ready in one sitting. 

This novel was funny at times, but was never very interesting.  Breaking into a building to buy a coke from a machine is humorous, but not very memorable as a scene.  The descriptions do a great job of describing a setting, but aren’t clever enough to really evoke any sort of emotional response.  Alex’s bedroom is a great example of this. Buhrmester writes, “A clear plastic bag on the floor read BALTIMORE COUNTY JAIL: PERSONAL BELONGINGS. Inside were the clothes Alex had on the night the cops nabbed him.”

The scene is described in two or three sentences, giving a basic idea of what the place looks like and then moves on.   The sentence that says the bag contained clothes just felt useless. The problem isn’t the length it’s the lack of clever and meaningful phrasing and this seems to be the issue with most aspects of Black Dogs.  Many aspects of Backwoods Billy’s introduction seemed lacking in this way. “ They stole anything, tore up everywhere they went and kicked the shit out of anyone” just seemed a bit stale.  One could argue that such critical analysis of short moments could be a bit obsessive, but in a book this short it extremely important to nail these introductions.  The rest of the character development is on par with this one.  The main character, Patrick, just seems like a punk ass kid.  His past is barely mentioned, and even his physical description is minimal and hard to remember.  The rest of the gang could be substitute for each other at many times.  They are all a bit different, but in general they are just seen as a group of stoned thugs to the reader.

The plot itself lacks the sense of surprise.  The contents of Billy’s safe present a bit of suspense, but the outcome turns out to be pretty boring and cliché.  There are plenty of crazy events but the characters don’t really seem out of place within them.  The characters careless nature is defined very early in the novel and because of this the absurdity of their problems is weakened.  The Holy Ghosts are immediately described as being barbarous and bloodthirsty so getting into a fight with a bunch of carnies seems like all part of a days work for them.  The Zeppelin heist itself was the biggest let down of the entire book.  Gaining full access to the Drake Hotel was achieved through nothing, but bullshitting a few people and they obtained money completely by accident.  The fact the gang simply found the money in a guitar case that they stole made reading the rest of their journey just seem useless.  The happily ever after ending really rounded this book off to being mediocre at best.  Black Dogs would be easy for a kid to read, but isn’t quite appropriate.  The concept is exciting, but not clever enough to make it a worthwhile read for an adult.

Visioneers

Jared Drake’s directorial debut “Visioneers” is an existential black comedy that follows the life of George Washington Winsterhammerman (Zach Galifianakis).  Set in the near future, George is climbing up the ladder at the world’s largest, happiest and most profitable company, the Jeffers Corporation.  When people everywhere start to spontaneously explode, presumably due to stress, he begins having strange dreams about being the president of the United States.  He fears that these dreams may be a sign that he will explode and decides to take a second look at his boring routine and loveless marriage.

From the very beginning this movie is visually stunning.  The familiar objects, such as the desks in the office, and the normal business attire, juxtaposed with the harsh lighting and drab interior layout immediately set the tone of this movie.  The setting is clearly absurd, but doesn’t appear too distant from reality.  The steam punk eyewear apparatus that George casually puts on in the first few minutes quickly reinforces the idea that the world around him is skewed.  The back- and- forth of close up and wide angle shots keep the viewer aware of Georges world while closely examining his own reactions to it.  The slow and subtle increase in the use of natural light in this film is wonderful.  The soft natural light is used to gradually expose the true human nature that seems completely absent when this awkwardly dull vision of forthcoming times is first introduced.

This film is hilarious despite its dreary atmosphere.  People literally explode randomly throughout the film, which simply never gets old.   The reoccurring salutation “fuck you” accompanied by the middle finger is somehow hilarious amongst the emotionless personalities of the Jeffers corporate world.  The hilarious Jeffers logo, which features skyscrapers in the formation of the middle finger, is peppered in throughout the movie providing plenty of laughs.  The logo also serves as a simple visual representation of the overarching notions in this movie about corporate structure in the real world. 

Supporting characters like “Roger the Codger (George’s personal life coach), “Mack Luster”(think Fabio meets Rambo) and Michelle (George’s insane Wife) are simply over the top ridiculous and balance the austerity of this barely far fetched environment.  Georges secret love interest and superior, Charisma, adds virtually the only warm element to this story by showing him a glimpse of a simpler life outside of the Jeffers sphere.  Galifianakis’ delivery of George is absolutely perfect.  This is not typical Zach playing himself.  He really breaks out into a range of emotions with this character by showing small increments of seemingly genuine emotion throughout this performance.  This showcases Galifianakis true multidimensional talent.

Whether you are a fan of the genre or of Zach Galifianakis you should see this film.   This work manages to deliver a melancholy existence in a way that evokes every emotion imaginable.  Anyone who sees this is sure to elicit a genuine emotive response that may have him or her questioning their own state of affairs.