The Meaning of Love

Aleathia says:

The last few months have made me acutely aware of the need to redefine the meaning of love and the body people called family. My life has been spent seeking love without knowing really what that means to me. The love I received as a child had so many strings attached to it as well heavy influences from my environment and the social circles around me. I had no control over the love I received or how it was given. I had little control over the love I wanted to give because in order to give love, someone has to want to be on the other end of it.

Love is abstract at best. We "love" pizza. We "love" going to the beach. I "love" you. In our language and in our time, it feels as if love is just another verb without much weight or meaning. To understand this is pretty disappointing especially if it has been your life's work trying to find a love that feels true.  In my experience that initial chemistry between two people is so very intense and over time fades into what most people label as "comfortable" and then is further transformed to mean "love".  I have been in a series of committed relationships over the last 26 years in which this very scenario has played out. In the end of each of them, love is the farthest thing from what was felt or experienced.

My existential crisis comes from trying to understand why it is socially acceptable for the fading of that chemistry between two humans into banality that is then labeled "love" or "they are good together"? Why do people stay together when they no longer have that fire in their belly for the other? What makes us settle for less than what we want or desire out of a relationship? Are we truly honest with our inner selves about what love means to us or what it looks like?

I have been listening to a lot of music lately and my friend turned me on to Alt-j. A line from one of their songs has really weighed heavy on me:

"I want to love you in my own language"

How significant is that? I say this line to myself every day in an attempt to wrap my mind around its meaning. If I love someone in the language of my own heart, it may not be a language their heart understands. Maybe love is finding another person whose heart speaks the same language as yours. I feel like that chemistry should not fade. I should be able to look at someone I love and it fill me with a certain joy that is only attainable with love. I feel like my body and my skin should respond to their unique touch and that if the love is there the other person would be observant enough to feel and read the response of the other. I know, you are saying, she is a dreamer. I have been called much worse in my lifetime, but it is not such a tall order to want to feel electrified and comfortable at the same time. Love should make you feel free.

Having made this definition of love for myself I found another line that has touched me. I was recently watching Sense 8 and one of the characters said:

"Art is love made public"

This idea has transformed my approach to art...the way I look at it, the way I respond to it, the way I make it. So if art is love made public then art is the feeling of being free in the face of strangers. This idea is profound to me and it is the place that I want to be...living in a free and open way; loving in a way that sets my skin on fire and brings me a comfort that allows me the freedom to be my own true self.

These last few months after the fallout of my relationship has given me boundless opportunity to connect with new people, reconnect with old friends, and connect with the true nature of my being. My perspective of the world is changing. I am growing into my own after living a life meant for others. I am reaching. I am taking it all in. I am finding joy in places where none existed before. I am placing no boundaries or judgments on people and things. I have never felt more alive as I do right now.

Painted Glass and the Meaning of Life, a poem

Aleathia says:

We walked to the museum in perfect weather.
It felt like an eternity since we had shared
something simple but important.

5 years looming on the horizon
and I’ve forgotten who I was before you arrived.

I contemplate the significance of this
in the grand scheme of life.

Have I lost myself?
Have we grown too comfortable?
What does that even mean?
But I say nothing.
Live in this moment, I tell myself.

We look at sculptures in the white, stark wing
and comment on pieces we love revisiting,
take note of new specimens.

The painted, hazy glass catches my attention.

I am alone in front of it, my body a blur in the center.
I feel lost in the world. You come and stand beside me,
the blur gets larger and changes shape.

It is something new. The piece is new, we are new.
I take our picture, a portrait, I say. You half smile
and say nothing.

I am home.
I am where I am supposed to be.

Aleathia Drehmer 2016

Richard Renaldi, Photographer

Aleathia says:

A week or so ago something ran through my FB feed.  You know how it goes...a constant stream of videos and meems and political opinions.  Mostly I skip over things if I look at all anymore.  It can be a complete mind suck at times.  However, there was a video posted from a major news network about a photographer named Richard Renaldi who went around the country taking pictures of strangers, together.

The concept is to place two or more complete strangers walking down the street in a photo together and have it seem as if they know each other.  The anxiety around this concept is palpable to me.  I can put myself in their places and understand what it must be like to put all of your beliefs and values...all your prejudices aside for a few moments and take this picture.

Many times these articles don't stick with me long enough to bring them to you.  Many times it is only momentarily inspiring, fleeting.  But I have been thinking about these photos, about these people and thought it would be something more people should see.

Richard Renaldi is a Chicago native who obtained a BFA in Photography from New York University. He has had his work shown all over the world and this year he was named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fund Fellow.  You can visit his website for a listing of his shows and access to more of his collections.

Now I am proud to present some of Richard Renaldi's photographs from "Touching Strangers":

Andrea and Lillie, Chicago, 2013

Annalee and Rayqa, San Francisco, 2012

Chris and Amaira, Chicago, 2013

Ekeabong and Andrew, Venice, 2013

Elaine and Arly, New York, 2012

Hunter, Margaret, and Abigail, New York, 2013

Tari, Shawn, and Summer, Los Angeles, 2012

5/14/2015 Sally Mann, Photographer

Aleathia says:

It is hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks since I last posted.  I haven't been slacking off and watching bad television, believe me when I say that sounds fun, but I have been busy.  This Relay for Life team has taken me over.  I have been making scented eye pillows with almost every free chance I have had.  The team is coming together and it is gearing up to be a great time.  If you feel like donating anything to help fight cancer you can do so here:  Corning ER and Friends.

One of my favorite uses for this vehicle called blogging is to share art.  It seems like there is an endless supply and if I were diligent I would still not see everything there is to see in this world.  I was driving to work the other day and on NPR Terri Gross was interviewing photographer Sally Mann.  At first I was not sure who she was though the name seemed familiar.

Sally Mann is best known for her collection of work called Family.  It was controversial at the time of its publishing and is still able to make some folks squirm today.  The collection is a series of nude photographs of her children and family.  I remember watching a documentary on her about this collection and Michael was with me.  He was appalled and likened it to child pornography.  He can be a bit over the top sometimes when it comes to such things, but I did have to admit it was disconcerting that she would display her children's naked bodies for everyone to see.  I understand it is art, but what about the children.  In this NPR interview she spoke about these pictures and stated that they were done with dignity and the children, now adults, are proud of the work they did in these photographs and were proud of it then.

You cannot, however, deny that Sally Mann is a gifted photographer who is in love with light and shadow and the craft that she has spent her life honing.  To me the artist is most successful when they can make you slightly uncomfortable because it is in this place, this personal discomfort, that one begins to think about themselves and their relationship to the art.  It allows for critical thinking pertaining to what is acceptable to the heart and what is not.

Sally Mann's work is not limited to her family and her other bodies of work deserve just as much, if not more, attention.  I was interested to hear that she has a collection called Body Farm.  I am currently watching a BBC program of the same name.  A body farm is a place where scientists leave corpses in various conditions and study their rate of decomposition for the purpose of forensics.  This is often how they can tell when a person died by identifying the conditions and insects found on the body.  If you are squeamish then this set of photos may not be for you.

Mann grew up in Virginia and her Southern roots show up in her collection called Southern Landscapes.  This collection has a special place in my heart as many of the photographs were taken in Georgia.  I had the pleasure/displeasure of living there in my 20's.  I lived in the ghetto and I walked everywhere or biked.  It gave me the opportunity to become one with the landscape which is slow and green and always ripe with oppression from both history and heat.

Lastly, the collection I would like to display is Sally Mann's Proud Flesh.  This series of photos was done to document her husband's struggle with muscular distrophy which increases over time.  In the interview on NPR she marked this as her favorite body of work and said that it was the most peaceful and wonderful shoot of her life.  She has been with her husband for over 40 years and she stated this opportunity to work with him was a beautiful spot in her marriage.  Her hope was to not show his weakness in these photographs but to document the progression of a disease there is no control over. She wanted to catch his strength of character.

If you would like to learn more about Sally Mann you can visit her website.  If you would like to hear the Fresh Air interview then you can listen here.

Thanks for sticking with my blog even during the long absences.  I hope there won't be too many more of those.

3/26/2015 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Free Books

Aleathia says:

There are tons of links that drop in my Facebook news feed and generally I just let them pass by. Today someone posted a link stating that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was offering 422 books from their collection....for FREE!  Sometimes free seems too good to be true.

In my curiosity, I decided to check it out and low and behold you really can get 422 books for free. You can read them online, download the PDF, or even print them out.  These books were written about collections they had featured in the past.  Mind you the most recent books are not available for free but knowing about this collection is pretty important if you are an art nerd.  There is a wealth of knowledge in these books which span so many time frames and art tastes.


Bloom

Caspar David Friedrich

The Ceaseless Century: Three Hundred Years of 18th Century Costume

Contemporary Ceramics

Degas, 1834-1917


Seriously....I could go on forever about some awesome work in this collection.  Stop by and have a look at what they offer.  Free is free!!

3/6/2015 Sydney Long, painter

Aleathia says:

Ha.  I go and change the format and still end up posting art on Friday.  You may find that I post art most days with some literature, humanity, and music tossed in for fun.

I am an avid Pintrest idiot.  I LOVE it.  It is sort of like being Sherlock Holmes.  You click on one art piece you like and it leads you to more like it and so on.  There is a woman from Brazil who is apparently my doppleganger in the Pintrest world as we like nearly all the same sorts of things.  Even when I try not to pin what she has, I can't help but really, really like the things she brings to the table.

Today's artist comes from a Pintrest post.  I am learning of so many artists I never knew existed.  The art world is so vast and layered and unless you are an art history major it would be very difficult to know each movement and sub movements in all the countries.  My local library has art books but of the most famous which I am familiar.  It doesn't feed my need for new visuals.  So I am not ashamed to have found this lovely painter on a social media gathering place.  Please enjoy.

Sydney Long 1871-1955 was an Australian painter.  His works depicted the bounty of nature and the humans that lived among it.  His color palate and some of his style is Art Nouveau but not as succinct as say Mucha.  It is more ethereal and hazy and dreamy.  If you would like to read about his education and awards then have at his link, but my main purpose is to present the visual beauty that is his work.

"Sadder Than a Single Star that Sets at Twilight"

"Fantasy"

"Pan"

"Spirit of the Plains"

"Old Sydney"

"The West Wind"

"Flamingoes"

"Harborside Figure"

Art Bomb-2/20/2015 Erin McIntosh

Aleathia says:

Continuing on with our 50 states artist series will bring us to Erin McIntosh who originally hails from Ohio, but has made her mark in Athens, GA.  So for all intents and purposes, this entry will represent Georgia.

Erin McIntosh was born in Ohio in 1980, but has lived and received her education in Athens, GA at the University of Georgia.  She has had extensive showings in the state of Georgia both as a soloist and in group exhibition.  She has taught art for a short time in Italy and teaches locally now.  She lives and creates in the great community that makes up Athens.

Years ago I lived in Athens for a short time, but can tell you that it is very rich in artists and musicians.  I worked at a coffee shop and at a kitchen store when I lived there and met a wide variety of special people.  Please enjoy some great art work from Erin McIntosh.  She has pieces for sale at reasonable prices.

From the Organic Series:

"Coral Beach 2"

"Prism Dance"

"Three Zen Circles"

Watercolors and Geometrics:

"Connect no. 117"

"Connect no. 143"

"Connect no 172"

"Foundation no 7"

"Foundation no 8"

Art Bomb-1/30/2015 Anselm Kiefer and a poem

Aleathia says:

On one of my trips a few summers ago to see some major art museums, I came across this piece by Anselm Kiefer that blew me away.  It inspired a poem out of me.  I think that is one of the best compliments that art can receive is when it builds the desire in another person to create in a reactionary fashion.  I like his work because it has deep meaning and when you see it in person you feel the depth of it with how thick the paint is on the canvas and the sheer enormity of the pieces.  I cried in front of this one.  No one else was there.  I think pieces like this scare people.  They are the ones I am drawn to.

Anselm Kiefer

Innenraum, 1981

Everything is buried here
hope
        imagination
                        wonder
                                  breath
                                           blood.

The killing is orderly
in direction
bone dust and burnt
flesh an amazing cloud
of putrid fallout
rising into the starred
                          scarred
                          barred
                       night.

All roads lead
to the black door.

Aleathia Drehmer 2011

Art Bomb-1/23/2015 Clare Johnson. Henri Matisse

Aleathia says:

Originally I was going to try and profile artists from all the states in a sort of alphabetical order, but that really isn't my gig so I am going to try and hit all the states that I have lived in first and see how it goes.

One of the most influential times in my life, when I found out who I really was, happened in Seattle. It is the classic small town girl goes to big city story.  I had some of the best times of my life there, but in the end came back to the state of my youth to grow my roots.  Seattle was a beautiful garden of art and music and writing.  There was so much to do and see there.  It was hard to cover it all.  Having said that, today's artist is Clare Johnson from Seattle, Washington.

Clare Johnson is from Seattle, WA but obtained her education in many places including Brown University and in London at both the Slade School of Fine Arts and Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design.

Her ink drawings are painstakingly detailed, intricate, and intimate.  They are said to obsessively deal with the lines between solitude and loneliness; the lines between comfort and disconsolation.

This project started as nightly drawings on post-it notes before going to bed and blossomed into a fine collection of black and white snapshots of simple, but eye catching scenes.

Johnson's paintings are usually exhibited on stretched, unframed canvases to confirm to the viewer that something is always missing.

John Says:

I go and see a lot of art. Yet I don’t really know how to write or talk about it. I see these people in galleries or in museums standing in front of the paintings and dissecting them to the point of ridiculousness. At times it’s reached a point where I wonder if these people have come to the museum to look at a van Gogh or an Andre Derain because they like the art, or because they want to hear themselves pontificate on yet another idea that they’ve gotten wrong. I guess these blowhards beat the people who walk up to a painting, snap a photo, and then walk away. To these morons seeing great art is akin to standing in front of a big, famous building, or photographing their shitty lunch. The works of the masters have become yet another notch on their social networking belt.

Anyway since October the MoMA has been putting on a huge retrospective of Henri Matisse’s Cut-Outs. If I may lift or paraphrase from the MoMA’s web site, the Cut-Outs were a series of works that Matisse began doing in the late 1940s once he got too old and senile to paint regular paintings. Essentially the Cut-Outs (should I be capitalizing this?) are painted pieces of paper cut-out in order to form shapes or designs, or in some instances like this one (a personal favorite) made as prep work for a stained glass window:

Matisse used his cut-out scheme for his print book Jazz (1947):

His cut-out work was also featured on the cover of several issues of the French art magazine Verve

Good ol’ Henri even decorated his dining room in his apartment with cut-outs, this one being his famous and not often seen The Swimming Pool:

And who could forget Henri's famous Blue Nudes:

I’m not going to begrudge Matisse his art. No one is above criticism but maybe a guy who gave Picasso a run for his money back in the day gets a pass. Or maybe not. That is to say I was pretty unimpressed by the Matisse Cut-out exhibit. There were over 100 works in the thing (again, I’m pillaging the MoMA web site), and I spent a good hour in there only to walk out and look at my wife and shrug.  I had a much better time looking at the Toulouse-Lautrec and Jean Dubuffet exhibits. It’s hard to admire something that I could do on my own, or even sit down and watch my soon-to-be five year old niece do….although she’s a pretty keen artists. Even psychiatrists get her. I’ve always been more impressed by something like this:

But what do I know? The exhibit is beyond popular right now. You need an appointed time to go in and view it, and then really it’s simply being overwhelmed by the amount of cut-outs hanging on the walls, the crowds trying to talk art, kids bitching about being hungry, teens sitting on the floor texting their friends, or bitching to the guards about how they aren’t allowed to take selfies with the art.

Matisse: The Cut-Outs runs at the MoMA until February 10, 2015