Tag Archives: Diane Arbus

status: enduring symbols

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Dave

…Actually, we are living not so much in a status system as in the wreckage of one, a storeroom full of broken monuments; for the process of destroying status is self-destructive, and ruins each new idol that it raises. Once … Continue reading →

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millenarian: deprivation madness

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Dave

In times of stress, look for the Prophets of an earthly paradise. Is America ready for its own millennial cult? The United States today is plainly in what Anthony F.C. Wallace termed the period of cultural distortion. Statistics do show … Continue reading →

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arbus: grittiness of the common humanity

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Dave

by Art Chantry: this is a contact sheet of (likely) the single most famous image by photographer diane arbus (she pronounced pronounced it de-AHN). it’s so cool to see the out-takes. one of greatest ‘eyes’ of all time. ADDENDUM: (see … Continue reading →

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exile: angels in b&w

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Dave

by Art Chantry: this is a nifty photo of the original pasted up ‘artwork” (such as it is) of the rolling stones’ “exile on main street” LP cover. it belongs to the permanenet collection of the EMP (experience music project) … Continue reading →

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gnostic picnic with the guy in the armor

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Dave

Yahweh and nihilism. Nothing like a nice flood or some other event to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start. Turning the mattress over. Putting the world through the deep scrub dishwasher cycle.Clearly, Harold Bloom and his Yahweh … Continue reading →

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banking with igor: foreclosure on bad anima

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Dave

It gives rise to strange sensations when we transfer the body into an emotional language, a coded language that no longer seems common. Maybe it reveals a certain vulgar emotional truth about our own perceived deformities as well as providing … Continue reading →

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corpse poetics

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Dave

Working with death as an aesthetic. Is it purely the shocking or a continuation of the gothic and the more macabre elements of romanticism, in the tracks of Henry Fuseli passing through Goya’s horrors of war, Kafka hybrid-human creatures and … Continue reading →

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raft of the medusa redux: can i get a coke with that?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Dave

Most of us know the original sad story of the Medusa, immortalized by Gericault. There are recurring elements in pop culture that have no qualms of turning impact of powerful visual art narratives into…. Gilligan’s Island? Satire. Copy Cat art. … Continue reading →

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Facing up: masked to uncover the other

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Dave

Maybe Levinas was just yelling into the canyon, hearing his echo, catching the attention of a few gophers going about their business in the void. However, the implications of what he was expressing was quite profound, nothing less than a … Continue reading →

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spirit of the forbidden

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Dave

The unvarnished truth. Banal attractiveness sauntering into the realm of tedious familiarity? Bourgeois effrontery through others as a form of marketable cliche?  Diane Arbus remains somewhat of a mystery. There is a contrast here, marked, between a Helen Levitt, Cartier-Bresson … Continue reading →

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