Phantasmaphile

Amelia Bauer

Amelia Bauer "To Break a Spell You've Cast" 2013, angelica, rosemary, white candles, pearls

Amelia Bauer's new series of photographs, Book of Shadows, is such a simple and brilliant idea.  She, in collaboration with florist, Elizabeth Parks Kibbey, has set up opulent tableaux using the ingredients of traditional spells.  As such, her photographs are both lovely still lifes and powerful workings at once:

BOOK OF SHADOWS
in collaboration with Elizabeth Parks Kibbey

The 17th century saw the innovation and popularization of the floral still life painting in Europe and its colonies. By the end of the same century, the Salem witch trials were occurring in America. Witchcraft includes among its rituals the use of botanicals dried and kept in bottles or carried in pouches, bathed in or brewed as tea. Plants are used both symbolically and medicinally. The names of wildflowers, such as cattail and foxglove, and less familiarly, crow’s foot, donkey’s eyes, and snake’s tongue, lead to visions of cauldrons with real animal parts stewing inside. Women were put in positions of power within the religion of Witchcraft, and were therefore killed in far greater numbers than men during the Salem witch trials.

The still lifes in this series are comprised of the ingredients in various botanical spells. The ingredients are used here in their most floral state: poppies instead of poppy seeds, a saffron bulb instead of dried stigmas, and so on. The arrangements turn these spells towards the domestic, and present a less threatening, more palatable femininity.

When the idea for this series came to me, I knew I wanted to work with someone who had a skill with arrangements and knowledge of botanical material that I could not approximate on my own. Elizabeth Parks Kibbey’s passion for flowers had led her first to work as a florist, but later to create experimental large-scale floral sculpture. A series of conversations engendered a shared understanding, both of the concept and aesthetic for the project. The images that make up Book of Shadows represent our creative synthesis.

Via

Eamon Espey

Eamon Espey

I first discovered Eamon Espey circuitously via Theo Ellsworth, as both of their books are published by the always exceptional Secret Acres.  I see Espey's work as part of a visionary comics lineage that includes Ellsworth, Ron Rege, Jr, Annie Murphy, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, JH Williams III, Jodorowsky, and on and on.  These artists use the format of panels to explore consciousness and myth through vivid images and stories that vibrate off the page. 

Espey's newest book, Songs of the Abyss, is a masterwork.  He tells his tales almost entirely through black and white, psychedelic imagery that is 50% beauteous and 50% grotesque.  There's so much going on in each story, in fact, that it feels overwhelming at first to dive into to his soup of disturbing pictures and seemingly nonsensical associations.  Masturbation, incest, dismemberment, murder, flatulance - it's all in here, rendered boldly and madly in a frenzy of line and texture.  But there are also mesmerizing patterns that rival the most splendid mandalas, constellations, deities, and secret hieroglyphics that beckon you to come closer.  Though I recognized some of the mythic references - and he draws from many paths, including Egyptian, Native American, and Mayan - I was delighted to find that the captions of the pieces were kept from us until the end of the book, to be used as a sort of a visual glossary.  This encourages the reader to let go of the impulse toward narrative and immediate meaning-making, and instead allows one to engage with the works in more of a state of shocked reverie.  Still, fun to go back afterwards and pin Espey's words to his pictures.  I highly encourage everyone to pick up a copy. 

Judith Schaechter show

Judith Schaechter "Sister" 2012

I posted about Judith Schaechter's resplendent stained glass installation, "The Battle of Carnival and Lent," at Eastern State Penitentiary last year, but I'm dismayed to say I never got the chance to visit it in person.  Lucky for me, these pieces will be on display here in NYC at Claire Oliver from May 23rd through June 29th.  Thank goodness for second chances.

SÉANCE show

I don't know much about the SÉANCE group show opening at LA's Coagula Curatorial tomorrow, but the title, promo image, and artists involved are enough for me, so there you have it:

SÉANCE

 

Curated by Mario Vasquez

 

FEATURED ARTISTS: Matthew Carter, Sue De Beer, Elizabeth DiGiovanni, Roni Feldman, Sean C. Flaherty, Francesca Gabbiani, Glenn Kaino, James L. Marshall, Laurence McNamara, Kathleen Melian, Christy Roberts, Center for Tactical Magic 

 

 

The artists in this show act as mediums who attempt to bridge gaps that the artists themselves perceive between the seen and unseen.

 

OPENING RECEPTION:

SATURDAY, MAY 18

7PM - 11PM

Shannon Finley

Shannon Finley  "Cloak"  2011

Shannon Finley's paintings are masterful refractions.  His abstract planes of color and triangulated shadow certainly nod to the Cubists, but there's a pixelated sensibility to them that brings them very much into the contemporary age.  I love the tension between the digitized and the jewelled.  Another example of the technological/sensual binary I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Via

Caitlin Hackett print

Caitlin Hackett  "In Memory"

Exciting news.  Caitlin Hackett has just teamed up with Samantha Levin Fine Art to release limited edition prints of her stunning "In Memory" piece:

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
“This piece represents the Memory of forests as they once were; it is an ode to the vast wilderness that once covered the world and the potency of nature. Deer have long been held to be mystic creatures, from Cernunnos who was a god in Celtic mythology with deer antlers atop his head, to the white hart of Arthurian legend, deer have long been spiritual guides, harbingers of transgressed taboos, the companions to saints and fairies alike. This creature of mine, Memory, is a combination of a Stag and an Ibex, combining the spiritual symbolism of the deer with the tragic endangerment of the old world ibex. In Memory is about both the power of nature and the loss of it. It is meant as a reflection on what been lost and what could be regained.”

There are two available print sizes:

Large 27×20″ print (image Size: 24×18″)
Edition of 20, signed and numbered by the artist, with certificate of authenticity
Image size is the same as the original painting
Printed on archival Arches BFK Rives 315gsm Cotton Rag paper
$200 + shipping

Small 15×11″ print (image Size: 12×9″)
Edition of 50, shipped with certificate of authenticity
Printed on archival Canon Fine Art Bright White 230gsm paper
$50 + shipping

And I'm sure these will go fast, so do order one soon if you so desire.

Ariel Stater

Ariel Stater

I'm thinking spring, and Ariel Stater's paintings are helping the cause.  I'm loving all the crystalline forms, ocular aberrations, and primavera palette.  So strange and sweet.

Via

William T. Wiley

William T. Wiley  "Alchemical Lyon Tortured By Abstractions"  2005

One of the great things about discovering the work of a 75-year-old artist like William T. Wiley is that there is a literally a lifetime of images to sift through.  I'm truly dazzled by the ways in which Wiley's style has morphed over the years, all the while maintaining a throughline of wry humor and mystic samplings.  No matter the medium, his diagrams, paintings, sculptures et al. feel ebullient, full of wonder and cartoony puckishness. 

The Occult in Modern Art 101 coming back to Observatory!

I'm excited to be reprising my Occult in Modern Art 101 talk at Observatory, in honor of our release of Abraxas Journal's art & occult themed Special Issue #1.  Here's all the info:

The Occult in Modern Art 101 (& Abraxas Special Issue #1 US Launch!)

Victor Brauner “The Surrealist” 1947

An illustrated lecture by Pam Grossman
Date: Tuesday, May 28th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $10
Presented by: Phantasmaphile

In honor of the release of Abraxas Journal’s art & occult themed Special Issue #1, Pam Grossman will be reprising her Occult in Modern Art 101 lecture – updated with some new material.

Though few history books make mention of it, many of our most lauded artists — Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Duchamp, to name but a few — were deeply influenced by the occult.  The imagery and tenets of arcane traditions including alchemy, Spiritualism, Theosophy, and shamanism have infused the work of artists through the ages.  Beginning with the Symbolists, then spiraling through such periods as Cubism, Dada, Surrealism (with its wonderfully witchy women), Abstract Expressionism, and the visionary art of today, this evening’s lecture will be a visual primer on the existence of magic in our museums and galleries.

This talk will be immediately followed by the US launch celebration of Abraxas Journal’s Special Issue #1.  Copies will be available for sale – save on international shipping! – and wine will be served.

(We also salute Fulgur Esoterica & Treadwell’s I:MAGE exhibition and lecture series happening across the pond in London the week of May 19th!)

Pam Grossman is an independent curator, writer, and lifelong student of magical practice and history.  She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.  Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter.  She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

Hope to see some of you there!

Abraxas Special Issue

Exciting news.  We're releasing a special issue of Abraxas, featuring papers from Cambridge University's Charming Intentions conference on occultism, magic, and the history of art.  Full info here:

As part of the forthcoming FULGUR I:MAGE art week in May, we are delighted to announce a dazzling Special Issue of Abraxas Journal. Charming Intentions: Occultism, Magic and the History of Art draws from papers presented at the University of Cambridge Conference in December 2012. With so much emphasis on esoteric art, it seemed the perfect title to release for I:MAGE. We think you will agree. And it's just £15.00.

ASTRAL MAGIC, TANTRA, ALCHEMY, FUTURISM, SURREALISM and OCCULT FILM

In this issue: Imma Ramos explores the tantric transformations of Lajja Gauri at Kamakhya; Shandra E. Lamaute examines the magic in an Islamic amulet held by the National Museum of Scotland; Monika Winiarczyk writes on the role of the body in medieval Christianity; Liliana Leopardi reflects on sixteenth-century intaglios and astral magic; Alexandra Marraccini unfurls the extraordinary alchemical records that are the Ripley Scrolls; Lisa Hanstein asks whether Italian Futurist art and theory was informed by occult currents; Daniel Zamani examines occultism and political resistance in Victor Brauner’s picture Le Surréaliste; and lastly, Judith Noble invites us to consider the occult influences in the films of Maya Deren. The entire issue is richly illustrated in full colour and includes many images published for the first time, including (in something of an exclusive) wonderful close-up studies of the Ripley Scrolls.

 

HARDBACK SPECIAL ISSUE

Our hardback special issue is limited to just 300 copies bound in pristine white cloth, blocked in black and fitted with a custom dust-jacket. 

 

Pre-Order Details

Large format (23 cm x 29 cm)
Lavish colour throughout
Section sewn
128 pages 

Paperback issue, £15.00 ($25.00)
Hardback special issue, £40.00 ($61.00)

Publication date: May 25th 2013

Please note that Abraxas Journal is published as a limited edition and will not be reprinted. 

To purchase the Abraxas Special Issue no. 1 or for full content details, please click here.

Wild Unknown Zodiac Series

Kim Krans/Wild Unknown "Aquarius" 2013

Kim Krans' Wild Unknown Tarot Deck became an instant legend when it was released last year, and I have no doubts her new series of zodiac prints will prove just as popular.  I'm feeling especially lucky that my sign, above, is so beautifully represented.  I think these would make a perfect gift for a friend, lover, new baby, or your sweet, celestial self.  And at only $40 each, quite the bargain.

Alison Blickle show!

Alison Blickle "Hand of the Philosopher" 2013

I've posted about Alison Blickle before, and I love her recent work even more.  Her new show "History of Magic Part 1...The Hermitage" borrows its title from Eliphas Levi's 19th century tome, but these paintings are like nothing else I've seen.  While they feature females using occult tools (e.g. runes, enneagrams), they're painted in a style that feels like a Pre-Raphaelite/Rockwell mash-up, and are filled with optical illusions and patterns that warp one's sense of space.  The colors are rich, and the women look like they stepped out of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story: Gatsby by way of John Dee.  There are also ceramic pieces and altars that accompany many of the paintings.  The show opens at SF's Eleanor Harwood Gallery on May 3rd and will be up through June 15th, and will be the first in Bickle's esoteric-themed series.  More info:

The exhibition of new oil paintings and glazed porcelain delves further into Alison's style of hyper-detailed and fantastical realism. Drawn from a diverse range of influences from the Pre-Raphaelites and the Post-Impressionists, to Russian fairy tale illustration and Art Deco design, the paintings create a tension as this heritage of styles meld into a vision of another time. Displayed as a series of small installations, the paintings will be shown alongside a collection of ceramic mementos also created by the artist. The ceramics relate to the narrative of each piece and are mirrored in the paintings. These actualized relics further envelop the viewer into the painting's scene.

Story and character development are an increasingly significant component to Alison's work. The show will be the first chapter in a series of "History of Magic" exhibitions, which will tell the tale of a mystic who lives alone in the woods and sets out on a journey to create a mysterious object that will change the world. In part a creation myth with roots in folklore, the story achieves mythology as a "reverse Pandora's box" and stems from the artists interest in these moralizing fables that have persevered throughout human history.

The show takes its title from a nineteenth-century French book on sacred imagery and mysticism. As the first chapter, "The Hermitage" relates to the spiritual component of Alison's work, as a type of monastery space that combines work and devotion. The installations themselves can be seen as altarpieces, in reference to the nature of her art practice and her childhood in a Wiccan home.

Christopher Badger show!

Christopher Badger  "Shadow Phase" 2013

Christopher Badger's show, "Lunar Mirror" opened last month at SF's Jessica Silverman Gallery, and it looks splendid.  It's a multi-media exhibition of Badger's aluminum cast lunar craters, as well as his chalk and oil pieces depicting moon phases and other circular diagrams.  I find the paintings (or perhaps "drawings" would be a more apt word, since the white marks are chalk) to be particularly mesmerizing.  Sacred geometry to be sure.  More info:

    "Jessica Silverman Gallery is pleased to present “Lunar Mirror,” a show of new work by Christopher     Badger, on view from March 22 to May 4, 2013.

    The exhibition will debut a series of sculptures made of polished cast aluminum called ”Lunar Mirrors,”     and a 7×7 foot chalk-and-oil painting, titled “Shadow Phase.”

    Inspired by artists such as Robert Smithson, Sol LeWitt and Heinz Mack along with ancient     Greek geometers and NASA photographers, Badger continues his exploration of abstraction and     earthworks. Using the moon as his touchstone, this body of work also advances Badger’s interest     n objective maps with subjective associations as well as the ambiguous relationship between     reflections and projections.

    In making the “Lunar Mirror” reliefs, Badger starts with aerial photographs of the moon produced     by the Apollo 15 crew in 1974. He traces the topographical lines of the photos, makes a vector     map, and uses a 3-D modeling program to create digital files from which the works are cast. The     resulting aluminum sculptures are then polished to a fine mirror finish so that the viewer     can see his/her own reflection, rippled and distorted, in its surface. The resulting reflections, like the     moon itself, appear and disappear; they are constant but changing, unattainable but common to all.

    “Shadow Phase” is an elegant abstract painting on black gesso ground. On top of the smooth     surface are white lines made of chalk and oil that hark back to classical Greek mathematical equations     from 300 BC and Minimalist ideals of beauty from the 1960s and 70s.

    The exhibition will also feature eight new 4×4 foot paintings, also oil and chalk on black gesso, from     Badger’s “Construction 3-15” series.

    As Leonard Cohen memorably put it, 'They’ll never ever reach the moon, at least not the one that we’re     after.'"

Desirée Holman

Desirée Holman  "Aura, Eliphas Levi" 2013

I've seen quite a few artists exploring aura photography lately, but Desirée Holman takes the theme a bit further by painting her auras in gouache, creating blurred fields that would make Rothko stand at attention.  Sometimes placing extraterrestrial creatures in the middle of the color clouds, sometimes painting the imagined auras of occult pioneers like Emanuel Swedenborg and Gurdjieff, she creates imagery that is provocative and pacifying at once.

Michael Pajon show!

Michael Pajon "A Whisper, A Handshake, A Drop of Blood"  2013

I'm thrilled about the new direction Michael Pajon's collages have gone in for his upcoming show at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans.  They have an Americana vibe, as viewed through the lens of the underbelly of our country, touching upon secret societies, medicine shows, carnivals, and other "fringe" gatherings:

O Bury Me Not

Michael Pajon

April 28 - May 31, 2013

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery is proud to announce O Bury Me Not, new mixed media collage with hand drawing by Michael Pajon. The exhibition is a follow up to his successful and acclaimed solo installation at VOLTA NY fair in March during Armory week. Pajon's latest works will be unveiled on April 23 in conjunction with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and will remain on view through May 28. There will be an artist's reception Saturday, May 4, from 6-9 pm. This latest series, O Bury Me Not, titled after a Depression-era cowboy ballad, will showcase Pajon's whimsical and narrative collage, meticulously created from hand-cut materials including antique scrapbooks, book covers, matchbooks, handwritten letters and ledgers, lithographs, maps, siding samples and old photographs. All of his materials come from the golden age of printed matter from the late 1860's to the 1940's, to which the artist adds his own hand-drawing in order to connect a new narrative from the elements of nostalgia. Pajon says of these works: Death is a prevalent theme in this body of work, it is something that has shaped my life significantly, and the lives of those portrayed eternally. Amongst them are dentists, salesmen, hucksters, hunters, school children, snake oil salesmen, and preachers -- the 'lesser' folk of our collective American history. They, like the dying cowboy, should be allowed the luxury of myth. For it is in this myth-making that truths can be found, and it is in death that we return to the earth, the final truest act we will make. These collages are the headstones of the forgotten and the discarded, reliquaries, suspending that notion of death and the unknown, replacing it with myth and story, scrolling narratives of American fable and folly, painted in torn ticket stubs and moth eaten medical manuals. Michael Pajon attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 2003 with a focus in printmaking. Eventually gravitating to the graphic nature of the medium that closely resembled the comics he loved, he worked closely as an assistant/ studio manager to renowned artist Tony Fitzpatrick. During this time he started making assemblages of the bits and pieces he had accumulated from alleys, junkshops, and thrift stores, slicing up old children's book covers and rearranging their innards into disjointed tales of Americana. Pajon's work has been exhibited in various venues worldwide, including the Illinois State Museum, Chicago, IL; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Prospect 1.5 (curated by Dan Cameron), New Orleans, LA; Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY; Nau-haus Art Space, Houston, TX, and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA. His work has been shown in numerous art fairs including Nova Art Fair (Chicago, 2006), Bridge London (London, 2007), Aqua Art Fair (Miami, 2007), Next Art Fair (Chicago, 2008), the Texas Contemporary Art Fair (Houston, 2012), and VOLTA New York (2013). His work has been reviewed in Forbes, Where Magazine, Juxtapoz, ArtInfo, Artlyst, Gambit Weekly, New City, Artnet, Artslant, and Pelican Bomb. His works appear in numerous public and private collections including 21c Museum, Louisville, KY; the Francis H. Williams Collection in Wellesley, MA; Megan Koza Young of the Dishman Art Museum, Beaumont, TX; as well as prominent New Orleans collectors Thomas Coleman and Michael Wilkinson.

O Bury Me Not will be up through May 31st.

Charles Fréger "Wilder Mann" show

Charles Fréger  "Caretos, Lazarim, Portugal" 2010-2011

The Wild Man, or some version thereof, is a mythic creature who turns up in pagan stories and celebrations throughout the world.  Part human, part beast, he is often shown with horns or covered with fur, and European men traditionally dress up as him during various old world festivals.  Charles Fréger decided to document these Wild Man occurrances with his camera, initially planning on covering 12 countries, but ending up with 18.  His show, "Wilder Mann" is up now at Yossi Milo Gallery through May 18th:

Charles Frèger

Wilder Mann

April 11–May 18, 2013

Yossi Milo Gallery is pleased to present Wilder Mann, an exhibition of color photographs by Charles Fréger in the West Gallery. The exhibition will open on Thursday, April 11 and will be on view through Saturday, May 18. An artist's reception and book signing of his monograph, Wilder Mann, published by Dewi Lewis Publishing, will be held on Thursday, April 11 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. In the East Gallery, Tim Hetherington's exhibition Inner Light will be on view during this time. Wilder Mann will be Fréger's first exhibition with the gallery. Additional images from this series will be exhibited concurrently at the Gallery at Hermès in New York from April 12 - June 8.

Between 2010 and 2011, Fréger traveled to eighteen European countries, from Italy to Poland, Scotland to the Czech Republic, in search of the Wild Man. A centuries-old, legendary figure, the Wild Man continues to be an important symbol of transition associated with festivals that mark the cyclical patterns of life: the changing of the seasons, special religious holidays, rites of passage, life and death. In full-length portraits, the artist photographs celebrants enveloped in traditional costumes crafted from layers of animal skins, local plants, bones and antlers, which visually transform the masqueraders into a wooly bear, a long-horned goat, a demon or man of straw. Fréger photographs these imaginative creatures in their native landscape and explores human fascination with myth, ritual and tradition.

The Wilder Mann series is an anthropological exploration which brings into focus cultures still tied to traditions, the land they inhabit and the cyclical rhythms of life. The series also contemplates man's complex relationship with nature and how vestiges of these costumes and past rituals continue to influence contemporary life, even in the digital age.

Charles Fréger's work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Musée d'Art Moderne, Luxembourg; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen; Yokohama Museum of Art; Fotohof, Salzburg; and the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, among others. The artist was born in 1975 and studied at the Rouen Art School, France. He lives and works in Rouen, France.

This is very much in the same vein as Katarzyna Majak's "Women of Power" show of her photographs of Polish witches, and Sara Hannant's "Mummers, Maypoles, and Milkmaids" show of her photographs of English pagan rituals.  It's wonderful to see these traditions be looked at through a contemporary, artful lens.

(A big thank you to Chris Sedgwick for letting me know about this.)

This week at Observatory

I've got two excellent events happening at Observatory this week.  Do come along to one or both!

A Fate Worse Than Death: The Perils of Being a Famous Corpse

With Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces
Date: Friday, April 26th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $10
Presented by Morbid Anatomy & Phantasmaphile

Most of us know what our afterlives are going to be like: eternity in the ground, or resting in an urn on some relative’s mantelpiece. If we’re lucky, our children might occasionally bring us flowers or a potted plant, and that’s about as interesting as things are going to get.

Not so the famous deceased. For millennia, they’ve been bought and sold, worshipped and reviled, studied, collected, stolen, and dissected. They’ve been the star attractions at museums and churches, and used to found cemeteries, cities, even empires. Pieces of them have languished in libraries and universities, in coolers inside closets, and in suitcases underneath beds. For them, eternity has been anything but easy.

The more notable or notorious the body, the more likely it is that someone’s tried to disturb it. Consider the near-snatching of Abraham Lincoln, or the attempt on Elvis’s tomb. Then there’s Descartes, who is missing his head, and Galileo, who is spending eternity without his middle finger. Napoleon’s missing something a bit lower, as is the Russian mystic Rasputin, at least if the rumors are true. Meanwhile, Jesse James has had three graves, and may not have been in any of them, while it took a court case and an exhumation to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald was in his.

In this illustrated lecture, Bess Lovejoy will draw on her new book, Rest in Pieces, to discuss the many threats faced by famous corpses–from furta sacra (“holy theft” of saintly relics), to skull-stealing phrenologists, “Resurrection Men” digging up cadavers for medical schools, modern organ harvesters, the depredations of crazed fans, and much more.

Rest in Pieces will also be available for sale, and wine will be served in celebration of its release.

Bess Lovejoy is a writer, researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She writes about dead people, forgotten history, and sometimes art, literature, and science. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications. She worked on the Schott’s Almanac series for five years. Visit her at BessLovejoy.com.

 

Heart Magick Ritual Workshop

Remedios Varo “Portrait of Doctor Ignacio Chávez” 1957

With Pam Grossman
Date: Sunday, April 28th
Time: 2:00-3:30pm
Admission: $20 ***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com, as class size is limited.
Presented by Phantasmaphile

Beltane is just a few days away, so it’s the perfect time to focus on heart-centered magick.  Spring is blooming, bonfires are burning, and love is all around us.  This is traditionally the time of year when fertility – in all its forms – is celebrated.  The concept of union (what the alchemists call conjunctio) is key to meditate upon now, as we focus on ways to balance our own internal opposites, and work towards inner completion.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll discuss ways to heal our hearts, and make them more fertile places for love and creativity.  We’ll learn about herbs for both physical and spiritual heart-health – as well as a few aphrodisiacs for good measure!  Each attendee will also craft a love spell, whether for someone you know, for yourself, or for the wider world.

Please bring:

-A candle with a candle-holder.

-Any altar objects you like.  These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome.  This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an independent curator and lifelong student of magickal practice and history.  An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship.  She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.  Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter.  She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

The Testament of Mary

Being married to a playwright means I get to see lots of theatre: some of it good, some of it great, some of it very, very bad.  But every once in a while, we see something so incredible, we're struck mute by it, literally dumbfounded by its impact and beauty.  I have an extremely short list of theatrical experiences I've had which have made me feel this way: totally spellbound and electrified and transformed and so, so lucky to have gotten to bear witness to them.  As of last night, the searing star that is The Testament of Mary has been added to my personal firmament.

Based on Colm Tóibín's novel of the same name, it's a one-woman retelling of Jesus' story from his mother's perspective.  To say more would give too much away, as so much of the power of this play hinges upon the audience's discovery - and re-discovery - that I think it only right that one goes without knowing too much about the evening.  But I will say that the art direction has yielded some of the most gorgeous pictures I have ever seen, on stage, wall, screen, or otherwise.

Long-time collaborators Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner have that rare Lennon-McCartney dynamic that creates masterpieces, and this show is a shining example.  Shaw's acting is...well, she's FIONA SHAW.  She is tremendous, complicated, and enthralling throughout, telling her tale while attempting to wrestle it to the ground.  Warner's direction is nothing short of divine.  Weaving symbols - some subtle, some far less so, but all earned - throughout, she leaves a taut thread for the audience to follow, leading us through a labyrinth of myth and fierce reality, worship and wanting, catharsis and splendor.  It's gut-wrenching and transcendent at once.

The play also managed to close a pretty astounding synchronicity loop for me, retroactively making our recent trip to Ephesus all the more meaningful.  You'll see why in more detail when you read the writer's note in the program, and also when you see three small figurines stage right.

The show is in previews now, and will be up through June 16th (though I would not be surprised if they extend).  Do not miss this.

Mark Warren Jacques show!

Mark Warren Jacques  "California Sunrise Come on and Wake Me Up" 2013

I seriously adore Mark Warren Jacques' work, as evidenced by my other postings about him here before.  His pieces are so precise, yet so joyous, with bright, geometric shapes and undulating lines depicting moments of transcendence.  He's got a new solo show up now at White Walls in SF called "Small in a Big Way," which more deeply explores our place in the cosmos - though this time viewed through a sun-drenched, ocean-soaked, decidedly Californian lens.  I'd love to wake up to his work each morning.  Maybe someday.  In the meantime, the show is up through May 4th, so San Franciscans do be sure to give it a gander.

Qin Weihong

 
Qin Weihong

I encountered Qin Weihong's sculptures of dream creatures on the excellent Hi-Fructose blog a few weeks ago, and they've really stuck with me.  Something about their pastelly color palette juxtapozed with their vulnerable poses gives them an unsettling, delicious tension that really gets under my skin.  Sweet dears.

Matthew Schultz

Matthew Schultz  "Trickster Crow"

It's challenging to know how to begin talking about Matthew Schultz since he is a quintessential Renaissance man: artist, musician, designer, mandala-maker.  But the work of his I'm most excited by is his vast, multi-media project entitled The Division, an exhaustive creation of his own invented secret society.  Taking cues from the Freemasons, Schultz has crafted costumes, artifacts, rituals, and a semiotic system for a "new" fraternal order.  He draws from the visual wells of shamanism, medicine shows, magic posters, Russian propoganda graphics, army kits, and much more, meticulously making an entire world unto itself.  Further details here:

The exhibition of the The History of The Division has over 50 items. All the works were created by hand over the past several years by Matthew Schultz. Yet many objects are faux deteriorated in order to challenge viewers’ expectations and beliefs as to the authenticity of the works. Much of the exhibition questions how art becomes artifact and how histories are created. The exhibition of The History of The Division also features magic. Yet these are referred to as Matgick kits. They are used today with surprising effectuality.

The exhibition of The History of The Division is meant to challenge viewer expectations and beliefs. Some of the question it raises are: Why do people believe in religion? Why do some people believe in magic and others don’t? What written words should we believe in? How much of the Internet is believable? For that matter, how much of the media in general is a lie? Along these lines, The History of The Division also deals with information delivery. It asks at what point does the voice of authority lose credibility and become propaganda? With that said, the exhibition is replete with text plaques that explain the history and works. There also are two audio tours. One is a standard “authoritative” version and the other is a “guerrilla” version. The latter audio tour is from a young girl’s perspective and makes fun of the exhibition. Ironically, it supplies a different angle and analysis, and explains the work in a humorous manner. Both tours last 18 minutes and viewers are initially unaware of which version they have. Also available is a support CD containing Division Mantras. It is a full length CD released by Lens Records and is the first in a trilogy of CDs relating to The Division.

I would love to see a giant exhibition of this in person some day.

Irina Korsokova

Irina Korsokova

Irina Korsokova's paintings of medievally dressed ladies with miniature unicorns are so peculiar and pretty I can't resist sharing one here.  Who is she?  Why does her head extend upwards into some alien column of light?  Why is the unicorn so darn small?  The mystery delights me.

Via

I:MAGE exhibition!

David Chaim Smith, detail

Legendary esoteric publishing & fine art house, Fulgur, has just announced their group show and lecture series happening in London next month.  (As some of you know, Fulgur also publishes Abraxas, the journal of which I'm Associate Editor.  Do order our new issue if you haven't already!)  I:MAGE will hopefully be the first of many group shows of artists on the Fulgur roster, and the accompanying lectures are truly not to be missed either.  Have a look: 

I:MAGE

An Inaugural Exhibition of Esoteric Artists

LONDON, 19th-25th May, 2013

I:MAGE is a selling exhibition hosted by FULGUR ESOTERICA that brings together for the first time an international group of artists working in the esoteric genre.

Ranging from the work of progressive women such as Ithell Colquhoun and Steffi Grant, to the dark symbolist themes of Agostino Arrivabene and Denis Forkas Kostromitin, and to the contemporary exploratory audio-visual practices of NOKO, I:MAGE promises to be a landmark exhibition.

Held in the heart of London at the Store Street Gallery, this show will cover two floors and over 1600sq ft of exhibition space. A full colour catalogue will be available.

To mark this occasion a week of special evening events and art-related projects will be held in collaboration with Treadwell’s Bookshop, next door.

The Artists

Michael Bertiaux
Jesse Bransford
Ithell Colquhoun
Peter Dyde
Denis Forkas Kostromitin
Cristina Francov
Rik Garrett
Steffi Grant
Barry William Hale
NOKO
Orryelle
Francesco Parisi
Residue
David Chaim Smith
Austin Osman Spare

and special guest
Agostino Arrivabene

 

SCHEDULE

Sunday 19th, 12-9pm @ Store Street Gallery. Opening Reception

Monday 20th, 7.15pm @ Store Street Gallery. Special Screening of NOKO: Order 41, Conjuration of Beelzebub, 1hr.

Tuesday 21st, 7.15pm @ Store Street Gallery. Presentation by Jesse Bransford on The Fourth Pyramid, a Galverston Artist Residency Installation.

Wednesday 22nd, 7.15pm @ Store Street Gallery. Launch Party for Rik Garrett’s Earth Magic.

Thursday 23rd, 7.15pm @ Treadwells. Dr Amy Hale – Ithell Colquhoun: Cornwall, Landscape and the Goddess.

Friday 24th, 7.15pm @ Treadwells. John Constable: Spare – a one man play.

Saturday 25th, 4-10pm @ Treadwells and Store Street Gallery. Launch Party for the Abraxas Special Issue – Charming Intentions: Occultism, Magic and the History of Art. Select Papers from the Cambridge University Conference, December 2012.

I'll be cheering everyone on from afar!  Lucky Londoners, do relish this one, as it will be such a rare confluence of today's most brilliant esoteric minds.

Chris Anthony monograph

Chris Anthony "Regina Pelagus IV"

Chris Anthony has an exquisite new marine-themed monograph releasing this month entitled "Seas Without a Shore."  Simple photographs of skeletal sea horses and unicorn shells are interspersed with more elaborate images of beings in quasi-clergical garb rising from the waves:

Seas Without A Shore
The Book

Books, Prints and Tintypes available in April

Specifications:
- Hardcover
- 144 pages
- 97 Color Plates
- Dimensions: 10” x 12 1/4”
- Two Cover Versions (Standard Cover / Limited Edition clothbound cover)

-The Limited Edition Book is also offered with either a Slipcase or Collector’s Box accompanied by various prints and/or original tintypes.

SEAS WITHOUT A SHORE is a magical, mysterious photography book of tintypes, portraits, still lifes and seascapes.

The photographs for this book have evolved into a series of images involving fictional narratives, replete with absurdity and hilarity, and doubling as a cautionary tale. Drawing attention to the bizarre and the banal, the resulting images are portraits on the border between documentary and fiction, imagining characters that, much like our selves, are forever a mystery.

The scenarios document a species as seen everyday through the eyes of the artist, with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe serving as a beacon of light and a source of inspiration. Mask-making, sculpture, and costume design is a colossally important part of the process, defining the unique and demented little world Anthony lives and shoots in. The mysteries of the sea figure greatly in these pictures with a crescendo of color images depicting survivors braving waves and currents, perhaps the result of a future world where ocean tides will wash away the planet’s coastlines.

The photographs are made with a 4×5 large format camera and most of the images are photographed with 150 year old lenses with color film or using the collodion wet plate technique which is a beautiful photographic process that was invented in the mid 19th century and still to this day has passionate practitioners all around the world.

Lovely, lovely.

Megan Cump show!

Megan Cump  "Black Moon (white deer)" 

I gushed about Megan Cump's splendidly nocturnal work a few months back, so I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to view it in person soon.  Her show, "Black Moon," opens at Station Independent next Wednesday, April 10th and will be up through May 12th:

Black Moon

April 10– May 12, 2013
Opening Reception: April 10, 6-9pm

Megan Cump

Megan Cump’s Black Moon series constructs a world swallowed by darkness–terrains that skirt the visible. For Cump, the dark is itself a wilderness of sorts, full of the promise of the unknown. It is fitting that the locations she has photographed: underground caves, deep woods, night skies and oceans, conjure up mythic tales of transformation and the underworld. Some of these landscapes are inhabited by wild creatures, including a fox, ghostly white deer, and a shadowy woman who, in one photograph, floats in water black as the night, bringing to mind the ancient Hermetic axiom “as above, so below.” This woman is, in fact, the artist, but one could argue that all of Cump’s figures, even the animals, are enigmatic self-portraits.

Replete with auspicious meteor showers and subterranean passages, these photographs transport us, suggesting the other side of things. Stars appear to burn through the atmosphere and the evening sky fills with otherworldly light and color. The vivid flames are produced by deliberately introducing light leaks that simultaneously destroy and create anew the imagery on the negatives. In the past, Cump notes, the night imparted fundamental knowledge, serving as navigational field, timekeeper, and source of cosmologies. Distinctions were not drawn between scientific observation, spirituality, and art. Recent research suggests that some Paleolithic cave paintings are also prehistoric star maps–the stray dots and dashes overlaid on depictions of animals mark the earliest constellations.

Black Moon draws from folktales, spirit photography, epic poems, and the alchemy of analog photography. It connects photography's historical relationship with making the unseen visible with tales of metamorphoses, animism, and the netherworld. Megan Cump’s photographs are earthly and astral, dark and ecstatic.

Stunning.