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Well, the cabinets of curiosities resurgence continues, and I must say I'm *still* not tired of it yet. I've been alerted to this terrific sounding exhibition at Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum:
Cabinet of Curiosities
Photography & Specimens
September 12, 2012–February 10, 2013
Location: Bloch Building, Gallery L11
Admission is free.
The exhibition, Cabinet of Curiosities: Photography & Specimens
is loosely based around the 16th and 17th century concept of the
Cabinet of Curiosities. Precursors to the modern museum, these Cabinets
were assembled by their owners to reflect the intense fascination with
the marvelous, unusual, unexpected, exotic, extraordinary, or rare.
This show examines what a photographic Cabinet of Curiosities might look
like. It includes examples ranging from the very tiny (snowflakes and
microscopic mites) to the very distant (telescopic image of the surface
of the moon). It includes examples that cannot be seen with the naked
eye of living things (x-rays) and of the deceased (skeletons of
differing animal species). It explores the exotic (carmine bee eater)
and the unusual (pulled teeth from the collection of Peter the Great).
Along these same lines, questions will be raised about why people
collect, what they collect, and the ways specimens are ordered.
Emphasizing the relationship photography has always had with science and
art, photographic specimens from throughout the history of photography
will be shown as well as some of the traditional processes used to
create them. Contemporary photographs explore the differing ways
specimens are seen photographically and the human-made constructs used
for specimen display.
Friday, October 5
Cabinet of Curiosities; Photography & Specimens
7–8 p.m.
Gallery L11
Join curator Jane L. Aspinwall as she discusses what a photographic
cabinet of curiosities might look like. Photographic examples include
the microscopic, telescopic, x-ray, exotic and unusual.
(Thank you, Megha!)
Well, I'm back from the Esoteric Book Conference, and it could not have been a more sublime weekend. Huge thanks to its masterminds, William Kiesel and Catamara Rosarium, for allowing me to give my Occult in Modern Art 101 lecture there. It was such an honor, and a total blast. The entire conference was filled to the brim with incredible presentations, a book fair (where I showed immense restraint, only purchasing William's brilliant tome, Magic Circles in the Grimoire Tradition), an art show, and of course many, many truly inspiring people.
As an added bonus, Catamara gifted me with a sample from her decadent oil and incense line, Rosarium Blends. She had me choose a random vial from a bag (she called it "oilmancy" which I adored), and I was thrilled to find the HermAphrodite perfume blend in my hand, as I'd been coveting it from afar for months now. As I've mentioned many times here before, the rebis is a sacred personal symbol for me, and one I was working with all weekend - so selecting this particular blend was a stroke of magick indeed. Have a look at her description:
HermAphrodite has deep, intense sensual notes that open up and reveal themelves to you as they alchemicalize with your skin. HermAphrodite is the Divine union of Hermes and Aphrodite, a potent love charm and aphrodisiac. This aromatic love charm is devised to help aid in finding truth in individual happiness, to elevate spirits and to explore the union of love within and without.
HermAphrodite perfume is always created and charged on Wednesdays, the day of Mercury during the hour of Venus when the Moon is Waxing Fullest.
Ingredients: Benzoin, Anise, Vervain & Myrtle~
And all of her other perfumes, oils, incenses, and ritual objects are crafted with the same extraordinary level of care and meaning. I can't wait to order more.
Thank you, Catamara!
Alejandro Rivera "Still Life"
I stumbled across Alejandro Rivera's work while walking down West Broadway earlier this week. Campton Gallery is currently exhibiting his show, "Flora Awaken," and I couldn't resist the pull of his rainbow-striped, science meets mythos vignettes. You, too, can view his molecular maidens, floral horses, and Mexican cloud gardens in person through September 30th.
Lots bubbling in the cauldron at the moment, so I figured I'd just list everything out here.
First off, I'm excited to announce a new workshop I'll be leading at Observatory next Friday at 7:30pm. Please email me if you'd like to attend, as space is limited:
Remedios Varo “Still Life Reviving” 1963
A Class and Celebration with Pam Grossman
Date: Friday, September 21st
Time: 7:30-9pm
Admission: $20
Presented by Phantasmaphile
***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited
The Autumn Equinox – or Mabon - is a time of harvesting and celebration. Often called “Witches’ Thanksgiving,” it’s a prosperity holiday which asks us to gather with one another to count our blessings, connect, and re-balance. The nights are about to become longer, and soon we’ll be turning inward. But first, let us reap the rewards of summer and manifest future good fortune. Tonight, we’ll do ritual and spellcrafting to give thanks for what we have, attract even more positivity and possibility, and ready ourselves for the upcoming shadow season. And of course, we’ll end with some feasting!
Please bring:
-A bit of food or drink to share
-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative (Thanksgiving and autumnal decor of any kind is welcome), and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged
-A candle and holder
-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.
And don't forget about Amy Hale's fantastic presentation coming up at Observatory in October:
Ithell Colquhoun
An illustrated lecture with Amy Hale
Date: Friday, October 5th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $10
Presented by Phantasmaphile
Until recently, Ithell Colquhoun was a footnote in the history of the Surrealist movement, but her enormous body of art and writings show her to, in fact, be one of the most prolific and unusual occult thinkers of the twentieth century. Her dedication to the Hermetic arts brought Colquhoun into contact with some of the most important movements and key occult thinkers in Britain during her life, including Thelema and the OTO, Witchcraft, Masonry, Golden Dawn, alchemy, Martinism, and Druidry. This illustrated talk will show how the key trends and figures of twentieth century British occulture directly influenced and intersected with the body of work of an important artist and seeker.
Amy Hale is an Anthropologist specializing in contemporary Celtic cultures with an emphasis on Cornwall and esoteric cultural history. She is the co-editor of New Directions in Celtic Studies (2000) and Inside Merlin’s Cave: A Cornish Arthurian Reader (2000) in addition to writing over 30 other articles ranging in topic from Neo Druidry to politics and occult culture. She is the past co-editor of the Journal of the Academic Study of Magic (with Susan Johnston Graf), and is working on a biography and several other projects related to the life and work of Ithell Colquhoun.
On a completely unrelated note, Channel Thirteen is airing The Met's entire Ring Cycle this week, every night at 8pm. My sweettart and I watched the making-of documentary last night, and it was absolutely fascinating and totally inspiring. Robert Lepage's stage design is stunning, an incredible testament to the power of technology married with unfettered imagination.
Lastly, I'm polishing up my Occult in Modern Art 101 presentation which I'll be giving at the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle this weekend. I hope to see some of you there, it looks to be an exceptional gathering.
I've written about Sciences Occultes before when they released their issue #0. It's a beautifully printed, full-color magazine that features fashion, art, and articles for those with a decidedly witchy aesthetic - albeit a very contemporary one. Well, their fall issue #1 is available for pre-order now, and I suggest you snatch up a copy fast before it, too, sells out. I'm honored to say I have an article in this issue about Samhain traditions, just in time for the shadow season. The rest of the content looks wonderful, and I'm thrilled to be in such great company. Here's a description:
Sciences Occultes Magazine #1
I could not be more excited for the upcoming release of mystic cartoonist Ron Regé, Jr's book, The Cartoon Utopia. It will be a hardbound tome chock full of his comics that explore magical tenets via his eye-twisting linework. Here's the full description:
Ron Regé, Jr. is a very unusual yet accomplished storyteller whose work exudes a passionate moral, idealistic core that sets him apart from his peers. The Cartoon Utopia is his Magnum Opus, a unique work of comic art that, in the words of its author, "focuses on ideas that I've become intrigued by that stem from magical, alchemical, ancient ideas & mystery schools." It's part sci-fi, part philosophy, part visual poetry, and part social manifesto. Regé's work exudes psychedelia, outsider rawness, and pure cartoonish joy.
In The Cartoon Utopia, "Utopians" of the future world are attempting to send messages through consciousness, outside of the constricts of time as we understand it. They live in a world of advanced collective consciousness and want to help us understand how to achieve what they have accomplished. They get together to perform this task in a way that evolved out of our current system of consuming information and entertainment. In other words, the opposite of television. Instead, these messages appear in the form of art, music and storytelling.
Praise for Ron Regé, Jr.:
"One of a handful of cartoonists in the history of the medium to not only reinvent comics to suit his own idiosyncratic impulses and inspirations as an artist, but also to imbue it with his own peculiar, ever changing emotional energy. To me, he is unquestionably one of 'the greats.'" – Chris Ware
"Slow down when you read his pictures and ornately lettered words, quivering, scintillating, radiant, and they will leave you awake and awakened." – Paul Gravett
As some of you may recall, I featured Regé's work in my art show, ALCHEMICALLY YOURS - and then unabashedly bought 3 of the 6 pieces myself. This book is going to be a masterpiece, and I can't wait to get my itchy fingers on it. You can pre-order a copy here, and you can get a sneak peak of the contents by clicking here.
I hope you're all feeling recharged from the blue moon and long holiday weekend. We're now entering the big art season, so there's lots of notices to share. I thought I'd collate some highlights here:
First up is Observatory/Morbid Anatomy maven Joanna Ebenstein's art show and month-long curatorial residency at Viktor Wynd Fine Art and Last Tuesday Society in London:
"Ecstatic Raptures and Immaculate Corpses: Visions of Death Made Beautiful in Italy" Exhibition Opening Party
Date: Thursday September 6
Time: 6:00-8:00 PM
Location: The Last Tuesday Society
Address: ***Offsite at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP
Admission: FREE
Produced by Morbid Anatomy
Click here to download Invitation
This Thursday, September 6, if you find yourself in London town, please join us for an opening party for an exhibition of photographs by Joanna Ebenstein of the Morbid Anatomy Blog, The Morbid Anatomy Library and Observatory with waxworks by Eleanor Crook and Sigrid Sarda.
In her many projects, ranging from photography to curation to writing, New York based Joanna Ebenstein utilizes a combination of art and scholarship to tease out the ways in which the pre-rational roots of modernity are sublimated into ostensibly "purely rational" cultural activities such as science and medicine.Much of her work uses this approach to investigate historical moments or artifacts where art and science, death and beauty, spectacle and edification, faith and empiricism meet in ways that trouble contemporary categorical expectations.In the exhibition "Ecstatic Raptures and Immaculate Corpses" Ebenstein turns this approach to an examination of the uncanny and powerfully resonant representations of the dead, martyred, and anatomized body in Italy, monuments to humankind's quest to eternally preserve the corporeal body and defeat death in arenas sacred and profane.The artifacts she finds in both the churches, charnel houeses and anatomical museums of Italy complicate our ideas of the proper roles of--and divisions between--science and religion, death and beauty; art and science; eros and thanatos; sacred and profane; body and soul.
In this exhibition, you will be introduced to tantalizing visions of death made beautiful, uncanny monuments to the human dream of life eternal. You will meet "Blessed Ismelda Lambertini," an adolescent who fell into a fatal swoon of overwhelming joy at the moment of her first communion with Jesus Christ, now commemorated in a chillingly beautiful wax effigy in a Bolognese church; The Slashed Beauty, swooning with a grace at once spiritual and worldly as she makes a solemn offering of her immaculate viscera; Saint Vittoria, with slashed neck and golden ringlets, her waxen form reliquary to her own powerful bones; and the magnificent and troubling Anatomical Venuses, rapturously ecstatic life-sized wax women reclining voluptuously on silk and velvet cushions, asleep in their crystal coffins, awaiting animation by inquisitive hands eager to dissect them into their dozens of demountable, exactingly anatomically correct, wax parts.
Theo will signing. The gentlemen from Secret Acres will be on hand. And bubbles will be served.
HURRAH!
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