Kenn Twofour "The Secret of the Circle"
Kenn Twofour creates layered wall hangings out of wood and screenprints. I'm particularly partial to this piece above: she looks like some sort of Mongolian lightning goddess, or a priestess from a psychedelic, extraterrestial race. All of his work feels part-punk, part-shrine, and that cross-pollination is exciting. Best part is, his pieces are super affordable, and can be purchased here.
(Thank you, Dale, for the heads up!)
I would give my eyeteeth to be able to see the Hilma af Klint retrospective that just opened at Stockholm's Moderna Museet. She was a Swedish mystic who channeled her spiritual experiences through her work via exquisite, abstract imagery. As with Kandinsky, she was inspired by the Theosophists, and her paintings seem very much cut from the same cloth as Besant and Leadbeater's Thought-Forms
Like
Vassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich, who have
previously been regarded as the main protagonists of abstract art, Hilma
af Klint was influenced by contemporary spiritual movements, such as
spiritism, theosophy and, later, anthroposophy. Hilma af Klint’s oeuvre
builds on the awareness of a spiritual dimension of consciousness, an
aspect that was being marginalised in an increasingly materialistic
world. When she painted, she believed that a higher consciousness was
speaking through her. In her astonishing works she combines geometric
shapes and symbols with ornamentation. Her multifaceted imagery strives
to give insights into the different dimensions of existence, where
microcosm and macrocosm reflect one another.
Hilma af Klint left
more than 1,000 paintings, watercolours and sketches. Although she
exhibited her early, representational works, she refused to show her
abstract paintings during her lifetime. In her will, she stipulated that
these groundbreaking works must not be shown publicly until 20 years
after her death. She was convinced that only then would the world be
fully and completely ready to understand their significance.
Moderna
Museet’s retrospective exhibition presents Hilma af Klint’s most
important abstract works, as well as paintings and works on paper that
have never before been presented publicly, enhancing our understanding
of her oeuvre. Her extensive diaries and notebooks have been included in
the research for this exhibition, which comprises some 200 paintings
and works on paper and will tour internationally in 2013-2015.
Hilma af Klint - A Pioneer of Abstraction is produced by Moderna Museet:
Curator: Iris Müller-Westerman
Assistant Curator: Jo Widoff
Curator Learning: Ylva Hillström
Scenography:
chezweitz&partner, Berlin. Detlef Weitz with Hans Hagermeister and Harald Niessner.
The exhibition tour is organized in collaboration with:
Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, 15 June-6 October 2013
Museo Picasso Málaga, Málaga, 21 October 2013-9 February 2014
I'm thrilled to announce that issue 3 of Abraxas International Journal of Esoteric Studies is now available. It's been an honor being an Assistant Editor over there, and this is the first one that I got to work on a bit, via my interview with the sublime occult artist, Jesse Bransford. The entire issue, of course, is amazing:
Abraxas No.3 offers 176 large format pages of essays, poetry, interviews and art. Printed using state-of-the-art offset lithography to our usual high standard, Abraxas 3 is richly illustrated and employs a variety of papers.
Contributions for this third issue include:
SPECIAL FEATURE Aleister Crowley: The Palermo Collection
Caves of Sorcerers: The American Beginnings of Crowley’s Art
William Breeze
Crowley The Painter in Cefalù and the Origins of the Palermo Collection
Giuseppe Di Liberti
Aleister Crowley, Painting, and the Works from the Palermo Collection
Marco Pasi
An Inventory of the Palermo Collection
Marco Pasi
Essays, plus
The Secret School vol. I, II, III
Christina Mitrentse
Saint Spider
Francesco Dimitri
Stones
Tomáš D’Aradia
Do Me Dada Style
Adel Souto
Sufism: A Theurgic Perspective
Zaheer Gulamhusein
A Place Apart
Christina Harrington
Poetry, plus
Tread Well
Robert Yates
In the Bookshop
Stephen Alexander
Designing the Hermitage
Paul Cowlan
of the stars, and two
Paul Hardacre
Hunting Amber (For Johs Pedersen)
Paul Cowlan
Casting Song
Siofra McSherry
Images and typography
8 English Rituals
Sara Hannant
Initiation
Geraldine Lambert
Lamia
Santiago Caruso
Untitled
Rik Garrett
Paracelsus: of the Umbratick Evester
Joseph Uccello
Interviews
Jesse Bransford: An Interview
Pam Grossman
The Eglantine Breath: An Interview with Denis Forkas Kostromitin
Robert Ansell
Hardback Special Issue £55.00
250 copies only: sewn hardback in jet-black cloth,
stamped in crimson, custom fitted dust-jacket. With an ORIGINAL signed
and numbered full-colour offset lithograph print by Denis Forkas
Kostromitin entitled Main de Gloire commissioned especially for this issue.
Standard Issue £15.00
sewn paperback
You can order it here, and I highly recommend you do so. (I also noticed that Issue 2 is being sold at a 50% discount here. The material isn't dated in any way, it is giant and glorious and comes with an occult music CD, so snatch that one up, too, if you haven't already.)
On a related note, you can read about how I became involved with Abraxas, as well as my feelings about art, magick, witches, and Alan Moore via this interview with me that disinfo.com just posted yesterday.
Sam Wolf Connelly "Stargazer"
Sam Wolf Connelly has enjoyed some nice success as an illustrator - and rightly so - but his fine art is what's really knocking my socks off right now. His show, Nocturne, just opened at Seattle's consistently wonderful Roq La Rue gallery, and the work therein is as dark and starry as one would hope. I'm particularly impressed with the variety of subjects and styles here. The pieces include portraits of haunted-looking ladies, nighttime pastorals, photographic scenes of ghostly domesticity, and a still-life of a truly sinister looking slice of cake that would send Thiebaud spinning in his coffin. Despite this, it all somehow feels cohesive, thanks to their sharing of a lovely and shadowy thread.
I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching a Water Magick Ritual Workshop at Observatory on Friday, March 15th. Full info below. Drop me an email to RSVP, and looking forward to seeing some of you there:
Remedios Varo “Reflejo lunar” 1961
With Pam Grossman
Date: Friday, March 15th
Time: 7:30-9pm
Admission: $20 ***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com, as class size is limited.
Presented by Phantasmaphile
Water is one of the most abundant elements we have, and working with it can yield some of the most potent spells in one’s magickal practice. Seas surround us, rain washes over us, and each of us has as a private river within our bodies in the form of blood. Beguilingly simple, yet infinitely deep, water is connected to the tides, the moon, and the well of the unconscious. The alchemical principles of solve and solutio teach us that water helps us let go of all we no longer need, while also reminding us to, quite literally, go with the flow.
In this ritual workshop, we’ll explore several aspects of water magick, including healing baths, herbal infusions, and purification rituals. You’ll learn to create your own magickal bath, as well a few other water spells to help you manifest what you desire and wash away all that’s no longer serving you. We’ll also discuss myths and deities who are associated with this element, and whom you can call upon when in need of guidance or grace.
Please bring:
-A bowl for mixing. A standard soup-sized bowl, or slightly larger, is fine.
-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.
Michael Page "Winter Heat" 2012
I confess I sometimes use Phantasmaphile as art therapy. A chilly, dreary day like today comes along, and I have no choice but to post an image like Michael Page's aptly named "Winter Heat," and give myself a shot in the arm. I may not be able to cloak myself in petalled veils of warmth right now, or walk on a carpet of vermillion flowers. But at least I can gaze upon this peculiar, exquisite painting and raise my inner temperature a degree or two. Bonus points for the stag cameo.
Paula Duró "Paisaje con estrellas y raíces"
I thought this image of Paula Duró's was an apt one after yesterday's Year of the Witch/Year of the Snake post. All of her work is dreamy, prismatic, and populated with mystic men and witchy women.
Chad Merritt
Early last year, with all of the 2012 Mayan Calendar End-of-Days hubbub reaching fever pitch, I thought it best to figure out something to look forward to: after all, the apocalypse can be such a drag, darling. Yes, the world is supposed to end, but what next then? Surely there had to be a light at the end of the voidant tunnel. So a few months ago, I proclaimed to my friends and readers that 2013 would be the Year of the Witch - a statement made with equal parts sincerity and salt.
The numerological symbolism was obvious of course: 13 moons in a year, 13 fertility cycles, 13 witches in a coven. It’s a number considered unlucky and unlovely for so long, we’ve seemed to have forgotten why, while still obliterating it from our tallest buildings. And so it’s a number inherently bound up in feminine magic, and thus represents a deification of something persecuted; a profanity resacralized, unsullied and crowned.
The archetype of the witch is long overdue for celebration. Daughters, mothers, queens, virgins, wives, et al. derive meaning from their relation to another person. Witches, on the other hand, have power on their own terms. They create. They praise. They commune with nature / Spirit / God/dess / Choose-your-own-semantics, freely, and free of any mediator. But most importantly: they make things happen. The best definition of magic I’ve been able to come up with is “symbolic action with intent” – “action” being the operative word. Witches are midwives to metamorphosis. They are magical women, and they, quite literally, change the world.
Amazingly, though not surprisingly, as soon as I named 2013 the Year of the Witch, I began to see synchronicities and sympathetic signs all around me. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the 50th anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, two of the past century’s most quake-making reclamations of female power. Obama’s inaugural civil rights incantation of "Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall" (“...and Salem,” a friend of mine half-joked), began with the name of one of the most pivotal women’s rights gatherings in history. This year, four women were sworn into all of the “Live Free or Die” state’s top government seats. And Hillary Clinton, arguably the most powerful woman in American history, ended her tenure as Secretary of State last month with the following words:
“If women and girls everywhere were treated as equal to men in rights, dignity, and opportunity, we would see political and economic progress everywhere. So this is not only a moral issue, which, of course, it is. It is an economic issue and a security issue, and it is the unfinished business of the 21st century.”
Already this year, we’ve seen an unprecedented occurrence of powerful women emanating through our screens. The 70th annual Golden Globes were hosted by two women for the first time; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are the respective stars of their decidedly feminist TV shows, and two awards were given to Lena Dunham, the creator and star of her own appropriately enough named show, GIRLS. Tavi Gevinson (a real “voice of a generation”) publicly declared that she believes in magic on her ever-more popular online teen girl magazine, Rookie. The Super Bowl - the most watched television event in America - had entertainment exclusively by women (and all African American women to boot). And whether or not Beyonce’s half-time hand gesture was or was not an Illuminati sign is less interesting to me than the fact that the triangle is also the symbol of the triple goddess. Do I think that’s what she intended? Almost definitely not. Yet there it was, flashing in front of millions of eyeballs, then self-replicating endlessly in a digi-jungle of tweets and animated gifs. Symbols are tricksters. Sometimes they speak in the subtlest ciphers. And sometimes, they bubble up in the collective cauldron via a black-leather-clad demi-goddess for all the world to see. And witch stories are being told all around us this year. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, American Horror Story: Salem, Beautiful Creatures, Oz the Great & Powerful, are just a few titles that are slated for release in 2013. It’s not that we haven’t had centuries of these stories preceding us, but it seems we are witnessing a witchly tipping point.
It’s long been considered that one
of the primary symbols of feminine magic is the snake. There’s Eve’s serpent of course, but also the
Minoan snake goddess, Medusa, Mami Wata, & Ix Chel to name but a few. Snake magic corresponds to the holiest cycle
there is: Life, death, resurrection. Like
a snake each month, fertile women shed their own inner skins. Double snakes show up in esoteric systems
around the world - ouroboros, caduceus, kundalini, Quetzalcoatl, the naga, the
yin-yang - and they symbolize the life force (Read Jeremy Narby’s The Cosmic Serpent
I know some of you are thinking: but what about the men? Can’t males be witches? Isn’t matriarchy just as bad as patriarchy?
Well, that’s the beauty of an archetype: it can be embodied by anyone, regardless of age, gender, looks, background. Girls are taught from the time they’re born to empathize with both male and female characters. When I was growing up, I didn’t only want to make out with David Bowie (hello, Labyrinth): I also wanted to be David Bowie. I could relate to the Holdens & Morpheuses & Bernard Mickey Wrangles as much as I could to the Phoebes & Rose Walkers & Princess Leigh-Cheris. And we’re starting to see a new generation of boys who instinctively do the same. Black and silver Easy-Bake Ovens and gender-neutral Harrod’s toys help, but so do parents who take all of their kids to watch Artemisian heroines like Merida and Katniss flinging their arrows. And there are certainly plenty of adult men who have been embracing the way of the witch. On a blatant level, I can’t help but notice that each spell crafting class I teach has more male attendees than the last. But we also have leaders like Al Gore and Nicholas Kristof and Richard Branson and Prince Charles loudly championing environmentalism and women’s rights. They are helping to usher in an age of higher consciousness and responsibility, and, though they probably wouldn’t use these words themselves, they’re positively swimming in yin.
And so, this is the year when I predict we will all more fully channel the spirit of the witch. Honoring the earth and our bodies; shifting away from mass-market medicines and agri-business toward natural healing and whole foods; sharing our resources rather than focusing on mere accumulation of goods; collaborating and communicating more openly; helping to elevate women and girls to equality all over the world: these are all grand workings of feminine magic that we are manifesting together.
So for 2013, I wish you more witching. More opportunities to claim your power, to slough off old skin, to ritualize your life. May your year have you feeling more attuned to the rhythms of nature, more connected to one another, and more plugged into planet and purpose. The apocalypse has happened, my friends, and it’s still happening. Our task at hand is to bring about the end of the old world, but then to create something vital and shining and new. Instead of four horses, we’re riding in on brooms.
Drew Mosley "Seeker" 2012
I guess it's Fire Week on Phantasmaphile, cause here's another incendiary piece that's currently warming my winter heart. Drew Mosley paints some of the most charming work I've ever laid eyes on. His belles and beasties look folksy at first, but their thoughtful detailing (sweet little toes!) and sharp surprises (pointy little dagger!) give them some extra flavor and bite.
Emma Bennett "Ardour" 2011
Emma Bennett paints in the style of the Old Masters, but with a decidely gothique twist. Her beautiful still life clusters of petals, fruit, and game glow like jewels against their black backgrounds, and look nearly photographic. (Brigid is still on my mind, post-Imbolc, so I thought these flaming flowers were an appropriate acknowledgement.)
Megan Cump "Feral" 2010
I had the pleasure of meeting Megan Cump this past weekend, and she mentioned that she was "an artist." Little did I know she meant "a brilliant and witchly photographer" (my words, not hers). Her site features two series, and I love them both. "Black moon" is full of nocturnal images with flame-colored accents and aberrations, replete with glowing-eyed creatures and icy lagoons. "Feral" is a series of (presumably) self-portraits in breathtaking landscapes. The composition of all of her work is truly divine: she leaves lots of space for breath-catching and creates thoughtful vignettes that celebrate nature's mystery and majesty.
Nick Mann AKA Doodles "ASTRAL RISE" 2011
Nick Mann, who more often goes by the moniker Doodles, creates the kind of ebullient work that has me go about my day with a lighter step. Whether painting on paper or sacralizing spaces around the world with his large-scale murals, his approach feels ecstatic and colorfully reverential. Celestial patterns, winged beings, unfurling vines, bearded pilgrims, and rainbow maidens populate his world in a mythic mash-up that feels unified, despite its disparate parts. His work makes me want to listen to some Larkin Grimm and bliss out for a while.
Yes indeed, my (early) birthday party / Observatory's RESURRECTION fundraiser / art opening gala is this Saturday at 8pm. Won't you join us?
Observatory has had quite a year, full of fires, floods, threats of floods, and much more besides. On Saturday, February 2nd, we cordially invite you to join us in celebrating our against-the-odds survival in the face of it all with our 4th anniversary back-from-the-dead-themed fundraiser. This party will also serve as the inauguration for our “Resurrection” group show, which will open to the public this evening.
The party will feature:
* Costume contest with Celebrity Judge Evan Michelson of TV’s Oddities. Best “resurrection” costume wins!
* Screening of brand new episodes from Ronni Thomas’ Midnight Archive series
* Charm & handsomeship by MC Lord Whimsy
* Music by The Mangoose
* Kikkerland giveaways
* Glorious raffle prizes including a gift certificate from Palo Santo restaurant; goodies from Twig Terrariums, books and CDs from green witch Robin Rose Bennett; Books and merch from Morbid Anatomy; Tarot readings by Shannon Taggart; Abraxas Esoteric Journal; Audiobooks from Hachette, and more!
* Artwork by Grace Baxter, Ben Blatt, Jesse Bransford, Ryan Matthew Cohn, Joanna Ebenstein, Barbara Ensor, Ethan Gould, Pam Grossman, Megan Hays, Katie Innamorato, Sue Jeiven, Amber Joliffe, Megan Murtha, Annysa Ng, Rebeca Olguin, Katy Pierce, Nikki Romanello, Sigrid Sarda, Dana Sherwood, Mark Splatter, Daisy Tainton, Shannon Taggart & Twig Terrariums
* Lots of booze & treats! YES!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Just a reminder that I'll be teaching this workshop tomorrow at Observatory. Please email me to RSVP. Looking forward to seeing some of you then!
Remedios Varo “The Call” 1961
With Pam Grossman
Date: Saturday, January 26th
Time: 3-4:30pm
Admission: $20 ***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com, as class size is limited.
Presented by Phantasmaphile
Tonight will be the first full moon of the new year. Called “Wolf Moon” or “Ice Moon,” it’s associated with the dead of winter, when wolves howl hungrily in the dark. But in a few days, it will also be Imbolc – or Brigid’s Day – a festival of fire magick that traditionally corresponds to the birth of lambs and other new life.
In this ritual workshop, we’ll explore these polarities, keep the cold at bay, and use the power of the full moon to light our way into the year ahead. You’ll learn to carve your own magick candle, as well a few other fire spells to help you blaze your intentions into being. We’ll also discuss herbs and spices that can help burn away the winter blues, and invite warmth and vitality into our bodies and lives.
Please bring:
-A candle to carve. As Judika Illes says, “The size is up to you, but the larger and more substantial the candle, the more surface space is available for carving symbols into it. Birthday candles and tea lights are too small and tapers tend to break. Pillar and round votive candles are best.”
-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.
Mina Sewell Mancuso "In Sole"
Mina Sewell Mancuso embroiders alchemical emblems under the moniker Fila Arcana, and I'm completely charmed by them. In addition to her intricate hooped works, like the one above, she makes collars and pennants, stitched with tarot swords, moon phases, and all-seeing eyes. I want to own pretty much all of these, and am adding her shop to my birthday wish list. Go, Team Ouroboros!
Suzanne Treister "The Magician"
I already covered Suzanne Treister's newest show, "Hexen 2.0" when it was in London last year, but it's finally made its way to NYC, so thought it worth another mention. It opened at PPOW on the 17th, and will be up through Feb 23rd, which makes it a perfectly weird and wonderful retreat from the coldfront we're currently experiencing. Nothing like drawings of conspiracy theories, psychedelica, fringe science, tarot cards, and governmental experimentation to keep you warm.
Suzanne Treister
HEXEN 2.0
January 17 – February 23, 2013
P.P.O.W is pleased to announce the opening of HEXEN 2.0, Suzanne
Treister's second solo exhibition with the gallery. HEXEN 2.0 looks into
histories of scientific research behind government programs of mass
control, investigating parallel histories of countercultural and grass
roots movements. Treister's HEXEN 2.0 charts, within a framework of
post-WWII U.S. governmental and military imperatives, the coming
together of scientific and social sciences through the development of
cybernetics, the history of the internet, the rise of Web 2.0, increased
intelligence gathering and implications for the future of new systems
of societal manipulation towards a control society.
HEXEN 2.0 specifically investigates the participants of the seminal Macy
Conferences (1946-1953), whose primary goal was to set the foundations
for a general science of the workings of the human mind. Treister's
project simultaneously looks at diverse philosophical, literary and
political responses to advances in technology including the claims of
Anarcho-Primitivism and Post Leftism, Theodore Kaczynski/The Unabomber,
Technogaianism and Transhumanism, and traces precursory ideas such as
those of Thoreau, Warren, Heidegger and Adorno in relation to visions of
utopic and dystopic futures from science-fiction literature and film.
The artworks exhibited are based on actual events, people, histories and
scientific projections of the future. They consist of alchemical
diagrams, a Tarot deck, photo-text works, pencil drawings, a video, and
the website HEXEN 2.0, offering a space where one may use the works as a
tool to envision possible alternative futures.
Suzanne Treister studied at St Martin's School of Art, London
(1978-1981) and Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (1981-1982)
and currently lives and works in London. Primarily a painter through the
1980s, Treister was a pioneer in the digital/new media/web based field
from the beginning of the 1990s, developing fictional worlds and
international collaborative organizations. Recent exhibitions and events
include solo and group shows at the Science Museum, London; Schirn
Kunsthalle, Frankfurt;Raven Row, London; Secession, Vienna; Museum of
Contemporary Art (CAPC) Bordeaux; Annely Juda Fine Art, London; and Tate
Britain, London. Treister's work is held in private and public
collections including Tate Britain, EMI Paris, Arts Council of England,
Center for Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu (CoCA), Poland, and AXA
Collection.
Jesse Bransford "The Fourth Pyramid" installation, detail 2013
If I could be anywhere in the world tomorrow night, it would be at Jesse Bransford's opening for his incredible ceremonial magic installation, "The Fourth Pyramid," at the Gavelston Artist Residency. His room of painted occult mandalas, talismans, and planetary altar pieces must be a powerful place for meditation of the wide-eyed variety. Can we vote to make this permanent? If so, consider my ballot cast. More info here:
Galveston Artist Residency presents: The Fourth Pyramid.
Opening January 19th 2013, 6-9PM.
This is our magic spell.
We drive past the three pyramids every time we enter or leave the island. We know what they contain. What is missing? What is the fourth Pyramid?
It has become a metaphor for our desire to bring into existence something that wasn’t here before – something better. It is our desire to make Galveston the most beautiful place in the world, if only for one shimmering moment. When you begin to tread down this transformative path, you are in the realm of magic.
This is our magic spell.
For our first exhibition of 2013, marking our one-year anniversary on this island, GAR has teamed up with artist Jesse Bransford to bring about the existence of THE FOURTH PYRAMID. If ever there were an artist who could make transformative magic a reality it would be Bransford. Building off of nearly ten years of research, Bransford’s drawings and numerical symbols transform the GAR gallery into a space charged with possibility, a three dimensional spell, an incantation you can move through. The artist invokes many magical traditions to create his work, but especially focuses on the European Renaissance magical tradition. The symbols feel at once familiar and incredibly alien. Like a language forgotten, or a past life only glimpsed through dreams. They are universal and yet illegible. Phenomenal and noumenal.
This is our magic spell.
Under the influence of these symbols, using the forgotten language, we extend the magic into Galveston itself. The wind whispers to the wasted land, the images flash: sunrise, sunset, sulphur pit, the foaming tide, a hand traces patterns on sun drenched sheets, the mouth opens to speak.
THE FOURTH PYRAMID appears.
Jesse Bransford is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work is exhibited internationally. He holds degrees from the New School for Social Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and Columbia University (MFA). An associate professor at New York University, Bransford’s work has been involved with belief and the visual systems it creates since the 1990s. Research into color meaning and cultural syncretism led to the occult traditions in general and the work of John Dee and Henry Cornelius Agrippa specifically. His work is represented by Feature Inc. in New York and can be seen extensively documented on the website www.sevenseven.com, a site he has operated and maintained since 1997.
Miriam Wosk "Bones of the Golden Serpent" 2008
It's both a shame and a boon that Miriam Wosk's pieces don't translate well online. In person, they are absolutely gigantic, and covered with textured papers, metallic paint, and sequins galore. Lucky Californians will get to bask in their literal radiance via Abundance and Devotion, a major survey of her work opening on Friday, January 18th at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Save the date, friends! It's Observatory's annual fundraiser (and my early birthday party!) on Sat, Feb 2nd. The theme this year is RESURRECTION, which we thought apt, considering the various natural and man-made disasters our space has survived this past year. This party will also serve as the opening for our RESURRECTION art show as well. Here's the info:
Observatory has had quite a year, full of fires, floods, threats of floods, and much more besides. On Saturday, February 2nd, we cordially invite you to join us in celebrating our against-the-odds survival in the face of it all with our 4th anniversary back-from-the-dead-themed fundraiser. This party will also serve as the inauguration for our “Resurrection” group show, which will open to the public this evening.
The party will feature:
* Costume contest with Celebrity Judge Evan Michelson of TV’s Oddities. Best “resurrection” costume wins!
* Screening of brand new episodes from Ronni Thomas’ Midnight Archive series
* Charm & handsomeship by MC Lord Whimsy
* Music by DJ Mangoose
* Kikkerland giveaways
* Glorious raffle prizes including a gift certificate from Palo Santo restaurant; books and CDs from green witch Robin Rose Bennett; Books and merch from Morbid Anatomy; Tarot readings by Shannon Taggart; Abraxas Esoteric Journal; Audiobooks from Hachette, and more!
* Artwork by Grace Baxter, Ben Blatt, Jesse Bransford, Ryan Matthew Cohn, Joanna Ebenstein, Barbara Ensor, Ethan Gould, Pam Grossman, Megan Hays, Katie Innamorato, Sue Jeiven, Megan Murtha, Rebeca Olguin, Katy Pierce, Sigrid Sarda, Dana Sherwood, Mark Splatter, Daisy Tainton, & Shannon Taggart
* Lots of booze & treats! YES!
Looking forward to seeing you at the party on February 2nd, and/or during the run of the show.
Anj Smith "The Sentry" 2012
Anj Smith's show, "The Flowering of Phantoms" opens next Tuesday at Hauser & Wirth, and it looks tremendous. It features portraits of women bedecked with floral symbols, plant sprigs, bugs, and bows, as well as her signature surrealist landscapes. I love how Smith's work walks the fine line between fecundity and decay. Her ornamented ladies are beautiful, but with dark circles under their eyes. Upon examination of her paintings, one is as likely to discover a hive of jewels as a pile of tiny skulls. There is so much detail in each piece, they really beg to be seen in person. More show info below:
15 January – 23 February 2013, Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street
Opening: Tuesday 15 January 6 – 8 pm
New York, NY… The eerie, luminous, compact portraits and landscapes of London-based artist Anj Smith are exercises in extravagant meticulousness. The magic of her laboriously depicted figures and motifs, however, derives in large part from the contrast Smith creates in surrounding areas of loamy, thickly applied impasto. This formal incongruence – between the intricate and the inchoate, between a jewel-like glow and rough scratchings, between filigree and mire – is crucial to Smith’s work. It suggests that she seeks to navigate a murky psychological space far beyond the reach of her virtuosic single-bristle brush. In her world, certainty is just a vestige of the past, with everything today existing in a fragile, constantly shifting instability.
Beginning 15 January 2013, Hauser & Wirth New York will present ‘Anj Smith: The Flowering of Phantoms’, an exhibition of new paintings that will remain on view in the gallery’s East 69th Street townhouse through 23 February. The exhibition coincides with the publication of ‘Anj Smith – Paintings’, the first major monograph devoted to the artist’s work.
With the title of her exhibition, Anj Smith points to the central theme of her practice. Citing Netherlandish vanitas paintings, she has written, ‘Those artists worked with a visual language comprised of symbols that had very clear, established meanings, codified and knowable. Back then a skull was depicted to remind viewers of their mortality. In our time – and therefore in my work – there is no single concrete narrative. Symbols no longer stand for fixed intentions and a skull can mean pretty much anything, including, at the moment, an iconic motif for a scarf. Even so, I feel those old defunct symbols retain a kind of ‘half-life’ meaning, a vestige of their purpose. As their original content decays in the present, they still suggest something to us, even if that ‘something’ is less clear and is morphing into something else’. In Smith’s paintings, these decaying phantoms of meaning are phenomena in their own right, blossoming literally and figuratively, suggesting multiple new, if bewildering, meanings as they evolve.
A thematic corollary to such general elusiveness is the gender ambiguity in many of Smith’s portraits. In ‘The Moon, Like a Flower’, the delicate features of a sitter with long blonde hair might equally be described as feminine or effeminate, and are interrupted by sprouting facial hair that could indicate male pubescence. In ‘The Sentry’, the viewer’s eye sweeps down from a lipsticked mouth and intricate headpiece of feathers and fossils, to a pair of massive masculine thighs and a flower-covered codpiece that protects the mystery of the figure’s identity. Both isolated and on display, these subjects maintain their distance from the viewer but are far from idle: Smith’s subjects deliberately frustrate norms of composure, decorum and self-possession. Half naked and at the same time elaborately attired, their fantastical ensembles simultaneously camouflage and affirm individuality.
In the works on view in ‘The Flowering of Phantoms’ – in such formal portraits such as ‘Ziggy’ and ‘High Blue Country’, as well as the wider compositions like ‘New Blooms at The Ossuary’ – organic and inorganic objects alike tend to snake, coil, twine, twist, and weave, teasing the eye with tendrils, creepers, roots, and veins. By collapsing the traditional genres of ‘portrait’ and ‘landscape’, Smith suggests a territory in which neither one is adequate to represent contemporary experience. Time is often fragmented in Smith’s scenes, which appear simultaneously retroactive and futuristic but neither firmly of the past or the present. In ‘Fruits Of The Forest’, fossils seem to decay into base-matter faster than the ‘fruits’ of such fashion sensations as sequined fabric. While the artist is rendering a bleak and inhospitable environment, she suggests possibility: The makeshift structures she depicts may be cobbled together from wire, cigarette butts and twigs, but between them gauzy tangles of exquisite fabric stretch into new configurations.
Sam Thomas
If you went looking for me when I was a kid, there's a good chance you'd find me in the library, somewhere between Dewey Decimal sections 001.9 and 135. This piece by Sam Thomas delights me for that reason, and it's such a mash-up between so much stuff I've loved since that time: Easter Island, Nessie, ancient Egypt, UFOs, secret societies...the list goes on. Best of all, it's all rendered impeccably in what looks to me like colored pencil. The rest of his work is just as impressive, so do have a look.
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