Digital collage | poemimage

Category: Digital collage

December 10, 2014

Nothing Is Real… Strawberry Fields Forever

John Lennon & the gates of

Strawberry Field

Where he played

As a young boy…

(and still)

Nothing is real…

Strawberry Fields Forever.

Every year at this time

The hole

Where the spark of you

Was,

…it must be high or low,

Appearing

Like a cosmic holograph,

Zooming into view,

A thumbprint,

Touching &

Sailing into the sound

Of all that is

Going down.

Rockabilly blues overlap into

A new dimension

You, again, deliver us into…

(and still)

Nothing is real…

Strawberry Fields Forever.

Steering through,

Beyond,

Ornately fashioned

Gates of Perception…

Ah, Irish John of England,

Blake, Luddites and

Nell Gwyn,

Entering that space

Within your self,

Where

In your absence

You can always be.

Let me take you

down…

Cause I’m going to…

(and still)

Nothing is real…

Strawberry Fields Forever.

Lyrics to Strawberry Fields Forever: http://letras.com/the-beatles/186/

Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles video: http://vimeo.com/75657441

I had a friend in high school who would wear all black clothing, as well as sunglasses, walk beneath a black umbrella no matter the weather, and hitchhike at night. He laughed that he wanted to make people wonder whether they had actually seen somebody or not. We thumbed a ride a couple miles to a diner past the edge of town, with small jukeboxes on the counter, spending all our spare change playing Strawberry Fields Forever. He was, of course, in black, the small town atmosphere verging on confrontational, and the music, even though coming from tiny speakers, aiming rays of otherworldly colours and sensations into one’s mind. This song has never ceased to touch my sense of what might be mystical. I know I am not alone in missing John Lennon terribly.

as a boy

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December 7, 2014

Snowing Lightly & I am Looking for Pyramids in the Street

Clearly the street sign is warning me about pyramids ahead.

Maybe around the corner. By the school or the park.

My neighbours say no. This is about speed bumps.

It’s simply a way of saying go slow. Drive slowly.

My neighbours tend to minimize everything.

I think this time they are wrong.

They say I have no idea what they saw driving up here tonight.

That I have no idea what they have been through.

That in the short time I have left I need to be more open to the experiences of others.

I said ‘What?’

In the public domain photos of Wikipedia Commons I found a link to images of cultural expression in Finland following World War 2:

http://pomus.net/kehityslinjat/1945-1959

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December 2, 2014

William of The Nile

montage a

The Pharaoh taught William

How to manipulate

Vibrational fields.

montage e

& William Blake taught The Pharaoh

How to bake with plums,

& How to shake free from ever-unchanging

Sacred taboos.

montage b

The skin of the plum

A portal,

As deep and dark as royal magic.

montage f

(I do not own the copyright to the original images/ William Blake artwork/ the art of ancient Egypt, nor do I claim such. I have created a new digital work for purposes of parody or commentary under fair use provisions.)

montage a

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November 27, 2014

In Rome, do as the Romans do…

two figures

The tourist marvels at the intricate figures and stories on carved stone columns in Rome,

spore

Imagining a stonemason/carver scooped up by the Roman Legions and brought as a slave with his family alongside for his ‘new’ life,

columnszo

He pictures the artisan/slave at work chiselling when a small stone chip flies up hitting his eye.

sculpture and no

He lives nearby and walks home to his hut, where his wife daubs at his eye with a cloth, removing the object.

spore

The tourist turns to go, and after walking a few seconds,

Sees a couple involved in some first aid type of situation.

trailing line

The man is wearing a camera around his neck,

slave 2

And the woman is wiping at his eye with a handkerchief.

The tourist tells his traveling companion about this coincidence and she says ‘Maybe they’re not here.’

some sculpture

I’m remembering a trip to Italy in 2001 like it just happened.

I wasn’t originally involved in what turned out to be an Italian-Canadian art education initiative: a visual artist and a musician visiting schools in the north (near Bologna) and the south (Pozzuoli – on the coast south of Naples).

wing

It was soon after 9-1-1 and I think somebody got cold feet.

new face

In spite of being stressed about the idea of flying I took the advice given, such as, Are you crazy? Pass up a paid trip to Italy?

spore

It was of course amazing.

two new

The synchronicity of this event has puzzled me ever since.

distant past

Archival ink drawing in my Moleskin sketchbook & details of Roman sculpture (Wikipedia)

some sculpture

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November 21, 2014

Starry, Starry Snow

starry, starry, snow

I saw Vincent walking down my street.

He said, ‘I’m cold.’

I said, ‘You’re not alone.’

He said, ‘Finally.’

starry starry snow & vincent
Phone camera: Toronto street

NASA space image

Vincent Van Gogh: ‘Self-Portrait with Straw Hat’

Paris: Summer, 1887

Oil on Canvas

The Detroit Institue of Arts

vincent 3

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November 15, 2014

The God Who Only Knows Four Words by Hafiz

dance dance wherever

Every

Child

z13

Has known God,

z28-1 (dragged)

Not the God of names,

dance book 7 1

Not the God of don’ts,

Not the God who ever does

Anything weird,

dance book12

But the God who only knows four words

And keeps repeating them, saying:

new yellow

“Come dance with Me.”

Come

wearable blue copy

Dance.

ancient egyptian

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

collage 5

One summer a few years ago (maybe more than a few – the time seems to fly) I created wearable paintings (acrylic paint on light canvas) with young dancers. I marvelled at how they adapted to the not-so-pliable fabric enclosing their movements. Like watching a pack of playing or Tarot Cards in motion. Swirling angles and flashes of colour. Only found a few photographs – hence the repetition in design.

softly 60s style z10

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November 14, 2014

Double Vision

The left hand and the right hand begin working,

peanuts

Working to create double vision,

new fire h

Perceptualizing the miracle, painting the town red.

einstein einstein

Shrouded within a shimmering portal, same as before,

& Beneath the reflection a mirrored dream of innocence.

In the innocence of mirrored images a mechanism round as a marble

Rises and falls. Shattering above twin, holy worlds. Same as before.

strawberries final

Within this terrible possibility perhaps lies the intrigue,

simone b

An intrigue beyond failure,

Beyond the post-modern landscape any failure is a reassurance.

The reassurance of a terrible possibility.

Mystery centres wrestle with the impending implosion,

Endeavoring round the clock using the latest technology,

Such as sound in the centre of trees,

Processing data, round as a marble,

Rising like a feather in the breeze,

Until night with the force of an atomic blast

Arrives, inspiring the melancholy of the absurd, forever.

The images above were taken from the internet. I do not own the copyright and have recomposed them for purposes of non-commercial parody or commentary under fair use provisions. The personalities are Ho Chi Minh, Einstein’s brain, young John Lennon, actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, author Simon de Beauvoir, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 16th Century painting Tower of Babel. Film stills are from The Keystone Cops. The mirror is Egyptian, from the 18th Century, held by the Brooklyn Museum. The computer scientist ‘unknown.’

8 Comments

November 11, 2014

To Such Belong the Kingdom of the Heavens: A Visual Essay on The 11th Hour of The 11th Day of The 11th Month (Remembrance Day)

As I understand the accepted wisdom Jesus was a peacemaker. Reflecting upon Remembrance Day one cannot help but think of how children (and civilians) are affected by war. I have incorporated the biblical quotes/visual references into this digital essay as a way of contemplating the historical workings of religion towards war.

one four

‘Jesus however said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them; for it is to those who are childlike that the Kingdom of the Heavens belongs.’ – Weymouth New Testament, Matthew 19:14

‘Blessed are the Peacemakers…’ – Matthew 5:9

Images of Christ from the Ravenna Mosaics – a public domain image from Wikipedia Commons.

Credit: Photos of children from the online collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art released for non-commercial adaption. I have used images from the great photographers Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Johan Hayemeyer. If I have misunderstood the terms of conditions attached to these images I will remove the digital collages from online publication.

final