Another Scots artist who rejects naturalism in favour of an aesthetic dedicated to the imaginative, strange, and unique, Robert Powell is an Edinburgh artist whose art is ''interested in encyclopaedic and organisational forms, in representations of reality whose straining after universality is constantly subverted as they are enmeshed in a web of cultural and personal … Continue reading The Art of Robert Powell
Untitled. Perhaps I will call it TRAPPED, or ENTRAPMENT? I am not in the habit of visiting Pinterest very often, but, sometimes, in that vast cybernetic labyrinth, one comes across something very interesting. In a gallery of images inspired by the Brothers Quay, I came across one Cathy Rose. Cathy Rose is an American … Continue reading The Art of Cathy Rose
Ballard photographed by Fay Godwin. He seems in the middle of some psychic rapture or inspiration. Ten years ago today, James Graham Ballard passed away. The prophet of the motorways and the suburbanisation of everything, when phantasies proliferate in mass media, desires are summoned by technology, and no-man's lands invite the wandering eye, we … Continue reading J.G. Ballard
Number Six, a man who keeps to himself, is stalked by Rover. It was on this day, ten years ago, that the terrific Patrick McGoohan passed away. A formidable and moody presence, the dullest of dramas was always enlivened by his charm and elegance. The Prisoner is one of my all-time favourite things ever … Continue reading Patrick McGoohan
Untitled. I have been aware of the art and writings of the Highland artist, Norman Shaw (born 1970), since 2014/15, but, for a while, I could not find his website nor the artwork, even though I had written about him before. Mr. Shaw has a recognizable style and aesthetic that chimes with me; most … Continue reading The Fantastic Art of Norman Shaw
Untitled. Another fascinating yet obscure artist who has been brought to my attention. Stefan Zechowski (1912-1984) was a Polish artist who had the misfortune to be active in the era of the Stalinists, who did not look kindly upon his work. His home was set alight by a neighbour, resulting in the loss of many … Continue reading The Art of Stefan Zechowski
Eduardo Paolozzi, J.G. Ballard, Euphoria Bliss, and company at the Royal Academy of Art, 1972. My appreciation for the great collage artist and sculptor, Eduardo Paolozzi, is more than localized interest; his friendship with J.G. Ballard notwithstanding, I have always leaned more towards his sculptures and his slightly less Americanized collages. I have always … Continue reading The History of Nothing, by Eduardo Paolozzi
Sisters Jerzy Janisch (1901 - 1962) was a Polish artist of the fantastic and surrealistic who worked in painting and photomontage. Around the early fifties, he worked in a social realist vein, but it is his surrealist pieces which survive the waves of Time. They are rather good. Fairy Composition Man … Continue reading The Art of Jerzy Janisch
Cover art by Harry Clarke. I have been informed that the sales of the excellent Hippocampus Press poetry journal, Spectral Realms, have, regrettably, been rather poor. Poetry of a fantastical and macabre nature has undergone something of a renaissance over the past decade, almost all of it drawing upon the poetic lineage of Poe and Clark … Continue reading Spectral Realms
It was unfortunate to hear of the passing of singer, songwriter, and musician, Mark E. Smith, the frontman for the post-punk band, The Fall. Admittedly, I am still something of a novice to The Fall when it comes to their music, but I had always known that Smith was an admirer of the likes … Continue reading Mark E. Smith (1957-2018)
