In an image saturated society which has more impact and why?
Of course there are several considerations to make before answering such a question.
“image saturated society” ~
What does that mean?
How does it shape our perceptions and tastes?
How does it determine our escalating sense of reality?
How does it change how we process/create the images we see?
Where is the “truth” in an image? – What is “true” in an image?
“Photo’s create a world,
but I don’t know what’s happening
outside of the frame.”
“You know the world of the photo’s,
but not the world they photographed.”
~ quotes by Gerhard Richter from the DVD, GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING
When it comes to photography I enjoy it and I am also constantly dissatisfied with it. The two quotes above, by Gerhard Richter seem to get to the crux of the matter for me. A photo can seem real enough but it isn’t. And it is that pretense of reality that everyone seems sucked into that I have trouble with.
I’ve destroyed almost as many of my photos as I’ve printed for this very reason. I want to create art; something that is lasting and meaningful – but all I can seem to create are images. ~ Terry S. Amstutz (a.k.a. mobius faith)
Nature can teach us so many things if we only take the time to stop and listen. This photo was taken at a local area called Gorge Metro Park. And yes it does live up to its name since it is a large rocky gorge carved out by the Cuyahoga River over centuries and cuts right through the city of Cuyahoga Falls. There are several trails in this park where one can observe huge rock overhangs, cliff walls and large monstrous boulders. This image is a detail from a cliff wall. It was well above arms reach and I had my zoom lens out to its max of 200MM. I was mesmerized by this patch of grass that seemed to be growing happily on a small outcropping of the cliff wall. I took this photo a few weeks ago and have been pondering over it ever since.
As a species, we humans are a restless lot. We never seem to be satisfied with where we are at – neither in physical location personal, emotional or intellectual development. It seems are constantly dissatisfied with what life hands us. Now some people would praise that and say, “Duh! That’s how progress is made” But is so much dissatisfaction really beneficial? I think there’s a difference between the dissatisfaction that encourages progress and the dissatisfaction with life’s circumstances that are imposed on us that we have no control over. Can we ever accept contentment and happiness – even if they are fleeting?
I wonder if we need to take the time to truly cherish where we are located in life. I wonder if we can grow where we are planted like the grass in the photo. Talk about an inhospitable environment! That poor grass is in a bad location all around – lack of nutrients, lack of water, limited light and limited attention. But it is still growing. Is its life circumstance sad, tragic or unacceptable? Absolutely not. For it has shown me beauty and taught me something valuable. That patch of grass can be content with its limited life span because it has served some purpose for the betterment of the planet – even when it has reached maturity and “gone to seed” it will feed other animals and as it decays on it’s little rocky outcropping it will become fertile soil for the next generation. You and I are the exact same way. We may live an ever so humble existence – we may lack one thing or another – we may be living in circumstances that have spiraled beyond our control. And like the grass – we have worth – we have value – we exist for the betterment of the planet; it may have happened in the earlier part of our lives, in the present or may even happen in a fleeting moment in the future but we have worth. It’s not the amount of time we have or how much we do with it. The fact that we ARE is enough.
In our birth we bring joy and wonder. As we grow we become a symbol and a beacon. When we die we make room for others.
So go ahead try to appreciate where you are no matter how rocky it may seem. Just stop for a while and then slowly feel your way around lest you fall off the cliff. Then relax and grow where you are planted.
“Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” – Matthew 6:29,30 (NIV translation)
“If the problem has a solution, worrying is pointless, in the end the problem will be solved. If the problem has no solution, there is no reason to worry, because it can’t be solved.” – Zen saying
“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” – Zen saying
“the quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” – Zen saying
“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and grass grows by itself.” – Zen saying
Run into the cage
With what I grew up hating
Keep on recreating
Please help me
Something’s got to change
It was something that you said
Happy times ahead
Happy times ahead
Saw the kind of blood
Like a picture’s going to shatter
Can you recognize the pictures of a bone-luck setter
All the people, all the faces in my head that are running around
I’m trying to make connections but the circuits are down
Look at me
Look at me
Look what I can do
I’m amazing
I’m living from without and I’m living from within
Got light in every layer of my illuminated skin
Could swallowing a lightbulb transform into the sun?
I can jump into the darkness
I can shine on anyone
Look at me
Look at me
Can you see what I can do?
‘Cause I’m amazing
Look at me
Look at me
Look at me
Can you see what I can do
‘Cause I’m amazing
Reaching out my hand
I’m going under water
Sunlight filtered into shafts
I’m going under water
With the human race
I’m going under water down
Under water down
Under water
Trying to put it together in my head
Feeling the weight of what you said
The weight of what you said
Happy times ahead
Happy times ahead
Happy times ahead
Look at me
Look at me
Look what I can do
‘Cause I’m amazing
Look at me
Look at me
Look at me
Look what I can do
‘Cause I’m amazing
Cause I can!
And I will!
It’s moving in me
The spirit is free
Oh what did I leave?
On his website Peter Gabriel[hereafter PG] states,
“I wrote a song a few years back – ‘I’m Amazing’, which was, in part, inspired by Muhammad Ali’s life and struggles and at the time of his death, when so many people are celebrating his life and thinking about all he achieved, it seemed the right time to release it.”
I do not believe we should see this song as a tribute to Ali. I saw one video posted on YOUTUBE that said this song was “about Muhammad Ali”. I disagree. PG is an artist; and as such, he uses all of life as inspiration in creating his art. Ali was only one part of the equation that helped clarify the point PG was trying to make. PG has something much bigger than one mans life that he want’s us to consider. If there is any comparison to Ali that can be made accurately is that the song deftly alternates between “Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee”.
So what makes this song, it’s music and lyrics so powerful? Peter Gabriel has become an undisputed master of using various music influences from around the world in creating his own unique sound. “I’m Amazing” is a blend of these influences that borders on genius. The music moves forward and has it’s own pulse points with a fusion of sounds electronic, tribal and organic with lyrics both spoken and sung, chant and vocal ululation. There are ebbs and flows in the overall song structure that help propel the listener through the song with rhythmic emotional intensity.
Lyrically, the song offers intense criticism of our culture and society. He is careful not to place blame. He simply let’s the character in the song make observations and leaves it up to us to determine any cause and make appropriate adjustment in our own lives so that we do not end up in the same predicament. What is NOT said in the lyrics is just as important as what IS said. PG does not write on the surface of things but gets under the skin. While on the surface if you just read the lyrics it may seem like a positive paean with the old “pick yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality. But listening to how the lyrics are sung provides a whole new wealth of meaning that seems truer. It is funny how music can add clarity to the meaning of words. By themselves lyrics are ambiguous and can be interpreted by each individual as they wish. But what is lost is the authors intention. Music provides that intention. I have not heard such snarling sardonic expression in pop music for a long time and it is refreshing. A true wakeup call. I love how the lyrics switch between introspect/retrospect/prospect as the singer looks to escape his own mundanity and latch onto all the promises made by a self-help society with “happy times ahead”. Drowning in his own misery he not only seeks for a way out but becomes so self-obsessed that all(and everyone) else is left behind. The character acts/does because he can and never asks if he should. It’s only after it’s too late does he contemplate what was left behind.
This is a most welcome addition to the canon of music written by this great artist.
Another holiday in the US – Memorial Day is a shameful experience. A sham to make us feel better about the bad things we do and have done in the name of politics, war and nation. More national self-victimization promoted, celebrated, paraded and justified as we sink/slink further and further toward totalitarian rule (in the name of democracy). A certain despicable presidential candidate has as his Hitlerian slogan “Make America Great Again”. But I think we need to ask, “Does America deserve to be great?”
Is anyone asking the tough questions anymore? Or is it actually like one of my favorite headlines from the satirical paper, THE ONION – REPORT: NOBODY FUCKING CARES.
This image was taken recently at the abandoned football stadium known as the AKRON RUBBER BOWL. I’ll have some more shots of the stadium itself in the next couple of days.
When everything we do is monitored – everything is condemned
Where everything is condemned – nothing is permitted
Where nothing is permitted – there is NO freedom.
I once saw a sign and my first thought was, “Hmmmmph, that’s the story of my life!”…..
In the past few months I’ve noticed that has been my reaction to more and more signs. These signs just seem to be coming into focus of my awareness in a way they haven’t before. In fact there almost seems to be an oppression by signs. Some are just general informational signs. Things that announce operating hours, directions to a place, time it takes to get somewhere, who to call (and it ain’t Ghostbuster’s), and other general announcements. But I’m finding, and maybe it’s just my growing awareness, that more and more signs are dictating things. Signs that tell us to do one thing or another, telling us what we can and can’t do. And there are signs that are used to threaten and control…..
That is the focus of this new photo project I’ve started. These signs make up the story of our lives and can tell us things about ourselves, our culture, our perceptions and misconceptions about the world in which we live. So while one may dismiss these images in this project as just pictures of signs. I am asking the view to go further. To go beyond the obvious. To ask questions and let these signs bring new understandings.
Here are eight of the 20 odd images I’ve collected so far (in no particular order). Enjoy.
So, here’s the truth. I like to create. It’s no secret that I have no desire to be a professional photographer. Wedding, party’s, people, journalism, marketing, or industrial work is just not my “thang”. And if the truth be know I may never need to take another photograph as long as I live. As long as I have a computer and I strip down, tear apart, reassemble and create new things from the images I’ve already taken there really is not reason to take another photograph. As you already know I call my process “visual glossolalia”. It’s a term I’ve stuck to for years now and still best describes (at least in my mind) my process for my creations.
Here is a recent photograph. An abstract look at a broken down sign from an abandoned gas station. I called it BROKEN LANDSCAPE. Pretty straight forward.
But then what happens when I start taking the image apart and reapplying it on a blank digital canvas. Well here are two of the results. I’ve printed these on metal and they look very nice together. The dark image is titled NIGHT VISIONS and the light one is titled THE MORNING AFTER.
NIGHT VISIONS
THE MORNING AFTER
Again these two images both came from the one photograph. And there is still more I could do with that including a completely different design which I may do at some later point. So do I really need to take any more photos? I could actually just sell my camera and just create new things from my catalog of thousands of photographs. At any rate. Hope you enjoy these.
These two images are the latest installments in a series I started last year.
They will be part my new book called visual glossolalia 3: TRUISMS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM….. I’m also thinking about printing in greeting card format and mailing out randomly to people – just to make them think and keep guessing.
…on values…
… no answers…
I’m enjoying this series. I guess it could be called jarring cynical sarcasm to piss people off – LOL!!!!.
Most of the thoughts in this series are just random waking musings. For example; the first image was a realization that came to me when I heard people talking about values; promoting certain values but never practicing those values themselves.
The second image, “…no answers…” came to me at work (yesterday) as I realized that no one really has any “answers” any more. What I mean is that they have no idea how to fix something. They’re just guessing and trying different things in the blind hope that something will work. There’s no practical application based on knowledge. A bit like, with eyes closed, randomly tearing a page out of a book and saying, “Let’s try this.”
Yes, that is a stark criticism for corporate America – but since the shoe fits – they’ll have to wear it. And whether you agree or disagree it is something to think about.
Zen teacher Reb Anderson says “Stop shopping” is Zen practice in a nutshell. The planet will be better off when we catch on to the idea that more new stuff isn’t what’s going to save us
from suffering.
In the Samsaric world of Capitalism
I am neither positive nor negative.
I know that promises breed hope –
Without a guaranteed reality.
What will be, will be.
Not what is promised or guaranteed.
Guarantees are empty absolutes;
To live by them is to live in delusion.
If we want to remove the Samsaric sting
We must accept the beauty of a flawed reality.
Like wrinkles on a face, spots on skin & gray hair describe aging –
Broken promises reveal an imperfect reality.
Where, O Samsara, is your victory?
Where, O Samsara, is your sting?
Embrace with loving-kindness all errors and flaws.
In doing so, we redeem and ransom ourselves and others from Samsara;
From the long list of disappointment-fueled anger and sufferings.
The fuel tanks are empty
need more lives
the price is high
to create wealth
for the privileged few
roll on up to the pump
the politician attendant is ready
to stick the hose into the emptiness
of the war machine to pour gallons of lives
that it may roll on roll on roll on
the war machine
feeds on lost lives
cutting down life
for greed and death never say, “Enough!”
they only say, “more bodies for the machine”
The war machine knows
knows what it needs to survive
it elicits feelings of pride, patriotism and honor
where there is none
The machine knows that propaganda
will bring volunteers to die
more efficiently and will reduce
recruitment costs
“Fight fight fight
they are wrong
we are right
you are part of ‘WE’
join now!
for the sacrifice”
Even religion supports the war machine
Gods punishment on those who are not like us
the religious fervor of “God is on our side”
stop abortion, we need more lives for the machine
When there are no more human lives
the war machine will stop
unable to run it will rust to pieces
chunks, hunks & clumps of cold empty metal
returning to its elemental source
ashes to ashes, dust to dust
a reprieve on the planet
a reprieve on the life that remains
Who is left to bury the dead?
will Antigone not rise up again
to do what is right?
bodies lie in the open sun
their weapons for tombstones by their side
Okay what is this all about. I’ve noticed lately that more and more music guys are sportin’ beards. The music is fun, thoughtful, provocative and inspiring. From shadow to fuzz, funky to fluffy and barely to bushy, many musicians in the history of pop music have sported beards. It’s nice to see and hear that the tradition will continue. 🙂 There are way to many to mention or show but here are a few of my bearded favorites. Enjoy.
Say “hello” to LARRY AND HIS FLASK (from somewhere in central Oregon, USA)
Another personal favorite, BEARS DEN (from London, England)
A new find for me, HUNTER AND THE BEAR (from the UK – Scotland and England)
An old favorite, IRON AND WINE (a.k.a. Sam Beam of Durham, North Carolina)
The critically acclaimed, BON IVER (from Wisconsin, USA)
Best Cat Stevens impersonator, PASSENGER (from Sussex, England)
So much fun… FRANK TURNER (from Hampshire, England)
Jammin’…. JOHN BUTLER TRIO (from Australia)
And ending with another personal uber fave. The spirited optimism of MICHAEL FRANTI (from California, USA)
Each of us carries within, a monster that we were born with. Depending on your religion you are taught to battle with this monster and overcome it. It has many names – Christianity calls it “original sin”. Laws are passed to control it. But I have yet to see someone who has defeated or eliminated this beast. They may be able to suppress it, lock it away, in attempts to control it; but the fact remains, it still escapes from time to time to reveal it’s threatening face. It’s this battle with the inner monster that has led people outwardly to express contempt, rage, ignorance and violence directed at self and others. In fact when in battle with the monster one is frequently overcome by the monster. One may be in battle with the monster even while trying to do good but when that happens it will lead to suffering and misunderstanding. Remember Frankenstein’s monster who accidentally drowned the little girl? The monster did harm to the child without intending. ( https://youtu.be/v5FtI472Q6I – if you need a refresher). In equating the child to the pretty flowers that were floating on the water he threw her in expecting her to float. But because the monster was in control she died which brought not only suffering to her and others but also to himself.
Has anyone thought of befriending the monster? What about treating the monster with compassion and care as if it were an injured child instead of some wild beast that must be “put down”? When we take care of our monster and treat it with compassion, love and care we can soothe the beast within preventing harm to others as well as ourselves. Preventing suffering for others and ourselves. Take care of your monster. Love your monster. Have compassion on it. It is a part of you. When you take care of it you take care of yourself. If Frankenstein had actually loved his monster and had compassion for it he would have taken care of it instead of pursuing his megalomania.
In fact it is possible that your monster can actually help you.
Your monster can be a great source of motivation. You can use it’s energy to be of benefit and do good things. It can be your energy to stay focused and press on at a time when things start to drag. This takes practice. First compassion, love and caring.
When did we learn to be afraid of our monster?
***about the photo: this image was taken at an abandoned mental institution called Molly Stark State Hospital. The local county has turned the grounds into the wonderful Molly Stark Park near Louisville, OH. The buildings still stand in their slow decay with boarded up windows and doors because the cost for demolition is too prohibitive.
Has anyone else noticed how we’ve become a culture of scanners?
People don’t comprehend what they read anymore.
It’s as if they cherry-pick a few words of text and jump to conclusions – almost always wrong.
No matter how clear the text may be,
no matter how spelled-out it is in black and white
their interpretation and conclusion is wrong.
I’ve witnessed this more and more mostly at work but it’s also been happening in my daily interactions where written text is involved.
At work (and home) I’ll send emails and get serious reply’s that have nothing to do with what I had emailed. And I have to re-send the email and highlight the words they skipped. They will then email back saying, “why did you send this to me again” – and my response is “because you didn’t answer my question”. They they respond, “Oh, I see now…” So much time is wasted when people just read the subject line or scan the content without taking the time to read and comprehend what was written.
Naturally, some questions come to mind:
What are the consequences of this?
How much longer will it take to get things done?
How many mistakes will be made?
Has technology made it possible for things to move too fast?
Has technology made comprehension impossible?
Has technology made idiots of humanity?
Is it necessary to dumb-down the written word to a brief “texting” and “tweeting” format?
At what point will communication have nothing to do with the word?
At what point will communication be just a series of gestures and expressions?
At what point will humanity become digital grunting cave-men/cave-women?
Even if things are reduced to pictograms – will that help?
Will all books in the future be solely image-based with no text (not for reasons of censorship and control – as in Fahrenheit 451 – written by Ray Bradbury – but…) out of an inability/unwillingness to read?
Will written content just be fuel for fire?
I’m happy to say that most of my friends who are avid readers have not yet fallen prey to this disease. But I am seeing it spread (unfortunately).
Treatment for this disease:
Time. Taking time to read, comprehend, think about – then respond/act.
Stop & Read.
A fun song from 1991 by indie band Mega City Four off their album Sebastopol Rd.
In this case use the word “listen” as a metaphor for “read” and this song will be equally applicable.
Accurate comprehension depends on taking the time to STOP and read. Some of you will undoubtedly just jump to the video without reading this post.
From one of my favorite indie bands that I got into during my college years. The one and only Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper with their washboard psychobilly rock and roll. Dedicated to the country of Greece who is probably feeling this way with the way the EU is jerking them around.
ROCK ON!!!! Bonus tracks:
and anticipatin’ the upcoming July 4th Holiday. Here in crazee America – home of UFO’s, Big Rigs, and BBQ
In the video [link above] Ed Moses talks about his early work in the 60’s & 70’s.
My personal take-aways from this talk.
Art is proof that we exist. It is our “mark” that is no different from footprints in the mud or handprints on the cave wall.
Art is a path we travel that documents our journey from confusion to reality. The journey is the goal.
Art is about our attempts to control our environment only to realize we don’t have any control. Or, as he say’s “…realizing that I don’t want to be in control, I want to be in-tune.”
Click the link above for the video. Enjoy.
And if you like the first video here is another great video of this artist.
... on being and becoming ... 