QUESTION: THE TITLE OF ART OR ART OF THE TITLE?

This past week I've been thinking about the titles that people use/don't use on their artworks.   I've heard arguments for and against titles in our time.   The most common argument I hear about titles in our internet age is that the key words in a title can help people find your work more easily if they are not already followers of yours.   On the other hand, I've also heard that titles are a distraction from the work in question.

This has led to two basic approaches to titling ones work.    First either listing it as a most banal, plain descriptive title (i.e. "Flowers With Vase", "Farmhouse", "City Life" etc) or simply no title at all (i.e. just a blank space) or using the word "Untitled". 

What if both of these approaches are wrong?  Might it be simply a sign of laziness on the part of the creator to come up with a captive title?  I have certainly been guilty of this lazy approach.   Wanting to post something but not wanting to spend time with the image I've created to think about what it could mean or what the image could "say".   I think, as a creative exercise, that a title should be approached as a writer who writes a book.   After all who would read a book with no title on the cover or simply the word "UNTITLED" on the cover?   Who would read a book titled, "THE BROKEN DOWN CAR"?   Maybe some would but it is not very likely.   What if we put as much effort into a title as a writer puts into a book.    

Add to that, who says titles have to be short?  Are long titles a distraction or can they actually illuminate artwork much as artwork can illuminate a good literary work (as was proven in ancient times).  I suppose listening to the post rock genre of music is to blame for my conundrum.   There have been many post rock recordings with album and song titles that go beyond the common 1-4 word limit that most recordings use.  

Examples (band name followed by album or song title)
- The Silver Mt Zion Orchestra - HE HAS LEFT US ALONE BUT SHAFTS OF LIGHT SOMETIMES GRACE THE CORNER OF OUR ROOMS
- Explosions In The Sky - THOSE WHO TELL THE TRUTH SHALL DIE, THOSE WHO TELL THE TRUTH SHALL LIVE FOREVER
- Hammock - RAISING YOUR VOICE... TRYING TO STOP AN ECHO
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor - LIFT YOUR SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNA TO HEAVEN
- Red Sparrowes - THE FEAR IS EXCRUCIATING, BUT THEREIN LIES THE ANSWER

In Truth there are many great short titles also but I think there is less substance (or maybe thats not the right phrase) or requires less from the listener. 
The titles of the albums listed above is a literary art in itself.   I would argue that it provides an additional context for listening.  Not only the casual listening that one gives a pop song but a deeper listen that engages ones imagination, intellect and emotional complexity.  A longer title can be a literary short-form poem, even a haiku.    It doesn't take away from the music but enhances the listening experience.    Or, in working with images, as I do... enhances the viewing experience.   

For the visual arts a longer title can lead the viewer into the image from a different point of view.  And has the opportunity to change the viewers experience and possibly behavior that has become so prevalent in a click-bait world.   In short I will do anything to slow the viewer down to enjoy the experience of the image.

Here are some images of mine that I've recently created with longer titles.   Let me know what you think about this topic in the comments. 

WE LANDED FOR THE STORM BUT WHEN THE STORM HAD PASSED WE HAD FORGOTTEN HOW TO FLY

WE SAT UNTIL WE COULD SIT NO MORE, BUT WE ALSO COULD NOT STAND, SO WE ASCENDED

I LOOKED AT MY HOME AND SAW THE EXPERIENCE OF MY SOUL

What’s all this crop?

In my photography I've started thinking about "how I can make things look longer or taller."   I think the right crop might be the answer.   The two photos today are examples of my pursuit of this idea.    I've always loved vertical landscapes which comes from my interest in vertical Japanese woodblock prints like the ones by Utagawa Hiroshige.    I think the particular crop in these two photos,  which is a vertical 16X9, creates this effect nicely.   It makes the main subject of tall trees look even taller in my mind.  It "heightens" their already magnanimous stature.    I also used various textures and effects.   

What I find really funny is that the main tree in the photo on the left is significantly smaller that the tall tree in the photo on the right.  It's more of an overgrown shrub, actually, that is about 12 ft tall compared to the large tree on the right which must be about 50 ft tall.    But again, I think the crop really goes a long way to lengthen this tree.   Hope you enjoy.  

What do you think?  Is the crop pleasing to your eye?   Or is it just too much?

glassworks…

The virtue of looking back thru old files.   In todays example files from 2018.   I remember when I took these two photos I was intriqued by what had happened to the glass of this automobile.   We are used to glass cracking, breaking and shattering but this glass seemed to be in a slow-motion movement of decay.   I've paired each image from a song from Philip Glass' SONGS FROM LIQUID DAYS.   When I listen to the music while staring at the photo - it generates a deep level of emotion and imagination in me.  I hope you enjoy them as well. 

Glassworks 2: Morphing and Changing Opinion
Glassworks 1: At the intersection of an interdimensional portal – it’s time to “Open The Kingdom”

October

It's October.   Fall is in full swing.   The leaves are changing fast animated by colder temperatures, cloudy skies, wind and rain.  A beautiful time of year.  
October is also the month we celebrate Halloween 10/31 before All Saints Day on 11/1.   With this new series of images, that will go on for a few posts, I've been thinking of differences between aliens and angels (hence the image's subtitles).   I don't really think there is any difference between aliens and angels.  Was the virgin Mary visited/impregnated by an angel?  Or did she have an alien abduction experience where she became impregnated?   There are so many stories in the Christian Bible that could be attributed to alien interception/experience from the birth and ascension in the New Testament to the Exodus of the Old Testament.   Angels are not of this earth and neither are aliens so it seems to me that they are one and the same.    I suspect that angels and aliens are the same they just appear to us in ways we can best comprehend them:  Whether they are little gray humanoid figures or winged/robed figures.    Both aliens and angels are often depicted as intersex (neither male nor female) or androgynous (both male and female).  It only makes sense that we understand things according to our own experience/knowledge.    We live in a technological age so it makes sense that in the wake of our experience with machines that fly that we would experience alien life as flying through space on machines (space ships, rockets, saucers etc).   But back in ancient times of the bible; machines that fly were completely inconceivable and could not even be imagined.  So beings that travel through air/space were described as having wings like that of a bird which is something the people of that era COULD comprehend.      So are aliens really angels and angels really "little gray men"?  I suspect this is something I'll be thinking about for a long time and time will tell as our understanding of the universe and our place in it continues to evolve.    As our knowledge and experience grow, as we continue to evolve as a species we may end up having a completely different view of aliens/angels in the future.  You may start to see some similarities between my images in this series and figures in prehistoric cave paintings that depict alien life. 
The three images posted here today from left to right are:
Ascend To Lightning (aliens & angels)
The Hand Around The Corner (aliens & angels)
Three Eyes and One Mouth (aliens & angles)

There was a Contemporary Christian Musician that wrote a wonderful song titled U.F.O.   And while it is about Jesus it blurs the lines between religion and extra-terrestrial nicely.   Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/gjd265vNIlQ
Bubbling Rust – A gritty brew to be sure
A few licks of this photo will slough off any "hair of the dog" that's accumulated on your tongue.  So go ahead, give me some tongue.  LOL 
https://youtu.be/UVfJo07pNIc
DRIFT
Drift or drifting is often referred to in unappealing terms.   But drift can be a force of nature, like when lava from a volcano is drifting down it's sides carrying chunks of rock that drift along in the molten lava.   For me this image captures that slow drifting movement.

https://youtu.be/cEU-dXsnNF0
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
A HARD TRUTH!
"You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well, you might find, 
You get what you need"
https://youtu.be/krxU5Y9lCS8

At Days End

AT DAYS END (2022.08.22)

The setting sun
creates fire in the sky.
Flaming yellow, orange and red. 
Filling heaven's dome on the westward rim.
A quiet slow burning…
that if you allow it…
will slow down time,
transforming burning consumption
into transfixed wonderment,
as the day is calmly destroyed
in brilliant visibly-changing color.

Birds fly to their nests
creatures burrow in their dens
and other resting spaces.
And I, heart-harnessed
to Phaethon's Chariot
as it recedes over the horizon,
am humbled by the beauty.
My eyelids, growing heavy with the fading light, 
also find solace and rest.
An ending for some.
A beginning for others. 

The chirping of birds gives way
to the chirping of crickets
and lightning bugs twinkle at twilight
in the shadow of darkness 
like stars on the wing
that children can chase
and catch with their hands
then marvel at the magic
within their grasp.
Letting go to see the stars take flight.
Dreamtime has come again.

I wrote this poem while listening to this music and watching the sun set. https://youtu.be/O41y9vuVT3s
Best if not played to loud and even better if reading the poem out loud (slowly with a sense of longing and wonder) while the music is playing. 

My plea to the world.

My plea to the world.
Check out the link for Brian May (of Queen) classic solo track BACK TO THE LIGHT.  The lyrics are really powerful - especially for the times we are living in. 
https://youtu.be/Zvmp8YhEgQk

Far, far from the light 
Hear the night creatures call 
With a cold breath they howl 
All the hollow hours 
They're calling you

I'll be there 
No matter what your going through 
In the dark I care 
I'm holding on, I'm hoping on 
It's still the same old me inside

Back to the light 
Back to the streets that are paved with gold 
Back to the light, yeah 
Back to the land where the sunshine heals my soul

Deep, deep in the night 
When the world fills with tears 
And the wind blows 
Colder and colder it grows 
And the fire dims with the same old fears

I'll be there 
Though maybe you don't hear me, babe 
I still care 
No matter when and I still be there 
When you make it to the other side 
And I'm going back

Back to the light 
Back to the streets that are paved with gold 
Back to the light 
Goin' back to the land 
Where the sunshine heals my soul

On and on, searching for a clearer view 
Winning and losing an inner war 
Wonder what we do it for 
Though the road seems never ending 
Hold on to the hope I'm sending through 
Yeah

No, no matter what your going through 
In the dark I care 
I'm holding on, believe it 
We'll be walking in the light 
'Cause they'll be no place left to hide

Back to the light 
Back to the streets that are paved with gold 
Back to the light 
Oh, I'm goin' back to land 
Where the sunshine heals my soul, hear me babe 
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Back to the light

Back to the light

Back to the light

Back to the light, yeah, yeah

Babe, come with me 
Back to the light 
Yeah

Are we living in the “underworld”?

Orpheus’ entrance to the underworld
It's easy to get sucked into the vortex of negativity that we perceive, witness; and turn it into our own personal suffering.   While this life is made of suffering - we should not add to our suffering that which we do not have the power to change.

Árstíðir - Hvenær kemur sól (When will the sun come) 
fyi: Árstíðir translated means Seasons.  Also next to Sigur Ros they are my favorite icelandic band. 

waste not…

WASTE NOT…
Sadly we live in a time of outrage.   Everyone is outraged at something or someone.    Media is outraged.  Politicians are outraged.  People are outraged in the name of religion.  Regular citizens are outraged.  Will it take destroying ourselves to stop the madness?   For all it's advances in technology humanity is still living in the dark ages emotionally.  In fact I think the case could be made the humanity is not evolving but devolving to the most base animal instincts.   

In fact if you watch the opening section ("The Dawn of Man") in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY https://youtu.be/ypEaGQb6dJk the only difference between us today and the animals portrayed in the film is technology.  The behavior is the same.    Outrage causes reasoning that is only used for destructive purposes.   

What do you think?  Do you have hope?  Why?  What can you provide that will make me believe?  Your considered thoughts and questions are welcome.