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Catalogue
Caterpillar on a pedestal
- butterfly or bust?
Coelacanth on a plinth
- a fish out of water.
Sloth hanging down
- mislabelled,
................."A Tapas Tree."
Two cans of pop
- you're in the gift shop.
A bottled Axolotl
- back in the gallery.
"Howler in a Hoolie" (copper and zinc)
- brass monkey weather.
Abstract, red.
- a fire extinguisher.
Work in Progress
- but is it art?
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Catalogue
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NotQuiteSure
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Last edited by NotQuiteSure on Mon Aug 15, 2022 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A matter of perception Not 
Personally I feel light/shadow, colour, movement, sound, etc etc...so much WIP, so much absence, so much presence, all that occupation of space, images...yep creative, yep art...intentional or not...living or not
Some great obscure diction for me to learn, I like learning. Interesting exhibits.
The caterpillar/butterfly/bust/pedestal encapsulated the closing question for me.
best
Mac
Personally I feel light/shadow, colour, movement, sound, etc etc...so much WIP, so much absence, so much presence, all that occupation of space, images...yep creative, yep art...intentional or not...living or not
Some great obscure diction for me to learn, I like learning. Interesting exhibits.
The caterpillar/butterfly/bust/pedestal encapsulated the closing question for me.
best
Mac
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NotQuiteSure
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Hi mac, JJ.
Perhaps I should replace that final couplet with
Neon (Art), Green
- this way out.
?
Thanks both,
regards, Not
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Hi mac, JJ.
That question was the title, originally, but it seemed to encourage people to take this a bit more seriously that it warrants, or deserves.
Perhaps I should replace that final couplet with
Neon (Art), Green
- this way out.
?
Thanks JJ. Yeah, that's all it is really, a bit of fun.
'hoolie' is from the Scots and means 'windy, or a gale'. Actually, 'hoodie' probably works as well ( not sure you'd get 'cold' from it though.)
Thanks both,
regards, Not
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ray miller
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The sloth one is very good and I liked the fire extinguisher.
I'm out of faith and in my cups
I contemplate such bitter stuff.
I contemplate such bitter stuff.
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NotQuiteSure
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Thanks, mac.
Only just learnt it myself John.
Thanks ray.
I know there's something here, just don't think I've found it yet.
Hoping there might be room for a macaque maquette of some sort.
Regards, Not
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Only just learnt it myself John.
Thanks ray.
I know there's something here, just don't think I've found it yet.
Hoping there might be room for a macaque maquette of some sort.
Regards, Not
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JJHenderson
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- Posts: 121
- Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2022 5:26 pm
Fascinating poem, Not. Vaguely reminds me of Stevens's Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird in its play with perspective, though Stevens chose a single subject while you take several. I especially love how, despite its occasional difficulty/obscurity, there's a lot of playfulness, even right from the start: how "butterfly or bust" can mean "butterfly or fail" or "butterfly or statue-bust" (hinted at by the previous line's pedestal); or how you take the "dead metaphor" of "fish out of water" and make it literal in S2. Some of these I can't quite grasp, like how a sloth hanging down is a "Tapas tree..." maybe my difficulty there is in the fact that Tapas is quite varied so it's hard to get a definite picture in mind.
I also like how you only reveal at the very end that the subject is basically Modern/Postmodern art, with the poem itself being an example of the kind of art it's describing, asking the kind of question that people have been asking for over a century now. But I also think your take is quite clever in revealing that the art behind such art is, indeed, all about the perspective. Before the 19th century a common view of art was that it, to paraphrase Hamlet, "held a mirror up to nature;" romanticism altered that to making art be as much about what we "half perceive and half create" (ala Wordsworth's quote on the relationship between the imagination and perception); and then modernism took that further by exploring all the various ways of perceiving (cubism, polyphonic poetry) and the difficulty of making it all cohere; while postmodernism just reveled in the chaos of it all. But it all, indeed, comes down to perspective and even the asking of fundamental questions like what is art?
Sorry for the mini-rant, but your poem was quite thought-provoking! Good stuff, and I don't think I have any recommendations on bettering it. About my only complaint is that I wish there was more logical progression from the beginning to the end, but that might be in contra to the spirt of the piece and its subject.
I also like how you only reveal at the very end that the subject is basically Modern/Postmodern art, with the poem itself being an example of the kind of art it's describing, asking the kind of question that people have been asking for over a century now. But I also think your take is quite clever in revealing that the art behind such art is, indeed, all about the perspective. Before the 19th century a common view of art was that it, to paraphrase Hamlet, "held a mirror up to nature;" romanticism altered that to making art be as much about what we "half perceive and half create" (ala Wordsworth's quote on the relationship between the imagination and perception); and then modernism took that further by exploring all the various ways of perceiving (cubism, polyphonic poetry) and the difficulty of making it all cohere; while postmodernism just reveled in the chaos of it all. But it all, indeed, comes down to perspective and even the asking of fundamental questions like what is art?
Sorry for the mini-rant, but your poem was quite thought-provoking! Good stuff, and I don't think I have any recommendations on bettering it. About my only complaint is that I wish there was more logical progression from the beginning to the end, but that might be in contra to the spirt of the piece and its subject.
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NotQuiteSure
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Hi John.
Some of these I can't quite grasp, like how a sloth hanging down is a "Tapas tree..." maybe my difficulty there is in the fact that Tapas is quite varied so it's hard to get a definite picture in mind.
Sadly John, I don't think you've stooped far enough to grasp the pun. When in doubt, go low. Did you try saying it out loud? The clue is 'mislabelled', so it should have read
A Cloth Hanging Down
- (Labelled) A tapestry.
About my only complaint is that I wish there was more logical progression from the beginning to the end, but that might be in contra to the spirt of the piece and its subject.
Happy to take suggestions as to ordering.
Sorry for the mini-rant,
Not a problem. Pleased to have provoked!
Regards, Not
.
Some of these I can't quite grasp, like how a sloth hanging down is a "Tapas tree..." maybe my difficulty there is in the fact that Tapas is quite varied so it's hard to get a definite picture in mind.
Sadly John, I don't think you've stooped far enough to grasp the pun. When in doubt, go low. Did you try saying it out loud? The clue is 'mislabelled', so it should have read
A Cloth Hanging Down
- (Labelled) A tapestry.
About my only complaint is that I wish there was more logical progression from the beginning to the end, but that might be in contra to the spirt of the piece and its subject.
Happy to take suggestions as to ordering.
Sorry for the mini-rant,
Not a problem. Pleased to have provoked!
Regards, Not
.
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JJHenderson
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- Joined: Sat Jul 16, 2022 5:26 pm
Hi Not,
Ah, often it's the simple things we miss. Now I'm smiling both at the wordplay and me missing it; but, in a way, it wouldn't be modern/postmodern art if someone in the audience didn't not get something!
As for the ordering, my first thought is that S1-3 and S6 all seem to be things in the gallery; S4 and S5 take us to the gift shop and then back into the gallery, while S7 is rather ambiguous. I think S7 and S8 are fine where they are... I think what seems off to me is the imbalance of gallery items "before" and "after" the detour to the gift shop. Perhaps consider moving S4 and S5 after S2. That way you'd have a balance of "2 stanzas of catalogue, 2 stanzas of gift shop/back to the gallery, 2 stanzas of catalogue, 2 stanza closing."
Ah, often it's the simple things we miss. Now I'm smiling both at the wordplay and me missing it; but, in a way, it wouldn't be modern/postmodern art if someone in the audience didn't not get something!
As for the ordering, my first thought is that S1-3 and S6 all seem to be things in the gallery; S4 and S5 take us to the gift shop and then back into the gallery, while S7 is rather ambiguous. I think S7 and S8 are fine where they are... I think what seems off to me is the imbalance of gallery items "before" and "after" the detour to the gift shop. Perhaps consider moving S4 and S5 after S2. That way you'd have a balance of "2 stanzas of catalogue, 2 stanzas of gift shop/back to the gallery, 2 stanzas of catalogue, 2 stanza closing."