Showing posts with label Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Issues. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Advancing Time

 


Advancing Time is my latest (surrealism) painting. It's essentially a redo of the very first serious painting I did: men seemingly running from a clock that is chasing them as the sun goes down. The size is 8" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm.

What does it mean?? Not really sure -- I'm sure something bad is in those runners' futures if/when the clock catches up with them. Maybe it has something to do with our futures as well.

I'll admit I'm concerned about our future and the future of our country. Perhaps the painting is simply an expression of concerns I have and the ominous evil just beyond the horizon. Something's coming, and it ain't good.

But for now, enjoy the time we have, and look for the beauty in our lives.

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com











Thursday, July 7, 2016

The Power of Art


In 1987, a movie called Fatal Attraction came out starring Michael Douglas, Anne Archer as his wife and Glenn Close as Alex, a woman Michael's character had an affair with -- and who would "not be ignored" by him. She expected more than a one-night stand, and things got out of hand as Alex invaded the married couple's life and made it a living hell. (Sadly, even the couple's pet bunny died in the process).

Fatal Attraction,Michael Douglas,Glenn Close,movie,movies,influential

I never did see the movie all the way through -- just bits and pieces of it on TV. But I remember the comments movie goers made after they watched the flick in '87 -- after seeing Fatal Attraction, they would think twice about ever having an affair; i.e., cheating on their spouses.

One movie did something that all the pulpit preaching couldn't do -- it made us aware of the consequences of making a bad choice.

Art -- good art -- has the ability to do that. It touches us in a way that verbal admonitions can't do. Art can pull on the ol' heartstrings and reach us at a visceral level, a level that is not always subject to common sense or logic. Rightly or wrongly, art moves people and makes us think in ways that mere talking cannot.

The late columnist, Paul Harvey once wrote a piece discussing this point:

The POWER of ART OVER ARGUMENT

by Paul Harvey

A nation might have died. Finland was so worried about menacing anarchists and so depressed over the death of Alexander Second that the nation might have rolled over and been Run over by the Russians.

But when the Finns felt their smallest weakest and poorest composer Jean Sibelius wrote something called “Finlandia” – An Orchestral piece that rallied the Finns long lost patriotic fervor, and they resisted the Russification of their land and lived happily ever after.

The Power of art over argument.

Nobody could have persuaded a generation of Americans to produce a baby boom – Yet Shirley Temple movies made every American want to have one.

Military enlistments were lagging for our air force until, almost overnight, a movie called “Top Gun” had recruits standing in line.

The power of art over argument.

Human history goes in circles. Majorities become fat and lazy ultimately to be overwhelmed by lean hungry minorities.

And the elevation of the downtrodden never relies on logic; it is instead facilitated by the persistent persuasion of gifted penmen.

British sweatshops for children existed only until Dickens wrote about them.

American slaves were slaves only until Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about them.

Oh, yes, Lincoln himself credited her with having started the Civil War.

The power of art over argument.

More persuasive than any orator is the artist who can reduce complex considerations to a political cartoon.

Animal rights activists bemoan the difficulty of making most people relate to animals.
Yet once upon a time a cartoonist named Walt Disney created an animal character named “Bambi” and in one year deer-hunting nose-dived from a $5.7 million business – to one million.

The power of art over argument.

Statutes mandating more humane treatment of draft-horses were initiated by a book: “Black Beauty”

My generation’s first introduction to the man-animal kinship was through the books of Albert Payson Terhune about his collies.

The priority of all humanitarians should be the alleviation of suffering.

Public relations people – however gifted and properly motivated – have been frustrated in the human field.

Most every argument they advance got them denounced or derided. Logical argument on behalf of suffering animals has been met, at best, with only lukewarm success.

You want to convince the unconvinced, don’t call to arms call to “art.” Disney, Albert Payson Terhune, James Herriot -- who’s next?

Artists are time proved experts at transplanting hearts into the heartless.

These are the greatest resource of all of us who would make mankind.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

 
 

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Many Resurrections of Godzilla


Sheesh...Jesus Christ was resurrected only once. Godzilla had many more reincarnations than that!

(Normally, I write about artwork and, especially, paintings, including my own. But Godzilla has certain artistic qualities that I like).

Godzilla's star in Hollywood's Walk of Fame
Specifically, the original Godzilla (its Japanese name was Gojira, a combination of the Japanese words for "gorilla" and "whale"). The movie was an allegory for the dangers of atomic power, filmed in the aftermath of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I suspect confronting this fictional monster must have had a tremendous impact on the Japanese psyche at the time, and destroying this force would have been seen as a victory, a way of overcoming the horrific power that destroyed the two cities.

The original movie had its human side, too -- the love triangle between the pretty gal (always wore a scarf in her hair), the scientist (with the eye patch) and another fellow -- I forgot what he did for a living. The woman chose the latter man, and the scientist committed a form of Hara-Kiri minus the cutting. (I never knew if he did this out of remorse for killing Gojira, losing his lady love, or some of both).

I was also impressed with the skillful use of editing to include actor Raymond Burr in the American version. Every scene in which he appeared, along with any Japanese actors, was added later, although -- in my opinion -- his presence didn't detract from the story. The footage when he appeared with the girl was also "faked" -- you never saw their faces at the same time. When you saw Burr's face, you saw only the back of her head, scarf on head. She was a stand-in, not the actor who starred in Gojira. Then, when the camera focused on her, Burr wasn't seen, and her English lines likely were probably unrelated to the Japanese lines she was actually reciting. I doubt many Americans could lip-read Japanese and never knew the difference.

(By the way, we never see the creature eating. What does one feed a humongous critter like that? )

Well, now there's a new version of Godzilla on the movie screens. I likely won't go to see it, because I already know I'd be disappointed if I did. The original Godzilla was more than simply a story about a huge dinosaur wreaking mass destruction of a city. It had powerful psychological overtones that the newer movie (or the one from 2000) probably lacks. (Of course, the Godzilla vs ___???___ movies, the Saturday morning cartoons et al were downright silly versions). I suspect it's just another action flick with dazzling special effects. Technically proficient, but not what I'd call "artistic" in terms of its emotional impact.

And ultimately, I hope we never again have to resurrect Gojira/Godzilla or anything else by detonating another nuclear weapon over any city or its people.



 


Saturday, November 29, 2008

Merry Christmas to All...Except:

Black Friday is normally the start of a fun and, for many (including yours truly), a sacred time of year. But somehow, this particular Black Friday wasn't fun for people at a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, CA, not real far from where we live.

Some details are unknown at this time, but apparently, two teen girls in the store (which was filled with shoppers and kids) got into a loud argument about something, and two young men who knew the girls pulled guns and opened fire, killing each other as customers ducked for cover or ran out of the rear exits.

No one knows yet what started this incident. At this time, gang affiliations have been ruled out. So--was it all over who would get to purchase the last-toy-of-its-kind in this particular store? Was there bad blood between these families who seemingly knew each other?

And WHY would people go shopping at a toy store while carrying loaded firearms???? Is this practice more common than I realized?

I suspect a couple of families are not going to have a Merry Christmas this year, including one child who approached one of the bodies on the floor and said "Daddy, wake up!" No holiday cheer in 2008. Perhaps instead of presents, these families will be paying for funeral or cremation expenses.

For more details, the link to the story is:
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20081129/NEWS0801/811290327&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Merry Christmas to all...and to all a sad sight.