catalogue raisonné

We enjoyed reading how Dear Dotard is nearly as touchy about the originality of his painting by Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Les Deux Sœurs (The Two Sisters) as he is about his taxes, charitable giving, inaugural crowd size, etc.
Though perhaps a bit less vocal about this matter of contention, he will nonetheless rehash the argument with anyone who’ll listen that his is indeed the original and despite the curators’ certainty of the provenance of the work hanging in the gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago. A copy in the artist’s hand is not inauthentic but we’re not even sure if that’s the case because no expert has been allowed to examine it and the ongoing pettiness though unsurprising is nauseating just like all of his other unsubstantiated boasts. We wonder, if it proves ultimately to be a fake, some huckster didn’t appeal to Dear Leader’s vanity like Dutch master forger Henricus van Meegeren who was nearly executed for treason for selling Nazis the country’s heritage and national treasure in the form Vermeer artwork—except that van Meegeren redeemed himself as a hero for selling Nazis counterfeit Vermeers that he painted himself. That seems a fitting outcome for a phoney presidency who’s done nothing but attack the arts, humanities and science.

zaprudered

Back in August, National Public Radio’s Fresh Air had a programme with veteran reporter Philip Shenon about the then quickly approaching decision deadline on the declassification of some thirty-six hundred previously unseen documents on the assassination of US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy and the subsequent Warren Commission charged with conducted the official investigation into the incident and the possible repercussions of full disclosure.The episode is worth revisiting.
Apparently—though things are certainly primed and ready for change and there are already voices urging caution—Trump has decided to authorize the release whose statute was prompted with legislation passed a quarter of a century earlier after film-maker Oliver Stone’s adaptation JFK revived many dormant conspiracy theories as well as inciting new ones. The guest journalist had reason to suspect that the files would show a degree of dereliction and willful lethargy on the part of intelligence agencies to act to protect the president and show that the assassination could have been prevented—reflecting badly on the FBI and the CIA and the notion of the deep state, a figment of the nationalists the support Dear Dotard, which can surely be, if the outcome of pouring over this cache of new information does in fact lend credence to this argument, manipulated as an indictment against them despite the fact that they’ve had fifty-four years to repent and learn from their mistakes, plus the fact fact the timing is beyond accidental. I don’t know and feel the chance to get closer to the truth about a turbulent time for America and the world should not just be couched in our dumb present, but I strongly suspect that it’s a forgone conclusion that the revelations will be sadly used to bolster the megalomaniacal notion that this narrative is the consequence of some awful destiny that Dear Dotard is supposed to deliver or rather distract us from. Considering the company he keeps and as much as the fringe take to pandering, Thursday’s news may go beyond a condemnation of government institutions and respect for law and more towards the shameless indulgence and captivation of hypotheses that reach beyond, including how Trump went so far as to implicate the father of one of his rivals (and not he is undeserving of any sympathy but still…) during the campaign of playing a direct role in the act. Watch for what antics get buried in the news cycle but please don’t let the importance and solemnity of this moment be absorbed by the present tragicomedy that America has become.

yippie

It was fifty years ago today when Bill Greenshields was photographed at a protest rally against the war in Vietnam on the grounds of the Pentagon burning his draft card.
The identity of the picture taken is lost to history (Greenshields assumed it was an undercover intelligence agent trying to collect incriminating evidence on any and all of the demonstrators) but it somehow came into possession of anti-war and social justice activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya who, as Greenshields was amazed to see as he relates in an exclusive interview to Dangerous Minds a year later his image had become a counter-culture icon. The 1967 Washington protest march that Greenshields took part in also happened to be the one where Abbie Hoffman with the help of Allen Ginsberg led a chorus Tibetan chants to try to levitate the defense headquarters compound with positive psychic energy. Be sure to read the entire reminiscence and learn more at the link above.

鉢の木

Sadly, authorities in Osaka had to confiscate all the marijuana plants that a thirty-five-year old gentleman was discovered to have been growing in his apartment—even though we feel he ought to receive some special dispensation for having cultivated and cared for his crop according to the ancient art of bonsai. The title—transliterated hachi-no-ki—is a subcategory of growing dwarf specimens (he did so to save space in his tiny accommodations) that means potted (bonsai denotes tray-planting) or “the bowl’s tree.”

visual evoked potential

Accomplished artist Laurence Aëgerter, who lives and works between Marseilles and Amsterdam, has with the help of neuroscience and a gerontologist curated five volumes of disparate, gently jarring pairs of images meant to stimulate the minds of dementia patients.
Aëgerter calls her therapy Photographic Treatment and hopes that inviting caregivers and residents to look over these photobooks together might solicit engagement and creative thinking whereas other activities might come across as off-putting or cause feelings of embarrassment or frustration. Some institutions in the Netherlands are already employing Aëgerter’s technique and importantly paying more heed (in matters as simple as changing the wall decorations) to other opportunities to capitalise on the power of images. Be sure to visit Hyperallergic at the link above to see a gallery of the images and to learn more.

girl interruptus or from here to paternity

The introduction to a particularly brilliant crossover episode that profiled the intersection of the history of Ancient Greece with that of witchcraft was a nice reminder of the bizarre and complicated origin story behind the liminal figure of Tiresias of Thebes, the blind seer who tried to keep Oedipus from investigating too far into the murder of the former king and posthumously advised Odysseus how to return home and avoid the traps in store for him and his crew. For disturbing a pair of copulating snakes whilst hiking up Mount Kyllini, he garnered the displeasure of Hera who punished him (I guess) for his transgression by transforming him into a woman.
Seeing this baffled individual, Apollo came and offered a measure of explanation, saying that Tiresias would be made his former gender should he encounter mating serpents a second time. Legends vary but some accounts hold that female Tiresias was a prostitute of great fame, and giving birth to and rising a daughter, sired by none other than Hercules (though some dispute paternity), called Manto, who was also gifted with the curse of prophesy and was the namesake of the city of Mantua (Mantova). Seven years later, Tiresias came across another pair of snakes entwined in the act and either did or didn’t interrupt their activity (accounts vary) and his manhood was restored. At some point afterwards, Zeus and Hera were having a heated debate as to which gender derived more pleasure from sexual congress (though they didn’t specify what sort of intercourse) and at an impasse decided to bring in Tiresias who had experienced it from both sides as arbiter. When Tiresias sided against Hera once again by saying that ninety percent of the pleasure was the woman’s share, the goddess was so enraged that she gouged out Tiresias’ eyes. Out of pity and unable to countermand the punishment of his sister-wife, Zeus tried to compensate by granting Tiresias the ability to see into the future and a number of other superhuman talents plus a life extension that crossed seven generations and he became a prophet of Apollo.