More New Art
Nikolaus Maack
Xmas time. But it's new to my site, and I like it a lot. It's called
"Folie #1".
http://www.nikart.com/new/29.html
I finished "Truly Sorry #3" last night, and will be putting it up on the
site some time soon -- probably tomorrow. It's a small canvas, highly
detailed.
I would really like to hear about any creative stuff any of you guys are
doing. Are you doing anything interesting? Are you updating your
websites? Do you have websites? Share, damn it.
Nik
Dale Houstman
I am interested in your caption however. My "familiar" is a public health
nurse and so deals with quite a few schizophrenics in the course of a year.
I have met a number of them and the overwhelming feeling I get is one of
"shrinkage" and a fearful coolness (wrought by attempts at self-control),
not the awesome "heat" you describe. Of course, schizophrenics are as varied
as any group of people, so there are exceptions. Most schizophrenics are
afriad of themselves and - more importantly - quite in a panic over the
uncontrollable nature of their emotions and imaginations. This is true even
when they haven't been overly institutionalized or inspected, or "infected"
by others notions of how they are "supposed" to be. A relatively close
cousin of this can be seen when people are unknowingly dosed with certain
drugs, and start to hallucinate. They think it will never end. Unfortunately
for schizophrenics, it usually doesn't. The sight you describe seems more
like an hysteric: I've met a number of them in my life, and their maniacal
struggle to "keep a good face on" in the midst of a world falling apart
nervously can be exciting to those who aren't put off by such a display.
This "larger than life" aspect is also very much associated with
manic-depressives in their manic phase, although the usual response isn't
one of awe as much as it is of aggravation and disgust; they're always
having more fun than anyone else wants to.
All these "conditions" are - to varying degrees - controllable by
medication, although that presents its own problems. Schizophrenics are
difficult to "train" into regular drug taking, and too often forget, or
desire to regain the "edginess" of their florid states, forgetting that it
also frightened them and rendered them incapable of many day-to-day
transactions.
And so it goes...
dmh
Nik Maack
Dale Houstman wrote:
> I am interested in your caption however. My "familiar" is a public health
> nurse and so deals with quite a few schizophrenics in the course of a year.
> I have met a number of them and the overwhelming feeling I get is one of
> "shrinkage" and a fearful coolness (wrought by attempts at self-control),
> not the awesome "heat" you describe.
The only schizophrenics I have encountered have been in the wild, not in
zoos. I'm sure that makes all the difference.
While I'd hate to romanticize mental illness, I do believe that
schizophrenics can see things more clearly than the most of us, and are
possibly in tune with forces beyond our understanding. Some research
even supports this idea. Schizophrenics are often more aware of
dynamics in social relationships -- this is one of the stressors that
can drive them nuts.
I encountered one schizophrenic (the one who gave off the heat I
described) who told us he once saw God. He told us God was a tornado of
fire that gave off white light, and in the spiraling arms of the
whirlwind were moments of your life, like bubbles that can't break. His
description -- which I'm not doing justice -- was awe inspiring. And
the sincerity with which he gave his description floored me. This was
no hallucination to him. It was as real as the concrete beneath his
feet. For a moment I could genuinely believe that he saw something
profound, meaningful -- forces not visible to poor sane slobs like you
and me.
I like to think that I do something similar with my art. Penetrate the
surface an inch and perceive "true" faces of colour and form. The face
beneath our face. Our real face.
> All these "conditions" are - to varying degrees - controllable by
> medication, although that presents its own problems. Schizophrenics are
> difficult to "train" into regular drug taking, and too often forget, or
> desire to regain the "edginess" of their florid states, forgetting that it
> also frightened them and rendered them incapable of many day-to-day
> transactions.
Many day-to-day transactions aren't worth doing.
Nik
Nik Maack
cythera wrote:
> Actually I like it as well. The eyes, e.g. their placement and
> intense cornflower blue, are what makes the piece work; just as I
> think the glue on "Michelle Covered In Glue" -- as well as the general
> jolie-laide beauty of the facial features, makes that piece work.
>
> I prefer the latter painting (it is your best work) --
Thanks for the comments. I'm surprised you like the Michelle painting.
It's one of my works I like the least. To me, Michelle looks vacuous,
almost drugged, in it. I've done much better portraits of her --
including one I haven't got on the website. Hmm. I keep forgetting to
get it up there.
> Re the schizophrenia of your subject in "Folie #1", I don't see how
> you are expressing that, for example through line, or through color
> choices. The face to me resembles the face of an artist, actually.
> It is a handsome face. I did not experience it as a tortured face.
The photograph that inspired me -- you couldn't tell the man was
schizophrenic, or even upset. And he was remarkably handsome. He was
leaning over slightly, and on his face was an expression of... Not
pain. But yearning. When I was in the magazine store, flipping the
pages, I stopped at his face and said, "Wow." Right away I knew this
was a face I had to work on.
> I'm rather curious why you didn't take your painting/portrait beyond
> the realm that you did -- for example, you must have looked at the art
> of the insane quite a bit when you studied psychology, yet your
> schizophrenic man seems no more haunted than your other subjects do --
> why is that? What are you trying to show?
When you look at the face of a man, can you tell he's schizophrenic? My
goal, when I do a portrait, is to try to capture how it looks to me,
when I stare at it and wait for the real face to come out of it. His
face didn't strike me as insane, even if his mind is insane.
> Suggestions of who to paint next:
People often suggest faces for me to paint. I wonder why they don't try
painting them themselves?
But Poe would be a fun one to do. Are there any good photographs of him
out there?
> Along the lines of what you probably mean, for one I'm reading and
> remixing selections from "Les fleurs du mal" as translated by Wallace
> Fowlie.
Keen. Any chance you'll post some stuff here? Personally, I'd like to
see more creativity in this newsgroup, and less posturing and ponderous theorizing.
Nik
Jonathan M.
"Dale Houstman" <dm...@citilink.com> wrote in message
news:u50s06f...@corp.supernews.com...
> I won't say anything about your work: you know how I "feel" about it.
>
> I am interested in your caption however. My "familiar" is a public health
> nurse and so deals with quite a few schizophrenics in the course of a year.
I'd like to put my two-cents in here. My older brother suffered from
schizophrenia, and died a few years ago indirectly from it. I helplessly
watched it progress for almost two decades. He had a masters in political
science and came close to succeeding at it early on in DC with stints in
Sen Kennedy's office, Admiral Zumwalt and the Brookings Institute.
> I have met a number of them and the overwhelming feeling I get is one of
> "shrinkage" and a fearful coolness (wrought by attempts at self-control),
> not the awesome "heat" you describe.
My impression was one of an overwhelming fear they had for their
own safety. Just about anything outside their control or understanding
presented danger in their minds. Other people were the first
and obvious source of potential harm. Uncertainty seemed to set off
a runaway paranoid imagination. He was only a danger to others
when backed into a corner, no matter how small a corner it was.
> Of course, schizophrenics are as varied
> as any group of people, so there are exceptions. Most schizophrenics are
> afriad of themselves and - more importantly - quite in a panic over the
> uncontrollable nature of their emotions and imaginations.
My brother often said he felt some 'thing' was slowly burrowing through
his brain. He knew something was wrong with him, but couldn't
grasp what it was, and his paranoia prevented him from consistently
allowing others, especially doctors, to try to help. He ended up
dying from a diabetic coma as he wouldn't follow his medical
advice.
>This is true even
> when they haven't been overly institutionalized or inspected, or "infected"
> by others notions of how they are "supposed" to be. A relatively close
> cousin of this can be seen when people are unknowingly dosed with certain
> drugs, and start to hallucinate. They think it will never end. Unfortunately
> for schizophrenics, it usually doesn't. The sight you describe seems more
> like an hysteric: I've met a number of them in my life, and their maniacal
> struggle to "keep a good face on" in the midst of a world falling apart
> nervously can be exciting to those who aren't put off by such a display.
> This "larger than life" aspect is also very much associated with
> manic-depressives in their manic phase, although the usual response isn't
> one of awe as much as it is of aggravation and disgust; they're always
> having more fun than anyone else wants to.
>
> All these "conditions" are - to varying degrees - controllable by
> medication, although that presents its own problems. Schizophrenics are
> difficult to "train" into regular drug taking, and too often forget, or
> desire to regain the "edginess" of their florid states, forgetting that it
> also frightened them and rendered them incapable of many day-to-day
> transactions.
Several times my brother tried to slip me his medication, when I asked
why, he would say it's because he wanted me to know how it made
him feel. He claimed it robbed him of all emotions and joy.
But the pattern of going off and on the medication and accompanying
swings in behavior only made the disease progress faster.
Jonathan
s
Nik Maack
"Jonathan M." wrote:
> My brother often said he felt some 'thing' was slowly burrowing through
> his brain. He knew something was wrong with him, but couldn't
> grasp what it was, and his paranoia prevented him from consistently
> allowing others, especially doctors, to try to help. He ended up
> dying from a diabetic coma as he wouldn't follow his medical
> advice.
Johnathan, that's brutal. Thank you for sharing it with us.
> Several times my brother tried to slip me his medication, when I asked
> why, he would say it's because he wanted me to know how it made
> him feel. He claimed it robbed him of all emotions and joy.
> But the pattern of going off and on the medication and accompanying
> swings in behavior only made the disease progress faster.
I have friends on anti-depressants. One of them takes occasional
"weekends off" their meds (with their doctor's permission) for more or
less the same reason as you described. With anti-depressants, this
isn't quite as dangerous, if done in moderation.
It's bleak that the "cure" for so many mental illnesses is simply a
blunting of the mind and the emotions.
Nik
elag
...
> out there?
Brandon Freels
> Are you doing anything interesting?
At the surrealist meeting tonight we played a game (I forget the name) where
you roll two dice (we used one normal-sized, and one miniture) and have to
spout out as quick as possible as many words as the two dice dictate. You
move from person to person, sometimes finishing other peoples sentences,
etc. Its sorta kinda a collective-automatism. There was a small gathering of
radical enviromentalists at the cafe as well and some of them joined in the
game. It went on for about an hour or so. Very fun. Next time I'll take my
minidisc recorder and make a transcript.
Before the meeting I wrote & revised these three eye-collage poems using a
Kenneth White translation of Breton, and Paz's A Tree Within:
K*
I can't sleep
Water falls with mirrors and blue moss
I own a boat built from the seat of your bicycle
I am carried infront of their moon-pit
and split open like fireworks
A musician drags footsteps over a white leaf
A black flag trembles in the amber
*Rimbaud speaking
GLORIA
If only the sun with all its curtains
If only your belly detached from the foam
would ornament the earth with waves
All the apples bear your star
and the lights that grill the rain
stretch out from your dirty feet
into the shirt-tail of a sea-urchin
They tell me its over
ALGAE
My double
nestled in the muzzle of this ox
burning this hat on my head
singing in the passage between the bed and the belly:
the solo volcano makes sunflowers out of my spine
Nikolaus Maack
> At the surrealist meeting tonight we played a game (I forget the name) where
> you roll two dice (we used one normal-sized, and one miniture) and have to
> spout out as quick as possible as many words as the two dice dictate. You
> move from person to person, sometimes finishing other peoples sentences,
> etc. Its sorta kinda a collective-automatism. There was a small gathering of
> radical enviromentalists at the cafe as well and some of them joined in the
> game. It went on for about an hour or so. Very fun. Next time I'll take my
> minidisc recorder and make a transcript.
That's quite interesting. Instead of a transcript, maybe you could post
an MP3 or some kind of audio file to the web? I imagine a lot would be
lost with just a transcript, as opposed to hearing the voices. That would
be neat -- to hear the voices.
> K*
>
> I can't sleep
> Water falls with mirrors and blue moss
> I own a boat built from the seat of your bicycle
(I really like that line for some reason -- vaguely perverse.)
> I am carried infront of their moon-pit
> and split open like fireworks
(That's a great line too.)
> A musician drags footsteps over a white leaf
> A black flag trembles in the amber
>
> *Rimbaud speaking
And this last line:
> singing in the passage between the bed and the belly:
> the solo volcano makes sunflowers out of my spine
Sexual, playful, nice. I really like the "solo volcano". It sounds
really sweet inside my head.
Nik