Here's a snapshot of some things that have been infiltrating my consciousness recently (going back two months or so, didn't get around to posting)

Fiction.
John Cowper Powys: "Wolf Solent" - Quite a slow read but I got there in the end. Not much really happens, the characters aren't so believeable, and he is too liberal with his exclamation marks. On the other hand, there are some sublime & original passages describing internal moods either vague & cosmic, or exact & familiar - these drew me in initially, and my stubborness didn't let me abandon the book.
Dostoyevsky: "The Idiot" - read aloud to Rachel, though I've read it several times before. Not sure why it's such a repeat visit with me. Maybe it's partly the brilliant opening page/chapter/first quarter of the novel. Maybe it's because I didn't entirely understand it before. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, which I'm not.
Aldous Huxley: "Crome Yellow" - another read aloud, a bit of a foil to The Idiot. Not much happens in this one, but there's a lot of talking. Posh and arty people pontificating in the '20s - quite entertaining.
Andre Gide: "The Vatican Cellars" - An old one from 1913, humourous and gripping - a bit of philosophical interest too, with the infamous (?) character Lafcadio who perpetuates a supposedly unpremeditated, disinterested crime.
Milan Kundera: "The Joke" - I finished the Gide on holiday, and found "The Joke" in a charity shop, which piece of serendipity introduced me to this brilliant Czech novel from the 60's. It's the only book mentioned here I would unreservedly recommend.

Non-fiction.
Richard Brettell: "Modern Art 1851-1929" - Worth it just for the less familiar Polish, Finnish, Czech, Canadian artists included in the examples. I like the notion that most modernist abstract art tends to be trasnational or even cosmic and universal, rather than national in its aim. Is it true? Perhaps if you cut out specific representation then you get left with some sort of common denomonator, whether it be transcendental, banal, or somewhere in the middle.
Richard Cork: "A Bitter Truth: Avant-garde Art and the Great War" - this is an amazing art book. How did artists respond before, during and after World War I - utterly essential for the Otto Dix, George Grosz, Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer pictures, and that's just for starters. A refreshing amount of ouvre that isn't full blown painting too, such as lithographs, crayon sketches, etching, pen & ink, woodcut. I would love to get hold of 20th Century art history based around these media as a new-look alternative to the usual history of painting. There must be one somewhere?
Hugh Honour & John Fleming: "A World History of Art" - ok this book is huge, and I might return it to Bromley Library before I even get through the Greeks. I find much in early art that is relevant to me, including cave paintings. Great art is great art even if it hails from the mists before civilization c.25000 BC. One of the earliest images in my life was a print from the c.16000 Lascaux cave bison paintings encircling my waste-paper bin, so maybe that's why I respond so readily.

Television.
I veer from being vehemently anti-television, to acquiring a slavish viewing-habit, like getting hooked on Friends, or not wanting to miss a session of University Challenge. At the moment we are still enjoying the novelty of owning a Digi-box that gets us Freeview, so I would say I am even less discerning at the moment. Watching repeats of Father Ted, The Avengers, - and yes, even The Crystal Maze with the irreverent Richard O'Brien. That last one from the early 90's seemed fairly pointless viewing the first time around!
The Avengers - has a cool stylish knowing surreality that I like, but after each mystery has been enigmatically solved by the protagonists, it's just same time next week, and we go round and round in quirky cult entertainment circles. A bit like most tv then and now...is it a drug, or a drag. Often set on location in lush home counties England - gives it a nice touch to see Steed and Emma Peel trundling down a forgotten dusty country road in their vintage auto.
Life on Mars - second series recently finished. Drama about a police detective who goes back to the good old bad old Mancunian 70s via a coma following a car accident. It's a tv treat - gripping, funny, thoughtful, original programme making.
Mock the Week - topical satire and stand-up improv, bristling with talented so and so's. Some of the more callous input can make your hackles rise and bring out the heckling spirit.
Futurama - visually mesmerising, very funny, richly packed & quite endearing. I enjoy it more than the Simpsons these days.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - cold war espionage drama with Alec Guiness as the inscrutable but twinkling Smiley engaged in rooting out a mole, originally aired in the 80's. Much confused, until we missed an episode, then strangely it started making more sense. Very well thespioned.

Films.
Alice, dir. Svankmajer - DVD. Fantastic take on Alice in Wonderland via the Czech animator Jan Svankmajer's best surreal stopframe style. What I'd like to know is where he got all his marvellous assorted bric-a-brac that gets the magic transforming touch in his animations. I love the visceral, tainted, chipped, unpolished, non-sleek look of Svankmajer's world - very different from the commercial gloss of a typical Disney.
Man with a Movie Camera, dir. Vertov - The original Russian title is "Chelovek's Kino-apparatom". Playful documentary of urban life in 1929 Soviet Union. A critic's favourite, and an absolute joy. The filmer filming the filmer is a glorious tongue-in-cheek moment of exuberance spilling over. DVD.
Volver, dir Almodovar - Our most recent outing to the cinema was to see the latest by one of our regular favourite directors Pedro Almodovar. He's on top form, so is his cast, it's a warm and witty film, with original twists of mystery. The Spanish title translates as The Return.
Fight Club - This lived up to the masterpiece-hype, and at the very least was compelling and never boring. It's tough confrontational stuff, but intelligent with it - maybe a difficult film to actually like.

Music.
Where on earth do I start? What's been keening my ears of interest lately?
Murcof, Mum, Jaga Jazzist, & A Silver Mt Zion are all artists that I find richly creative but also fairly-to-very chilled and relaxing. What a great combination!
In a bewildering maze of proliferating laptop composers, the Mexican artist Murcof (Fernando Corona) has singled my ears out with just that extra thoughtful, magical touch that makes me sit up. Various layers of blippy beats and snatches of melodic motifs weave their spell without sounding too cluttered and rushed, but also avoid being too static and repetitious. His debut, Martes, samples particles of contemporary classical works in an envigoratingly subtle way. Or is that a subtly envirgorating way.
Jake Thackeray - "Jake in a Box". Witty and charming songwriting with a plain-speaking, pomposity-puncturing attitude, sung in a unique voice which is sort of Noel Coward with a Yorkshire accent. A taste that I have finally acquired, though at times he borders on being too quaint and coy.
I was intrigued by a long experimental track by solo artist Kimmo Pohjonen - a Finnish accordion player who uses a combination of his instrument, effects, and voice to create a fascinating journey of sound. I wonder if interest will be sustained for a whole album - well maybe.
And, as is often the case, I have been grooving to some Fela Kuti tracks. "O D O O" is an especially infectious one.

Art.

Exhibition of David Smith sculptures at the Tate Modern, January. I already had much admiration for his Picasso/Gonzalez influenced abstract welding, and this was certainly strengthened by attending the Tate Mod show. Almost too much Smith at once really, since I'd like to live with one of these per month or so. And the bigger, later pieces need to be al fresco, rather than crowded together in a room. You could still apprecaite their presence and power though.

Another snapshot, sooner or later.

Puppets

These are most of my Mum's puppet collection.
See 3 more pics on my Flickr pages.

The one above is Thai, below are a Sicilian knight, a conducter from England, four Javanese rod puppets, and King Charles IV from Czechoslovakia. I've been to see a few puppet shows in Brighton, and if done really well they can be utterly magical and captivating. Long live the art of Puppetry.

Whimsical Tour of the Web #3

SureSure.co.uk - Llecyn project
Deeply felt and playful photography


SureSure is the portfolio of British photographer and designer David Rule. His work is conceptually clever and thoughtprovoking, not just eye candy, and with his project “Llecyn”, I find the emotional response is also very strong.

In this sequence of photographs, the house of the artist’s grandparents is revealed in simple views, imaginative angles and intimate close-ups. You never see the actual people, but domestic details build up glimpses and hints of a well-worn shared space. In the process of looking, you scrutinise household objects that seem perhaps insignificant, but might be part of the artist’s strong familiar recollections of past times spent in this place, made more poignant when you learn that his grandparents are preparing to move after 30 years of dwelling there.

The experience is very much enhanced by the addition of some subtle movement (flash animation) in a lot of the pictures, which isn’t always immediately apparent. This dimension makes for delightful and evocative discoveries – I will give little away, as the element of surprise is so enjoyable. What’s more, I found myself gazing at the pictures so intently to find the animation, that it deepened the way I was looking at the still images. The movement includes almost intangible elements like a curtain barely moving in the breeze, or the changing light and shade on a wall. You also have to exercise the mouse a little to find some of the wonderful little secrets that there are. These elements seem to convey all the more directly David’s personal experience of this habitat so familiar to him.

I recommend time spent with Llecyn, and repeat visits are still rewarding.


Other Websites in the Whimsical Tour
#1 The Captain Beefheart Radar Station - all about the words, music, paintings & life of Don Van Vliet.
#2 Coconino World - massive French showcase of illustrators and comic artists present and past.

Puffin Post 1968

Advent Calendars

From last December, a batch of seven online Advent Calendars of varying quality, but all quite different from each other. Here they all are. Something for everyone who still enjoys the day-to-day door-opening treat that these things bring.

First, and probably most fun, here's something quite different from the rest. This is the story of JT Agapanthus & the Black Cat Blues, a whimsical tale told with illustration and a little bit of Flash animation, by Penelope Schenk. It's the latest in a series that she started back in 1995, about the adventures of Tate the cat. You cannot peek ahead, so there's a genuine anticipation to see just how the story will evolve. Very charming - I highly recommend it.

Next, here's a wonderful jamming session of illustrating talent, put together by PenelopeIllustration, who runs the weekly participation Illustration Friday. This is a project from 2004, with each day's bauble leading to a different illustrator's contribution. A great idea, and great fun. Well recommended.


This Medieval Advent Calendar is much more interesting. Each day you get a detail from a painting, and medieval Christmas stories, legends and images from the Middle Ages. A fascinating feast of art and information, you never know quite what to expect from day to day, but essentially you get to visit a diverse array of websites on Nativity and folklore themes. Recommended. Located at New York Carver.

Instead, how about this delightful wealth-of-information from the Woodlands Junior School in Kent. Each day, discover some fascinating facts about how Christmas is celebrated in countries around the World. The red flowers on the right are from a Pohutokawa, the New Zealand Christmas tree. This calendar looks quite unassuming at first, but it's another recommended.

Then there's this Finnish gnome calendar, cute and folksy with charming pictures in the style you can see on the left. The doors only become available as the days go by, which prevents any temptation to peek early. It's from Virtual Finland.


A couple of others, maybe also-rans compared to the five above, but horses for courses.

There's a simple tree shaped calendar at apmethodist.org with photos of traditional German Christmas tree ornaments. A bit unexciting, and the pictures are too small. But there's a bit here to read about the history of advent calendars.

This old-fashioned looking item is a bit more sedate and predictable. Jigsaw puzzles, jokes, Christmas carols and Christmas facts. Find it at North-pole.co.uk, where you can email a letter to Santa too. Too mainstream and tacky looking for me.

If you have discovered any other noteworthy Advent eCalendars, then drop a comment, I'd love to know about it.

Whimsical Tour of the Web #2

No. 2:


You can certainly get very pleasantly lost in Coconino World. There’s lots of it, and the page design is reason alone to spend a little time here wandering to and fro. The name ‘Coconino’ refers to the Coconino country of George Herriman’s ‘Krazy Kat’ strips from the first half of the 20th C. He is represented in the Classics section, but it is his whimsical style that pervades the look of the website’s pages.

Essentially what you will find here is a showcase for a number of comic artists and illustrators, with plentiful offerings of strips, drawings, sketches and some flash animations. You will make the most of this treasure trove with a good broadband connection and a little French reading ability, but don’t let the lack of either of these put you off a pleasurable flit around the pages. You will mainly be asking yourself “Where do I start?”

So maybe try a few highlights:

African Flower, by José Muñoz and Carlos Sampayo, tells of the creation of a piece of beautiful jazz in moody black and white drawings and a soundtrack that begins with Charlie Mingus regarding himself in the mirror while his double bass figure sounds in a loop. If you know this lovely Duke Ellington track, there’s a nice anticipation as you hear elements of the music coming together against a NY City background. (Start here, and then choose Muñoz from the list on the left-hand side)

Or follow the Coconino World dirigible on its voyages through space and time, as depicted in a sequence of endlessly inventive drawings by Josépé and Pat Cab. The wordless fantasy travelogue traces a journey that is far-reaching and seemingly eternal, documenting denizens, travellers and strange creatures, who often seem profoundly touched by the passing of the airship. The mood of the vistas are gloriously portrayed, some very memorably with a Wild West, wide-open-space look, enhanced by muted palettes of colour. Some of these prairie panoramas are again reminiscent of the quirky background scenery in Herriman’s Krazy Kat. I think that, like me, you may well be mesmerized by this series of images.
(Find it at the Village, choose Josépé, then choose Le Dirigeabe)

Or you could enjoy the delightful cartooning style of Alexandre Clérisse, in a full length story called Jazz Club, which follows the hapless experiences of clarinettist Norman. Drawn in a 50s retro style of colourful shapes, the tale kicks off in dusty Arizona, contrasted later on with lush French woodland. The drawing is inventive, quirky and very appealing to the eye, everything lovingly detailed, including places, people and musical instruments. If you can read French you will follow the story better, but it’s pretty easy to follow most of the time, and often textless anyway. It’s a visual feast, and a well-kept-secret masterpiece. (Same route – go to this page, then select Clérisse)

Then there’s Peggy Adam’s beautiful observations and reflections of people and places – Tibet, Cambodia, Gaudeloupe included. Her visions are sensuous and dreamlike. And also: comically sketched characters in Herody’s Reunions; expressive black & white wine guzzling cartoon by Prudhomme; and Anne Simon’s bizarre illustrative flights of fancy.

#2b Coconino Classics
And that’s just a few of the contemporary artists represented on Coconino World. There’s still the Coconino Classics, a rollcall of almost 50 vintage artists spanning from the 18th to 20th centuries. The best known names include Herriman (Krazy Kat), McCay (Little Nemo), Hokusaï, Feininger, Gustav Doré, Rowlandson and Cruikshank. Some of these are more interesting as history of cartoons and comics, but there’s an immense variety of styles all collected and presented with evident devotion.

Again some of my highlights you might like to home in on:
There are the very splendid set-piece single panels of W.G.Baxter’s ribald world of Ally Sloper. Starting with a tour of the famous British seaside resorts, wend your way through 50 or so of these admirably detailed vignettes. So the actual jokes are often laid on with a late-Victorian trowel, but the drawings have a wonderful energy to them. From the Classics index page, choose Baxter.

Or enjoy the inimitable style of Cliff Sterrett in a series of Polly and her Pals from the '30s. These comic strips are good to look at, with a joyful experimental play of primary colours in a feast of shapes, patterns and near abstractions.

Expect the unexpected in Heinrich Kley’s portfolios of surreal black and white sketches. There are moments of eroticism mixed with disturbing gothic surreality – lizards taking tea, a demon makes his train set writhe like snakes, three nymphs forcefeed champagne to a prone gentleman, skiiers launch from a woman-turned-landscape, and a muse opens an artist’s pate for his inspiration to pour forth a host of people.

In contrast to Kley’s unsettling darkness, there are the innocent, pastoral colour paintings of Carl Larsson – placid houses and gardens, quiet and nostalgic but not overly loaded with sentiment. Finally, the most recent addition to the Classics is a 1935 series of charming humorous strips by Otto Soglow, about The Little King, in a bold, colourful world where all the court officials have huge puffed out chests, and the regal hero of the piece sometimes gets overlooked.

Other Websites in the Whimsical Tour
#1 The Captain Beefheart Radar Station - all about the words, music, paintings & life of Don Van Vliet.

Johnnynorms Whimsical Tour of the Web #1

This series is basically my roll call of interesting websites, things that I find curious, beautiful, enlightening, engrossing or otherwise engaging – and I dearly wish to share my knowledge of their existence and whereabouts.

So if you’ve got a few minutes, come and step aboard the cyber-trolley and see the sights with your unpredictable but well-meaning guide JohnnyNorms.

#1 The Captain Beefheart Radar Station

A good place to start: a nice big website about one of my favourite creatives, Don Van Vliet, better known in the music world as Captain Beefheart. Here at the Radar Station you can find song lyrics, poetry, paintings, discography, biography, photographs, interviews, tributes. If you like his music and haven’t encountered this place, a feast awaits you.

What I really like is the chance to explore his paintings – and there’s a lot of artwork here. There’s an imaginative frenzy at work in these paintings, a self-taught genius with a warm heart, admitting no limits to the expressive possibilities. The titles are intriguing and humourous, often referring to his own song lyrics and poems.
This one is "Beezoo, beezoo" 1985.

For newcomers of a musical persuasion, I wholeheartedly recommend investigating the phenomenon of Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band. There are more accessible ways in, but to get the full blast of the uniqueness of Captain Beefheart, jump in the deep-end and listen to “Trout Mask Replica”. It sounds like nothing else, and is so full of inspired, playful music and words, that leave a deep impression. My first time, it sounded pretty chaotic, but it lingered in my mind; eventually I was returned to it, and the order of the wild syncopation became more apparent, the strangeness and abrasiveness stopped getting in the way, and I found it beautiful and exhilirating.

There is much more eloquent writing than mine on the Radar Station about the appeal of the music, and Don Van Vliet's artistry in general. Interviews, articles and tributes abound and will fire your enthusiasm, or deepen your appreciation. The url in full is: http://www.beefheart.com/

Stained Glass by Carter Shapland

Came across this marvellous stained glass in Dulwich Christ Chapel, during a walkabout of artists' Open Houses for West Dulwich Festival. The artist is Carter Shapland, and it was made in 1969. Fairly Leger influenced I reckon. Most of the elements of the Crucifixion seem to be there (apart from the actual people obviously) - the thrice-crowing cockerel, the vinegary sponge on a stick, crown of thorns, roman soldier's dice, etc. Nice little chapel, consecrated in 1619 - part of the Foundation of the Shakespearean actor/manager Edward Alleyn.