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The Representative of Humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman is a wooden sculpture more than 8 m high designed by Rudolf Steiner and created together with the sculptor Edith Maryon for the first Goetheanum in Dornach. It was to be placed in the small domed room, the stage room of the first Goetheanum. When the Goetheanum burned down on New Year's Eve 1922/23, the sculpture had not yet been completed and was therefore spared from the fire.

  

Contents

1The striving of the individual human being for balance

2Connection with the Easter Imagination

3Christ as the Representative of Humanity between the Adversary Powers

4The World Humour

5The artistic work on the group of figures

6Literature

The striving of the individual human being for balance

„The people of the present day have a great need to place Christ in the midst of Ahriman and Lucifer. Christ-power must permeate us. But as human beings we must always seek the balance between that which, in a certain sense, mystically and enthusiastically wants to rise above us, and that which wants to pull us down to the earth in a materialistic, rational, philistine and difficult way. And if we endeavour to seek this balance, then alone can we find the Christ.“ (Lit.:GA 195, p. 40)

 

„I would like to say, I explain it to almost everyone of whom I only believe that he can have some understanding, to everyone who comes before the well-known wooden group in Dornach: "Christ in the middle as representative of humanity, Ahriman and Lucifer on either side", that the human being as we have him before us can really only be imagined by imagining everything about him as a state of equilibrium. On the one side is the supersensible, on the other the sub-sensible. The human being actually always represents only the state of equilibrium between the supersensible and the sub-sensible.“ (Lit.:GA 324a, p. 152)

 

„Until the middle of the 15th century, the single, individual human being did not come into consideration as he has since that time. Since that time, what is most essential in the human being is the striving to be individuality, the striving to unite individual personality forces, to find, as it were, a centre in oneself [...]

 

Through this, however, something becomes particularly important for man in this time, which began in the middle of the 15th century and will only end towards the fourth millennium. With this, something occurs that is of very special importance for this time. For you see, something vague is expressed when one has to say: Every human being strives for his own particular individuality. The group spirit, even if it comprises only smaller groups, is something much more tangible than that which each individual strives for out of the primal source of his individuality. Hence it is that it becomes especially important for this man of the newer times to understand what may be called the balance between the opposite poles: To seek a balance between the opposite poles.

 

The one wants to go beyond the head, so to speak. Everything that leads man to be a dreamer, a fantasist, a maniac, that fills him with indefinite mystical impulses towards some indefinite infinite, yes, that fills him even if he is a pantheist or a theist or something like that, which is so often the case today, that is the one pole. The other pole is that of sobriety, of dryness, trivially speaking, but not unrealistically speaking in relation to the spirit of the present, truly not unrealistically speaking: the pole of philistrosity, the pole of philistinism, the pole which draws us down to earth into materialism. These two poles of force are in the human being, and between them the human being stands, it has to seek the balance. In how many ways can one seek balance? [...]

 

In an infinite number of ways you can seek balance. This corresponds to the infinitely many ways of being an individual human being. That is why it is so essential for the present human being to realise that his being consists in the search for balance between the opposite poles. And the indeterminacy of the search for balance is precisely that indeterminacy of which I spoke to you earlier [...]

 

We are mentally healthy when we find the balance between the rapturously fantastic and the dryly philistine. We are physically healthy when we can live in balance between the fever and the sclerosis, the ossification. And this can happen in an infinite number of ways, in which individuality can live.

 

That is the way in which man, especially in modern times, must feel the old Apollo saying "Know thyself". But "know thyself" not in some abstraction: "Know thyself in the striving for balance." That is why we have to set up in the east of the building that which can make man feel this striving for balance. And this is to be represented in the sculptural wooden group mentioned yesterday, which has as its central figure the figure of Christ, the figure of Christ, which has been attempted to be shaped in such a way that one can imagine it: This is how the Christ really walked in the man Jesus of Nazareth at the beginning of our era in Palestine. The conventional images of the bearded Christ are actually creations of the 5th and 6th centuries, and they are truly not in any way, if I may use the expression, true to the portrait. That is what has been attempted: to create a Christ who is true to the portrait, who is at the same time supposed to be the representative of the searching human being, the human being who strives for balance. (It is drawn).

 

The Representative of Humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman; Plate 17 from GA 194, p 187

You will then see two figures at this group: Here the falling Lucifer, here the ascending Lucifer. Here below, in a certain sense connected with Lucifer, an Ahrimanic figure, and here a second Ahrimanic figure. The representative of humanity is placed between the ahrimanic figure: the philistine, the sober-dry-materialistic; and the luciferic figure: the rapturous, fantastic. The Ahriman figure: all that leads man to petrification, to sclerosis; the Lucifer figure: representation of all that leads man feverishly beyond the measure of that health which he can bear.“ (Lit.:GA 194, p. 183ff)

 

Connection with the Easter Imagination

 

Easter Imagination - Christ between Lucifer and Ahriman

→ Main article: Easter Imagination

The Easter Imagination, which Rudolf Steiner gave, describes how the image of the Christ forms out of the earthly-cosmic events, who stands between the adversary powers of Lucifer and Ahriman and keeps both in balance. In the statue of the representative of humanity between Lucifer and Ahriman, essential parts of this Easter imagination find their artistic-sculptural representation.

 

„In the middle of this group will stand a figure like, I would like to say, the representative of the highest humanity that could unfold on Earth. Therefore one will also be able to feel this figure of the highest human being in the development of the earth as the Christ. It will be the special task to shape this Christ figure in such a way that one will be able to see how this earthly body, in every expression, in everything about it, is spiritualised by that which has moved in from cosmic, from spiritual heights as the Christ. Through the raising of the left arm of the Christ figure, it happens that this descending entity breaks its wings. But it must not look as if the Christ were breaking the wings of this entity (Lucifer), but the whole must be artistically designed in such a way that, as the Christ raises his arm, it is already evident from the whole movement of his hand that he actually has only infinite compassion for this entity. This being, however, cannot bear what flows up through the arm and the hand; one would like to clothe its feeling in the words: I cannot bear that such purity should shine up upon me.

 

And on the other side the rock will be hollowed out. In this hollow is also a figure that has wings. The figure in the cave is literally clinging to the cave, you see it in chains, you see it working down there to hollow out the earth. Christ has his right hand turned downwards. Christ himself has infinite compassion for Ahriman. But Ahriman cannot bear it, he writhes in pain through that which radiates through the hand of Christ. And what radiates there causes the gold veins that are down in the rock cave to wind like cords around Ahriman's body and bind him.“ (Lit.:GA 159, p. 248ff)

 

Christ as the Representative of Humanity between the Adversary Powers

The group of figures in the large wooden sculpture shows Christ striding between two Lucifer figures and two Ahriman figures, which belong together in pairs. One pair of the Lucifer and Ahriman figures is active inside the human being, the other is active outside in nature or in the cosmos, as is also shown in the Easter imagination. At the top left, above the figure of Lucifer, a strongly asymmetrically shaped elemental being grows out of the rock out of inner artistic necessity, looking over the rock with a certain humour - the world humour.

 

„The whole building is arranged, as I said, from west to east, so that the axis of symmetry passes between the columns, from west to east, and it intersects the small cylinder, i.e. the stage space, at its boundary in the east. There, towards the east, between the sixth column on the right and the sixth column on the left, is a sculptural group. This, in turn, is supposed to artistically represent, I would like to say, the most intimate part of our spiritual-scientific world view. It is to represent what must necessarily be integrated into the human spiritual view of the present and into the future. Humanity must learn to understand that everything that is important for the shaping of the world and for human life runs into these three currents: so to speak, the normal spiritual current into which man is woven, then the Luciferic current and the Ahrimanic current. Divine evolution, Luciferic evolution and Ahrimanic evolution are woven into everything, both into the foundations of the physical and into the revelations of spiritual events. This, however, is not to be expressed symbolically, but artistically, in our pictorial group. A wooden group. An idea has arisen which I believe I have grasped as a thought, but the reason for which has not yet become clear to me even in its occult underpinnings; occult research in the future will probably reveal this. But it seems to be absolutely true that all ancient motifs can be better represented in stone or metal, and all Christian motifs - and ours is a Christian motif in the eminent sense - better in wood. I cannot help saying that I have always felt it necessary to rethink the group in St Peter's in Rome, Michelangelo's Pieta, in wood; for then, I believe, it would represent what it is supposed to represent; just as I have had to rethink other Christian groups that I found in stone in wood. There is certainly something at the bottom of this; I have not yet found the reasons. So our group had to be conceived and executed in wood.

 

The main figure is a kind of representative of humanity, an entity that is supposed to represent man in his divine revelation. I am satisfied if someone who looks at this figure has the sensation: it is a representation of the Christ Jesus. But even this seemed inartistic to me if I had based it on the impulse: I want to make a Christ Jesus. I wanted to depict what is there. What the person experiences then, whether it is a Christ Jesus, must first be the consequence. I would be quite happy if everyone experienced that. But that is not the artistic idea of depicting a Christ Jesus. The artistic idea rests purely in the artistic form, in the design; the other is a novellistic or programmatic idea of depicting a Christ Jesus. The artistic lives in the form, at least if it is a pictorial. - A main figure, the whole group is eight and a half metres high, stands somewhat elevated, behind it rocks, under it rocks. At the bottom of the rock, which is hollowing out a little, an Ahriman figure is growing out of it. It is inside a rock cave, half lying down, with its head up. The main figure stands on this somewhat hollowed out rock. Above the Ahriman figure and to the left of the observer is a second Ahriman growing out of the rock, so that the Ahriman figure is repeated. Above the Ahriman figure, again to the left of the observer, is a Lucifer figure. A kind of artistic connection has been created between the Lucifer and the Ahriman below. A little above, above the main figure, to the right of the viewer, there is also a Lucifer figure. Lucifer is therefore also present twice. This other Lucifer is broken in himself, falls through being broken in himself. The right hand of the central figure points downwards, the left hand upwards. This left hand pointing upwards points to the breaking point of Lucifer; there he breaks in two and falls. The right hand and the right arm of the central figure point towards the lower Ahriman and bring him to despair. The whole thing is conceived in such a way - I hope that one will be able to feel it - that this central figure is not in any way aggressive; but in the gesture I have indicated, there is only love in it. But neither Lucifer nor Ahriman can stand this love. The Christ does not fight against Ahriman, but radiates love; but Lucifer and Ahriman cannot let love come near them. Through the proximity of love, one, Ahriman, feels despair, being consumed within himself, and Lucifer falls. So in them, in Lucifer and Ahriman, lies what is expressed in their gestures.

 

Of course, the figures were not easy to create for the reason that one has to create spiritual things - partly spiritual in the case of the main figure, but purely spiritual in the case of Lucifer and Ahriman - and in sculpture it is most difficult to form the spiritual. However, an attempt was made to achieve what was necessary, especially for our aims: to dissolve the form, although it had to remain artistic form, entirely into gesture, entirely into mien. Man is actually only capable of using gesture and mien in a very limited sense. Lucifer and Ahriman are entirely gesture and entirely mien. Spirit forms do not have a finished form, there is no finished spirit form. If you want to shape the spirit, you are in the same position as if you wanted to shape lightning. The form a spirit has at one moment is different from the form it has at the next moment. You have to take that into account. If, however, you wanted to hold on to a spirit's form for one moment, just as you would a resting form, then you would get nothing out of it, you would only have a frozen form. So in such a case one must completely reproduce the gesture. So in the case of Lucifer and Ahriman, the gesture is completely reproduced, and this had to be attempted to some extent also for the middle figure, which is of course a physical figure: the Christ Jesus.

 

Now I would like to show you a few pictures which can give you a small idea of this main group, as best they can. The first is the head of Ahriman, in the form in which it first appeared to me: a human being - think of the threefold division of the human being into head, trunk and extremities - who is entirely head, who is therefore also the instrument of the most perfect cleverness, understanding and cunning. This is to be expressed in the figure of Ahriman. The head of Ahriman, as you see it here, is properly spirit, if I may use the paradoxical expression; but you know how a paradox often comes out when one characterises spiritually. He is indeed after the model, true to spirit, artistically true to nature. Ahriman had to "sit" for that to be brought about.

 

The next is Lucifer, as he appears from the viewer on the left side. In order to understand Lucifer, you must think in a very strange way of what appears as the spirit form of Lucifer. Think of that which is most Ahrimanic in man away from the human form, that is, the head away, but instead think of the ears and the auricles, the outer ear, considerably enlarged, naturally spiritualised and formed into wings and shaped into an organ, but the organ wrapped around its body, the laryngeal wings also enlarged; so that head, wings, ears form one organ together. And the wings, the principal organ, is that which results for the figure of Lucifer. Lucifer is an enlarged larynx, a larynx which becomes the whole form, out of which then develops, through a kind of wing, a connection to the ear, so that one has to imagine: Lucifer is such a form, which receives the music of the spheres, takes it into this ear-wing organism; and without the individuality speaking, the universe, the music of the spheres itself, again expresses itself through the same organ, which is transformed forward into the larynx, thus is another metamorphosis of the human form: larynx-ear-wing organ. Therefore the head is only indicated. With Ahriman you will find, if you will once see the figure in the Dornach building: What you can think of as a figure has been brought out. But what comes out of Lucifer as a head - although you cannot well imagine that it would be the same with yourself as with Lucifer - is something that is beautiful to the highest degree. The Ahrimanic, then, is the intelligent, clever, but ugly thing in the world; the Luciferic is the beautiful thing in the world. Everything in the world contains both the ahrimanic and the luciferic. Youth and childhood are more luciferic, old age more ahrimanic; the past is more ahrimanic, the future more luciferic in its impulses; women more luciferic, men more ahrimanic; everything contains these two currents. The elemental being above Lucifer - the "world humour".

 

The being above Lucifer arose as one that grows out of the rock as an elemental being. We had finished the group we had discussed, and when it was freed from its framework, something quite strange appeared: namely, that, as Miss Waller felt, the centre of gravity of the group lay - for the sake of the view, of course - too far to the right and something had to be created to balance it. This is how we were told by Karma. Now it was a question of not just putting up a lump of rock, but of pursuing the sculptural idea further. This is how this being came into being, which, as it were, grows out of the rock as an elemental being. You will notice one thing about this being, even if it is only expressed in hints: you will see how an asymmetry must immediately take effect as soon as spiritual figures come into consideration. This is expressed in the physical only to a very limited extent: our left eye is different from our right and so on; it is the same with the ear and nose. But as soon as one enters the spiritual realm, the etheric body has a decidedly asymmetrical effect. The left side of the etheric body is quite different from the right; this comes out immediately when you want to form spiritual figures. You can walk around this being, and you will have a different view from every point below. But you will see that the asymmetry works as something necessary, because it is the expression of the gesture with which this being looks over the rock with a certain humour and looks down on the group below. This looking down over the rock with humour has a good reason. It is not at all right to want to rise into the higher worlds with mere sentimentality. If one wants to work one's way up to the higher worlds, one must not do it with mere sentimentality. This sentimentality always smacks of egoism. You will see that often, when the highest spiritual connections are to be discussed, I mix into the contemplation something which is not intended to bring out of the mood, but only to drive away the egoistic sentimentality of the mood. Only then will people truly rise to the spiritual when they do not want to grasp it with egoistic sentimentality, but can enter this spiritual realm in purity of soul, which can never be without humour.

 

Then the head of the central figure in profile, as it emerged with necessity. The head had to be made somewhat asymmetrical because this figure was intended to show that not only the movements of the right hand, the left hand, the right arm and so on reflect the interior of the soul, but because in such a being living entirely in the soul, as is the Christ Jesus, this also takes up the formation of the forehead, for example, and the whole of the rest of the figure, much more than can be the case with the gesture of a human being. We have tried it out, although it does not correspond to reality, that if you put the picture upside down in the apparatus, you have a completely different view just because it is the other way round. The impression is different. But you will only see how this is conceived asymmetrically, artistically, in the finished head of the central figure. - One may well say that in the elaboration of such a thing all artistic questions really come into consideration; the smallest artistic question is always connected with some far-reaching whole. Here, for example, the treatment of the surface came into particular consideration. Life must be generated especially through the surface. The surface simply bent, and the bending bent again: this special treatment of the surface, the double bending of the surface, how this brings life out of the surface itself, you only see when you work through these things. And so you will see that what we wanted lies not only in what is depicted, but also in a certain artistic treatment of the matter. It was not necessary to reach the ahrimanic, the luciferic and again the human in a novellistic way, by mere reproduction, but it was necessary to get it into the fingertips, to get it into the shaping of the surface, it was necessary to get it completely into the artistic shaping. And that expansion which man receives by extending his perception into the spiritual, it also extends on the other side into the artistic.

 

So this group stands below in the east in the stage area. Above it arches the smaller dome, and this again is painted, as I have indicated. Above this group, there is another attempt to paint the same motif. There is the Christ, above Lucifer and Ahriman, and the attempt is made to express through the colours what should be represented through art. It is precisely through the diversity of treatment that one will see how purely out of the means of art the things had to be brought.“ (Lit.:GA 181, p. 312ff)

 

The World Humour

→ Main article: World humour

 

The world humour on the statue of the Representative of Humanity

The World Humour is a figure that sits at the very top of the monumental wooden sculpture of the Representative of Humanity and, as an elemental being, grows with inner artistic necessity out of the rocky outcrop depicted here (Lit.:GA 181, p. 316f).

 

The artistic work on the group of figures

In preparation for the group of figures, several models about 50cm in size were first created and finally also a model on a scale of 1:1, which is still preserved today, made of lime powder, beeswax and plasticine. Edith Maryon prepared the wooden framework and the materials for the construction of the model. The plasticine was prepared according to Rudolf Steiner's instructions and kneaded by hand. This material was chosen because it remains elastically mouldable for a long time and so Rudolf Steiner could continue to work on the model again and again despite his long and frequent absences from Dornach.

 

Literature

Judith von Halle, John Wilkes: Die Holzplastik des Goetheanum - «Der Menschheitsrepräsentant zwischen Luzifer und Ahriman», Vlg. am Goetheanum, Dornach 2008

Judith von Halle: «Das Christliche aus dem Holze herausschlagen...» - Rudolf Steiner, Edith Maryon und die Christus-Plastik, Vlg. am Goetheanum, Dornach 2007

Rudolf Steiner: Das Geheimnis des Todes. Wesen und Bedeutung Mitteleuropas und die europäischen Volksgeister, GA 159 (1980) English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

Rudolf Steiner: Erdensterben und Weltenleben. Anthroposophische Lebensgaben. Bewußtseins-Notwendigkeiten für Gegenwart und Zukunft, GA 181 (1991), Sechzehnter Vortrag, Berlin, 3. Juli 1918 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

Rudolf Steiner: Die Sendung Michaels, GA 194 (1994), ISBN 3-7274-1940-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

Rudolf Steiner: Weltsilvester und Neujahrsgedanken, GA 195 (1986), ISBN 3-7274-1950-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

Rudolf Steiner: Die vierte Dimension, GA 324a (1995), ISBN 3-7274-3245-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

 

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.

Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.

Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books

A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works

Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.

Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold

steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)

Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.

  

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1915-05-18-GA159

introduction to the lecture:

 

In 1914, Rudolf Steiner had begun a scaled-down model of the Christ sculpture that was later to be installed in the Goetheanum.. As the work on the sculpture itself began, he frequently explained its significance in his lectures.

 

One of Rudolf Steiner's lecture tours, May 6 through May 18, 1915, took him to Vienna, Prague and Linz. In all three cities he stressed that the Christ figure in the sculptured group would have to be portrayed as a being in equipoise between the polar forces of Lucifer and Ahriman and that this being was symbol of, and model for, man's own existence here on earth. The Linz lecture, which is here translated, presents the group in a world-historical context and relates the significance of the Lucifer-Christ-Ahriman configuration to the events surrounding World War I. Steiner sees a parallel between Christ's central, but equalizing position and Central Europe's mission in World War I. He implies that Germany's and Austria's militarism and political intransigence alone did not lead to war against the world powers in the East (Russia) and the West (France, England and, since 1917, the United States). According to Steiner, World War I was the earthly expression of a struggle between luciferic forces in the East and ahrimanic forces in the West, and it was Central Europe's destiny to mediate between these forces.

 

quote

 

Some day when the building in Dornach that is dedicated to the spiritual sciences is completed, it will contain, in a significant spot, a sculpture dominated by three figures. In the center of this group a figure will tower as if it were the manifestation of what I would call the most sublime human principle ever to unfold on earth. Hence, one will be able to experience this representation of the highest human principle in the evolution of the earth-the Christ, who in the course of this evolution lived three years in the body of Jesus of Nazareth. A special task in the portrayal of this Christ figure will be to make two ideas visible. Firstly, it will be important to show how the being that we are concerned with dwells in a human body. Secondly, it must also become apparent how this human body, in every facial expression and in every gesture reflects a magnificent degree of spiritual refinement, which descended with the Christ from cosmic and spiritual heights into this body in its thirtieth year. Then there will be the remaining two figures of the group, one to the left and the other to the right of the Christ figure, if that is the proper name for the figure that I have just sketched. This Christ figure is placed in such a way that it seems to be standing in front of a rock that towers noticeably at His left side, with its peak extending over His head. On top of the rock there will be another figure, winged but with his wings broken, who for this reason begins to fall into the abyss. One feature in the Christ figure that must be worked out with special artistic care is the manner in which he raises his left arm, for it is precisely this gesture that precipitates the breaking of the wings. It must not appear, however, as if the Christ Himself were breaking the wings of this being. Rather, the interaction of the two figures must be portrayed artistically to show how the Christ, by the very motion of raising his hand, is expressing his infinite compassion for this being. Yet this being cannot bear the energy flowing upward through arm and hand, an energy that is evidenced by indentations that the fingers of the extended hand seem to leave in the rock itself. When this being comes into proximity with the Christ being, he feels something that may be expressed in the words: I cannot bear the radiation of such purity upon me.

 

This feeling dominates so essentially as to break this upper beings wings and cause his imminent plunge into the abyss. To make this visible will be a particularly important artistic task and you will see how the meaning of this interaction could easily be misunderstood. Imagine, for example, an artistic portrayal of the Christ suggesting that merely by raising His hand He would radiate such power onto the being that his wings would be broken, forcing the plunge into the abyss. In that case it would be the Christ Himself who irradiated this being, as it were, with hatred, and thereby caused his descent. Such an impression must under no circumstances be conveyed. Rather, the being must be portrayed as having caused his own fall, for what is to be shown plunging downward, with broken wings, is Lucifer.

 

Now let us consider the other side of the group, toward the right of the Christ figure. There, the rock will have a ledge and, therefore, will be concave underneath. In this depression there will be another winged figure, who with his arm-like organs turns toward the ledge above. You have to visualize this as follows. To the right is the depression in the rock and in it stands this winged figure with wings entirely different from the figure on top of the rock. The wings of the figure on top of the rock resemble those of an eagle, whereas the figure in the depression has bat-like wings. This figure virtually buries himself in the cave, working in shackles, ever busy undermining the earthly realm.

 

The Christ figure in the middle has his right hand directed downward and the left one upward. Again, it will be an important artistic task not to show the Christ as wanting to shackle this figure; rather, he has infinite compassion for this being, which is Ahriman. Ahriman cannot bear this compassion and he writhes with pain from what the hand of the Christ exudes. This radiance from Christ's hand causes the golden veins down in the rock depression to wind around Ahriman's body like strong cords and shackle him. What is happening to Lucifer is his own doing; the same is true with Ahriman. This concept is going to take form as a sculpture that will be set up in a significant place in the new building. Above the sculptured group we will attempt to express the same motif through the medium of painting, but then the concept must be expressed differently. To summarize, the group of three figures: Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman will stand at the bottom as a sculpture, and above, the same motif will appear as a painting.

 

We are injecting this configuration of a relationship between Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman into our Dornach building because the science of the spirit reveals to us in a certain way that the next task regarding the comprehension of the Christ impulse will be to make man finally understand how the three forces of Christ, Lucifer and Ahriman are related in this world. To this day there has been much talk about Christianity and the Christ impulse, but man has not yet gained a clear understanding of what the Christ impulse has brought into the world as the result of the Mystery of Golgotha. Certainly, it is generally admitted that there is a Lucifer or an Ahriman, but in so doing, it is made to appear that from these two one must flee, as if one wished to say, “I want nothing to do with Lucifer and Ahriman!” — In yesterday's public lecture <1 I described the way in which the divine-spiritual forces can be found. If these forces did not want to have anything to do with Lucifer and Ahriman, either, the world could not exist. One does not gain the proper relationship to Lucifer and Ahriman by saying, “Lucifer, I flee from you! Ahriman, I flee from you!” Rather, everything that man has to strive for as a result of the Christ impulse must be seen as similar to the equilibrious state of a pendulum. In the center, the pendulum is in perfect balance, but it must oscillate to one side or the other. The same applies to man's development here on earth. Man must oscillate to the one side according to the luciferic principle and to the other according to the principle of Ahriman, but he must maintain his equilibrium through the cultivation of Paul's declaration, “Not I, but Christ in me.”

 

1915-06-13-GA159

It is quite indifferent what name we give to this central figure, but we may see in it the representative of Man on earth, man's representative in the highest meaning of the word. And if we see the ideal of humanity in that human being who for three years bore within him the Christ, then we may also see the Christ in this central figure of our plastic group.

 

Yet we should not simply face the statue with the thought: “That is meant to be the Christ”, for this would be wrong.

 

Instead, we should experience everything in an artistic way, that is to say, we should not interpret things symbolically from outside, but everything should result from what the forms themselves reveal.

 

1919-12-13-GA194

It is in this sense that modern man must come to understand, through his feeling, the ancient Apollo-saying: “Know thou thyself.” But “Know thou thyself” not in some abstract way; “Know thou thyself in the struggle for balance.”

 

Therefore we have to set up at the east end of the building what is intended to cause the human being to feel this struggle for balance. That is to be represented in the plastic wood group mentioned yesterday, with the Christ-Form as the central figure — the Christ-Form which we have tried to fashion in such a way that one may imagine: It was really thus that the Christ went about in Palestine at the beginning of our era in the man Jesus of Nazareth.

 

The conventional pictures of the bearded Christ are actually only creations of the fifth or sixth century, and they are really not in any way true portraits, if I may use the expression. That has been attempted here: to produce a true portrait of Christ, Who is to be at the same time the Representative of the seeking human being, the human being striving for balance.

 

You will see then in this group two figures: here the falling Lucifer, here the upward-striving Lucifer; here below, connected with Lucifer, as it were, an Ahrimanic form, and here a second Ahrimanic form. The Representative of Humanity is placed between the Ahrimanic form — the philistine, the insipid, the aridly materialistic — and the Lucifer-form — the ecstatic, the fantastic; between the Ahriman-figure — all that leads to petrifaction, to sclerosis — and the Lucifer-figure — the representation of all that leads man feverishly out beyond the limit of what his health can endure.

 

After we have placed in the center, as it were, the Gothic cathedral, which encloses no image, but either the relics of saints or even the Holy Grail — that is, something no longer directly connected with beings living on earth — then we come back again, I might say, to the idea of the building as enclosing something, but now enclosing the being of man in his struggle for balance.

 

If destiny permits it, and this building can some day be completed, he who sits within it will have directly before him, while he is looking upon the Being who gives meaning to the earth evolution, something which suggests to him to say: the Christ-Being. But this is to be felt in an artistic way. It must not be merely reasoned about speculatively as being the Christ, but it must be felt. The whole is artistically conceived, and what comes to artistic expression in the forms is the most important part. But it is nevertheless intended to suggest to the human being through feeling — I might say to the exclusion of the intellect, which is to be merely the ladder to feeling — that he is to look toward the east of the building and be able to say: “That art thou.” But now, not an abstract definition of man, for balance can be effected in innumerable ways. Not an image of a god is enclosed, for it is true for Christians also that they are to make no image of a God — not an image of a god is enclosed, but that is enclosed which has developed of the qualities of the human group-soul into the individual force-entity of each separate human being. And the working and weaving of the individual impulse is taken into account in these forms. —

 

1932-10 - In Memory of Rudolf Steiner, An Essay By Marie Steiner

In lectures during 1912 a description of the Christ figure was given to us in artistic and picturesque intensity, at a time when even the thought of the possibility of its plastic realisation had not yet been conceived. What we can now look at in a work of art, was conjured up before us by the power of the words:

 

“Yes, this outward plastic representation of the Christ — how He should be pictured outwardly is a question which has still to be solved.”

 

Many feelings will have to flow through human souls before there can be added something new to the many attempts already made in the course of the ages, an attempt which will show in some measure what the Christ is, as the supersensible Impulse which is making itself one with this earthly development. Not even the first beginnings of such a representation of the Christ are to be found in what has been accomplished up till now. For there must appear, embodied in the growing outward form, the organic forces of the impulses of Wonder, of Compassion, and of Conscience gathered there.

 

The Christ-countenance must be so living that its very expression will say: Here in this representation, all that makes man an earth-man, all that has to do with sense desire, has been overcome by the Spirit shining through — by what has spiritualised this face. There must be sublime strength in the face, brought out by causing everything that one can think of as the highest unfolding of conscience to manifest itself in the peculiar form of the chin and mouth ; a mouth, it must be — when one stands before it, when the painter or the sculptor wishes to form it — which gives one the feeling that it is not there to eat with but for the purpose of expressing all that has ever been cultivated in humanity as morality and conscience; and that the whole bony system, the teeth, and the lower jaw, give expression to the same. All this will come to expression in such a countenance. There will be so mighty a force in the form of the lower part of the face that it streams forth, renders and tears to pieces the whole remaining human body, till this in time will become a new form and thereby certain ether forces will be overcome. Thus it will be quite impossible to give to the Christ, who reveals a mouth like this a bodily form in any way similar to that of the physical man of today.

 

On the other hand, one will have to give Him eyes out of which there will speak an almighty compassion, such as alone is capable of seeing inner Being and not eyes which are there to receive impressions, but rather in order to go out, with the whole soul into the joys and sufferings of others.

 

Moreover, this Christ will have a forehead which one could not imagine as harbouring thoughts on sense impressions of earth. It will be a brow that projects somewhat over the eyes, vaulting over that part of the brain; yet, at the same time, it will not be a “thinker's brow” that ponders over what already exists, but rather Wonder will have to express itself from this brow that projects above the eyes and gently arches back over the head, thus expressing what may be called Wonder over the Mysteries of the World. That must be a head such as man cannot meet with in physical humanity.

 

Every portrayal of the Christ should really be something like the Ideal of the Christ-figure. And the feeling which aspires towards this ideal whenever in the course of evolution man struggles to achieve it — in so far as humanity strives artistically to present this Highest Ideal, through the help of Spiritual Science, must there be this feeling: You may not look to something which already exists, if you wish to portray “the Christ”; rather, you must cause to become a power, active in yourself to permeate your whole being, everything that you can achieve through spiritual absorption in the spiritual course of the world, through the three momentous impulses — Wonder, Compassion, and Conscience.

 

on this description, see also: Christ Module 19 - experiencing the Christ#1912-05-08-GA143

 

anthroposophy.eu/Representative_of_humanity

With each and every post, we strive here at Creative Tempest to bring you only the best artists from around the world. This post comes to you not from one single place but from several across the United States, with our artists being Nicole Wolf, Brad Wolf, and Jeremy Bustos; along with several others who with their powers combined come together to form OVEREXPOSED. Actually, they’re really SOTA Dzine and Studio ThisIs, OVEREXPOSED is simply their “Palace of Justice” where they all meet together and share their photography escapades. The artists behind OVEREXPOSED met in college as simply like-minded individuals who, “thrive to create…share their lives, inspiration, and work” and, “stuck together to do what they love”. Their work can be found at www.stylemepretty.com, www.bklynbrideonline.com, www.washingtonian.com, and the highly recognized www.theknot.com. We’re happy to post such talent and vision here on Creative Tempest and hope you will share the same appreciation for their great artwork that we do. Find out more at www.creativetempest.com

portfolio

 

You are capable more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. The world needs all you can give so it can give you everything that you deserve. Without struggle, there is no triumph over your dreams, even your fears. Remember that success is sweeter when wounds turn to scars and sweat becomes blissful tears.

GRAFFITI

Strive to make every day joyful and meaningful,not for others,but for myself.

My latest Painting, multi-layered Acrylic paints on stretched canvas, 100 x 70 cm

2013. 8. 16.　Munich.

Rolls-Royce automobiles under the title "Strive for Perfection"

 

ドイツ自動車博物館巡り vol.3

ミュンヘン「BMW博物館」ロールスロイス特別展示

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strivers'_Row

lawton, oklahoma

當我第一眼看到這張椅子，心中浮現的不是破舊，而是持續不停的奮鬥。

 

人生應該也是保持這種信念吧。

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

“The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be.”

Socrates

 

strive

strive one

graffiti

graffiti art

custom art

 

It becomes difficult to produce an original version of a place you have been to and photographed 30 or so times. This is what's called Postcard Falls at Corbett's Glen. It doesn't look much like a waterfall from this side angle but I like it better than the head on view, which can be seen below.

SAN DIEGO GRAFFITI

STRIVE All-Star Dads Event, June 25, 2009

 

Photos by Monica Graff

STRIVE Luncheon - 4/14/15

Nature at the beginning of spring showing the budding of Daffodils and the new leaves. A centruy old tree has suffered at the hands of the chainsaw after fighting for its life against high winds. Also, a few pics of an Elfin Grot!

hot herzliya morning, 7.06

and peace - not always so easy.

116/365 - April 26, 2010: Family Home Evening ...

 

As part of the LDS faith, we strive to follow the counsel to have family home evening (or family night, as some people know it as) once a week. We get together as a family (since we don't have kids, it's just Brian and me) and usually talk about gospel topics and also that's when we usually have a family counsel (talk about anything important in regards to our family, whether it be big, like finances, or small, like what the week looks like).

 

It's a great time for Brian and I to connect on a spiritual level and found out where we are and where we see eye to eye. I have to say, I am very blessed that Brian and I are pretty much on the same page regarding many things, and this is no exception. It also nice to talk about our faith and spirituality, because we can see things from different perspectives (even if we do feel the same about it, sometimes others have insights we don't, and vice versa).

 

Here we are, studying about doing service to others, like Jesus, who was the ultimate selfless person, and whom we strive to be like.

 

(Post process in Lightroom, using preset "400 v1.")

Reversed lens macro photography with a Canon EF 50/1,8 II

Yashica-Mat

Kodak Tmax 100

50iso

Rodinal 1+75, 17 minutes

A little media & comm photo assignment we did in college. A picture to describe the word "STRIVING". In this case, striving to stop smoking.

PERFECTION at Science Gallery Dublin explores why humans strive for perfection.

A wave of new science and technology allows us to modify, hack and transform our lives into our own personal perfection but with growing cultural pressures to look perfect and live an ideal life, is striving for perfection a positive goal? Or is imperfection what sustains life and creates diversity and difference? By holding up a mirror to our own ideals, PERFECTION reflects our ever-changing ideas of scientific precision, psychological perfectionism and perfect imperfection.

 

PERFECTION runs at Science Gallery Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2 until 6th October.

 

dublin.sciencegallery.com/perfection

 

EXHIBIT TITLE GENETICS GYM

 

ADAM PEACOCK | United Kingdom

2017

 

WOULD YOU MODIFY YOUR GENES?

 

Imagine you could change the colour of your eyes, be more intelligent or perhaps lessen your likelihood of getting cancer. With continued breakthroughs in genetic technology development, we already have the ability to design much of our bodies and cognitive dispositions, but ethical legislation currently puts limits on this. Genetics Gym imagines a scenario in which these ethical boundaries become grey-areas and asks how and why we might change ourselves if we had the ability to do so? Why do we strive to be anything other than who we currently are? This is an exhibit about philosophy, ethnicity, genetics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence and consumer psychology. The five vector line illustrations depict how the cognitive hard wiring of the human brain might interact with socio-political theories of consumption, leading to the desire to be different or ‘better’ than you currently are.