FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

PROLOGUE

Paul Jaisini was like a messiah, as you wish, who saw/understood the impending end and complete degeneration of Fine art or Art become and investment nothing more than that. He predicted the bubble pops art when everybody would eventually become an artist, including dogs cats and horses, because they as kids followed the main rule: express yourself without skills or knowledge or any aesthetic concerns. J. Pollack started pouring paints onto canvases; Julian Schnabel, former cab driver from NY, suddenly decided he could do better than what he saw displayed in galleries, so he started gluing dishes on canvases; A.Warhol, an industrial artist who made commercial silk-screen for the factories he worked in, started to exhibit "Campbell's soup" used for commercial adds... and later the thing that made him an "American Idol": by copying and pasting Hollywood celebrities (same type of posters he made before for movie theaters).

When Paul Jaisini stood out against the Me culture in the US by burning all of his own 120 brilliant paintings (according to the then-new director of Fort Worth MoMa Museum, who offered hin an exhibition of his art in 1992, and later the Metropolitan Museum curator, Phillippe de Montebello, in 1994).Paul probably assumed all fellow true fine artists would join him or stand by him against corruption of the art world.

And after 20 years of his stand-off...the time has finally come today. Many artists and humanitarians around the world took a place beside him. His invisible Paintings became a synonym for the future reincarnation of fine art and long lost harmony. The establishment is in panic! The "moneybags" (as Paul Jaisini named them) are in panic, because they invested BILLIONS of dollars in real crap made by

craftsmen. Now they realize that the reputation of American legends of expressionism was nothing but a copy of Russian avant-garde" Kazimir Malevich, Vasiliy Kandinsky and tens of others from France and Germany.. US tycoon investors were spending billions on "Me more original, than you". "Artist Shit" is a 1061 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, filled with feces. A tin can was sold for £124,000, 180,000 at Sothebys, 2007.

EPILOGUE

Before I resume promoting and admiring a very important art persona on today's international art arena, I'd like to clear up some BIG questions; people ask continuously and subconsciously, directly & indirectly: "Why does the name Paul Jaisini, flood the Internet in such "obnoxious" quantities that it's started suppressing some other activities that my friends might share with the rest of the Internet's Ego Me only Me www society? I can't just answer this... so I'll try to explain why I'm writing this: Jaisini's followers keep posting art and info about,

He IMHO the only hope in quickly decomposing visual fine art. "Paul Jaisini realized many years ago, in 1994, when he declared (at that time to himself only) the start of a New era, a New vision, that he is trying to redirect from the rat race, started by an establishment in post-war New York, long before the Internet culture.

Sub related information: Adolf Gottlieb, Mart Rothko, etc (after visiting Paris France in 1933):

"We must forget analytical art, we must express ourselves, as a 5 year old child would, without a developed consciousness. Forget about results - do what you feel, EXPRESS yourself with your own unique style"

With this statement Mark Rothko starts to teach his students, degeneration of fine art begins, and the generation of war of styles took a start signal of the material race, greatly rewarded by establishment "individual" - eccentric craftsmen - show business clowns.

Sub related Information: In the summer of 1936, Adolf Gottlieb painted more than 800 paintings, which was 20X more than he created in his whole art career as a painter, starting from the time of Gottlieb becomes a founding member of "The Ten" group in NYC "Group of Ten" was a very peculiar, enigmatic group... Based on a religious point of view;(where a human figure was prohibited from being created)

GLOSSARY

IN 1997, Paul Jaisini's best friend Ellen Y.K.Gottlieb started a cyber campaign by promoting on a very young Internet, back then, Paul Jaisini's burned paintings as Invisible Paintings, visible only through poetic essays. She and a handful of people saw his originals and were devastated that nobody could ever see them again. "We, his fans, believe that someday Paul will recreate his 120 burned paintings if he has any decency and moral obligation to his fans, who have dedicated decades to make it happen, for their Phoenix to rise from the ashes and the whole world will witness that all these years we spent to get him back to re-paint the Visuals again were not in vain," - said E.Y.K.Gottlieb in 2014 during the 20th anniversary celebration of Invisible Paintings to GIGroup in NYCity. So now, hopefully, this clears up why I and others do what we do - our "cyber terrorism" of good art, dedicated to Paul Jaisini's return, which is & and was our mission & our goal. We post good art to fight "troll art" which is worthless pics, after being passed through 1-click filters of free web apps. We are, in fact, against this www pops pollution, done with "bubble art" by the out of control masses with 5 billon pics a day: Pics of cats, memes, quotes,national geographic sunsets and waterfalls, not counting their own daily "selfies: and whatever self-indulging Me-ego-Me affairs, sponsored happily by photo gadget companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony...who churn out higher quality madness tools at lower cost.

This way Government taking away attention from the real world crisis of lowest morality & economical devastation. The masses are too easily re-engineered/manipulated by the Establishment PopsStyle delivered to them by pop music and Hollywood "super" stars. In 1992 Paul Jaisini's Gleitzeit theory predict such a massive, pops self-entertain madness, following technologicalexplosion, but not in illusive scales.

Uber Aless @2015 NYC USA

NOTE Date's numbers and events can be slightly inaccurate.

#gleitzeit #paul-jaisini #invisible #painting #art #futurism #art-news,

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

PROLOGUE

Paul Jaisini was like a messiah, as you wish, who saw/understood the impending end and complete degeneration of Fine art or Art become and investment nothing more than that. He predicted the bubble pops art when everybody would eventually become an artist, including dogs cats and horses, because they as kids followed the main rule: express yourself without skills or knowledge or any aesthetic concerns. J. Pollack started pouring paints onto canvases; Julian Schnabel, former cab driver from NY, suddenly decided he could do better than what he saw displayed in galleries, so he started gluing dishes on canvases; A.Warhol, an industrial artist who made commercial silk-screen for the factories he worked in, started to exhibit "Campbell's soup" used for commercial adds... and later the thing that made him an "American Idol": by copying and pasting Hollywood celebrities (same type of posters he made before for movie theaters).

When Paul Jaisini stood out against the Me culture in the US by burning all of his own 120 brilliant paintings (according to the then-new director of Fort Worth MoMa Museum, who offered hin an exhibition of his art in 1992, and later the Metropolitan Museum curator, Phillippe de Montebello, in 1994).Paul probably assumed all fellow true fine artists would join him or stand by him against corruption of the art world.

And after 20 years of his stand-off...the time has finally come today. Many artists and humanitarians around the world took a place beside him. His invisible Paintings became a synonym for the future reincarnation of fine art and long lost harmony. The establishment is in panic! The "moneybags" (as Paul Jaisini named them) are in panic, because they invested BILLIONS of dollars in real crap made by craftsmen. Now they realize that the reputation of American legends of expressionism was nothing but a copy of Russian avant-garde" Kazimir Malevich, Vasiliy Kandinsky and tens of others from France and Germany.. US tycoon investors were spending billions on "Me more original, than you". "Artist Shit" is a 1061 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, filled with feces. A tin can was sold for £124,000, 180,000 at Sothebys, 2007.

EPILOGUE

Before I resume promoting and admiring a very important art persona on today's international art arena, I'd like to clear up some BIG questions; people ask continuously and subconsciously, directly & indirectly: "Why does the name Paul Jaisini, flood the Internet in such "obnoxious" quantities that it's started suppressing some other activities that my friends might share with the rest of the Internet's Ego Me only Me www society? I can't just answer this... so I'll try to explain why I'm writing this: Jaisini's followers keep posting art and info about,

He IMHO the only hope in quickly decomposing visual fine art. "Paul Jaisini realized many years ago, in 1994, when he declared (at that time to himself only) the start of a New era, a New vision, that he is trying to redirect from the rat race, started by an establishment in post-war New York, long before the Internet culture.

Sub related information: Adolf Gottlieb, Mart Rothko, etc (after visiting Paris France in 1933):

"We must forget analytical art, we must express ourselves, as a 5 year old child would, without a developed consciousness. Forget about results - do what you feel, EXPRESS yourself with your own unique style"

With this statement Mark Rothko starts to teach his students, degeneration of fine art begins, and the generation of war of styles took a start signal of the material race, greatly rewarded by establishment "individual" - eccentric craftsmen - show business clowns.

Sub related Information: In the summer of 1936, Adolf Gottlieb painted more than 800 paintings, which was 20X more than he created in his whole art career as a painter, starting from the time of Gottlieb becomes a founding member of "The Ten" group in NYC "Group of Ten" was a very peculiar, enigmatic group... Based on a religious point of view;(where a human figure was prohibited from being created)

GLOSSARY

IN 1997, Paul Jaisini's best friend Ellen Y.K.Gottlieb started a cyber campaign by promoting on a very young Internet, back then, Paul Jaisini's burned paintings as Invisible Paintings, visible only through poetic essays. She and a handful of people saw his originals and were devastated that nobody could ever see them again. "We, his fans, believe that someday Paul will recreate his 120 burned paintings if he has any decency and moral obligation to his fans, who have dedicated decades to make it happen, for their Phoenix to rise from the ashes and the whole world will witness that all these years we spent to get him back to re-paint the Visuals again were not in vain," - said E.Y.K.Gottlieb in 2014 during the 20th anniversary celebration of Invisible Paintings to GIGroup in NYCity. So now, hopefully, this clears up why I and others do what we do - our "cyber terrorism" of good art, dedicated to Paul Jaisini's return, which is & and was our mission & our goal. We post good art to fight "troll art" which is worthless pics, after being passed through 1-click filters of free web apps. We are, in fact, against this www pops pollution, done with "bubble art" by the out of control masses with 5 billon pics a day: Pics of cats, memes, quotes, national geographic sunsets and waterfalls, not counting their own daily selfies and whatever self-indulging Me-ego-Me affairs, sponsored happily by photo gadget companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony...who churn out higher quality madness tools at lower cost.

This way Government taking away attention from the real world crisis of lowest morality & economical devastation. The masses are too easily re-engineered/manipulated by the Establishment PopsStyle delivered to them by pop music and Hollywood "super" stars. In 1992 Paul Jaisini's Gleitzeit theory predict such a massive, pops self-entertain madness, following technological explosion, but not in illusive scales.

Uber Aless @2015 NYC USA

NOTE Date's numbers and events can be slightly inaccurate.

#gleitzeit #paul-jaisini #invisible #painting #art #futurism #art-news,

OPEN LETTER TO PAUL JAISINI: “IF THERE’S GOD OR P. JAISINI

DEAR PAUL:

Please give us all hope for the new resurrection of the invisible and visible after the terror of the visual is overpowering and had removed all the essential human qualities. The visual had enslaved all human race into submission, we need the new INVISIBLE premises to be free of the visual terror to return to the DESIRE to possess to cherish. We had lost the desire with the possession of the images, of the unlimited choices. For example… I will SEE enough juice for my memory to keep me for craving it - my daily dose of the search — and the resources are vast - images of the imaginable future girlfriends I could had chosen but have no interest in… Another day of looking and processing. Same as the old girl who calls it: ALWAYS LOOKING AT AND ALWAYS JUDGING. I think I am now not a man — the visual terror had done me in. I turned into “the eyes”.

I can possess the images of so many young girls that in the end of the possession I forget my initial interest.

My voyage had one direction — I was looking for a treasure, but in the process I had forgotten all about the trip and reduced my purpose to the mere observation. I had even forgotten my normal routine and had changed personally. No longer do I want to hold the treasure. I am happy with the process. I don’t ever want to end it. And its something in my imaginable control. I can freely continue to consume the given information (the female images) as a collection of my new memory that stores these images to just process and not to choose.

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

PROLOGUE

Paul Jaisini was like a messiah, as you wish, who saw/understood the impending end and complete degeneration of Fine art or Art become and investment nothing more than that. He predicted the bubble pops art when everybody would eventually become an artist, including dogs cats and horses, because they as kids followed the main rule: express yourself without skills or knowledge or any aesthetic concerns. J. Pollack started pouring paints onto canvases; Julian Schnabel, former cab driver from NY, suddenly decided he could do better than what he saw displayed in galleries, so he started gluing dishes on canvases; A.Warhol, an industrial artist who made commercial silk-screen for the factories he worked in, started to exhibit "Campbell's soup" used for commercial adds... and later the thing that made him an "American Idol": by copying and pasting Hollywood celebrities (same type of posters he made before for movie theaters).

When Paul Jaisini stood out against the Me culture in the US by burning all of his own 120 brilliant paintings (according to the then-new director of Fort Worth MoMa Museum, who offered hin an exhibition of his art in 1992, and later the Metropolitan Museum curator, Phillippe de Montebello, in 1994).Paul probably assumed all fellow true fine artists would join him or stand by him against corruption of the art world.

And after 20 years of his stand-off...the time has finally come today. Many artists and humanitarians around the world took a place beside him. His invisible Paintings became a synonym for the future reincarnation of fine art and long lost harmony. The establishment is in panic! The "moneybags" (as Paul Jaisini named them) are in panic, because they invested BILLIONS of dollars in real crap made by craftsmen. Now they realize that the reputation of American legends of expressionism was nothing but a copy of Russian avant-garde" Kazimir Malevich, Vasiliy Kandinsky and tens of others from France and Germany.. US tycoon investors were spending billions on "Me more original, than you". "Artist Shit" is a 1061 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, filled with feces. A tin can was sold for £124,000, 180,000 at Sothebys, 2007.

EPILOGUE

Before I resume promoting and admiring a very important art persona on today's international art arena, I'd like to clear up some BIG questions; people ask continuously and subconsciously, directly & indirectly: "Why does the name Paul Jaisini, flood the Internet in such "obnoxious" quantities that it's started suppressing some other activities that my friends might share with the rest of the Internet's Ego Me only Me www society? I can't just answer this... so I'll try to explain why I'm writing this: Jaisini's followers keep posting art and info about,

He IMHO the only hope in quickly decomposing visual fine art. "Paul Jaisini realized many years ago, in 1994, when he declared (at that time to himself only) the start of a New era, a New vision, that he is trying to redirect from the rat race, started by an establishment in post-war New York, long before the Internet culture.

Sub related information: Adolf Gottlieb, Mart Rothko, etc (after visiting Paris France in 1933):

"We must forget analytical art, we must express ourselves, as a 5 year old child would, without a developed consciousness. Forget about results - do what you feel, EXPRESS yourself with your own unique style"

With this statement Mark Rothko starts to teach his students, degeneration of fine art begins, and the generation of war of styles took a start signal of the material race, greatly rewarded by establishment "individual" - eccentric craftsmen - show business clowns.

Sub related Information: In the summer of 1936, Adolf Gottlieb painted more than 800 paintings, which was 20X more than he created in his whole art career as a painter, starting from the time of Gottlieb becomes a founding member of "The Ten" group in NYC "Group of Ten" was a very peculiar, enigmatic group... Based on a religious point of view;(where a human figure was prohibited from being created)

GLOSSARY

IN 1997, Paul Jaisini's best friend Ellen Y.K.Gottlieb started a cyber campaign by promoting on a very young Internet, back then, Paul Jaisini's burned paintings as Invisible Paintings, visible only through poetic essays. She and a handful of people saw his originals and were devastated that nobody could ever see them again. "We, his fans, believe that someday Paul will recreate his 120 burned paintings if he has any decency and moral obligation to his fans, who have dedicated decades to make it happen, for their Phoenix to rise from the ashes and the whole world will witness that all these years we spent to get him back to re-paint the Visuals again were not in vain," - said E.Y.K.Gottlieb in 2014 during the 20th anniversary celebration of Invisible Paintings to GIGroup in NYCity. So now, hopefully, this clears up why I and others do what we do - our "cyber terrorism" of good art, dedicated to Paul Jaisini's return, which is & and was our mission & our goal. We post good art to fight "troll art" which is worthless pics, after being passed through 1-click filters of free web apps. We are, in fact, against this www pops pollution, done with "bubble art" by the out of control masses with 5 billon pics a day: Pics of cats, memes, quotes,national geographic sunsets and waterfalls, not counting their own daily "selfies: and whatever self-indulging Me-ego-Me affairs, sponsored happily by photo gadget companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony...who churn out higher quality madness tools at lower cost.

This way Government taking away attention from the real world crisis of lowest morality & economical devastation. The masses are too easily re-engineered/manipulated by the Establishment PopsStyle delivered to them by pop music and Hollywood "super" stars. In 1992 Paul Jaisini's Gleitzeit theory predict such a massive, pops self-entertain madness, following technological explosion, but not in illusive scales.

Uber Aless @2015 NYC USA

NOTE Date's numbers and events can be slightly inaccurate.

#gleitzeit #paul-jaisini #invisible #painting #art #futurism #art-news,

OPEN LETTER TO PAUL JAISINI: “IF THERE’S GOD OR P. JAISINI

DEAR PAUL:

Please give us all hope for the new resurrection of the invisible and visible after the terror of the visual is overpowering and had removed all the essential human qualities.The visual had enslaved all human race into submission, we need the new INVISIBLE premises to be free of the visual terror to return to the DESIRE to possess to cherish. We had lost the desire with the possession of the images, of the unlimited choices. For example… I will SEE enough juice for my memory to keep me for craving it - my daily dose of the search — and the resources are vast - images of the imaginable future girlfriends I could had chosen but have no interest in… Another day of looking and processing. Same as the old girl who calls it: ALWAYS LOOKING AT AND ALWAYS JUDGING. I think I am now not a man — the visual terror had done me in. I turned into “the eyes”.

I can possess the images of so many young girls that in the end of the possession I forget my initial interest.

My voyage had one direction — I was looking for a treasure, but in the process I had forgotten all about the trip and reduced my purpose to the mere observation. I had even forgotten my normal routine and had changed personally. No longer do I want to hold the treasure. I am happy with the process. I don’t ever want to end it. And its something in my imaginable control. I can freely continue to consume the given information (the female images) as a collection of my new memory that stores these images to just process and not to choose.

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

PROLOGUE

Paul Jaisini was like a messiah, as you wish, who saw/understood the impending end and complete degeneration of Fine art or Art become and investment nothing more than that. He predicted the bubble pops art when everybody would eventually become an artist, including dogs cats and horses, because they as kids followed the main rule: express yourself without skills or knowledge or any aesthetic concerns. J. Pollack started pouring paints onto canvases; Julian Schnabel, former cab driver from NY, suddenly decided he could do better than what he saw displayed in galleries, so he started gluing dishes on canvases; A.Warhol, an industrial artist who made commercial silk-screen for the factories he worked in, started to exhibit "Campbell's soup" used for commercial adds... and later the thing that made him an "American Idol": by copying and pasting Hollywood celebrities (same type of posters he made before for movie theaters).

When Paul Jaisini stood out against the Me culture in the US by burning all of his own 120 brilliant paintings (according to the then-new director of Fort Worth MoMa Museum, who offered hin an exhibition of his art in 1992, and later the Metropolitan Museum curator, Phillippe de Montebello, in 1994).Paul probably assumed all fellow true fine artists would join him or stand by him against corruption of the art world.

And after 20 years of his stand-off...the time has finally come today. Many artists and humanitarians around the world took a place beside him. His invisible Paintings became a synonym for the future reincarnation of fine art and long lost harmony. The establishment is in panic! The "moneybags" (as Paul Jaisini named them) are in panic, because they invested BILLIONS of dollars in real crap made by craftsmen. Now they realize that the reputation of American legends of expressionism was nothing but a copy of Russian avant-garde" Kazimir Malevich, Vasiliy Kandinsky and tens of others from France and Germany.. US tycoon investors were spending billions on "Me more original, than you". "Artist Shit" is a 1061 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, filled with feces. A tin can was sold for £124,000, 180,000 at Sothebys, 2007.

EPILOGUE

Before I resume promoting and admiring a very important art persona on today's international art arena, I'd like to clear up some BIG questions; people ask continuously and subconsciously, directly & indirectly: "Why does the name Paul Jaisini, flood the Internet in such "obnoxious" quantities that it's started suppressing some other activities that my friends might share with the rest of the Internet's Ego Me only Me www society? I can't just answer this... so I'll try to explain why I'm writing this: Jaisini's followers keep posting art and info about,

He IMHO the only hope in quickly decomposing visual fine art. "Paul Jaisini realized many years ago, in 1994, when he declared (at that time to himself only) the start of a New era, a New vision, that he is trying to redirect from the rat race, started by an establishment in post-war New York, long before the Internet culture.

Sub related information: Adolf Gottlieb, Mart Rothko, etc (after visiting Paris France in 1933):

"We must forget analytical art, we must express ourselves, as a 5 year old child would, without a developed consciousness. Forget about results - do what you feel, EXPRESS yourself with your own unique style"

With this statement Mark Rothko starts to teach his students, degeneration of fine art begins, and the generation of war of styles took a start signal of the material race, greatly rewarded by establishment "individual" - eccentric craftsmen - show business clowns.

Sub related Information: In the summer of 1936, Adolf Gottlieb painted more than 800 paintings, which was 20X more than he created in his whole art career as a painter, starting from the time of Gottlieb becomes a founding member of "The Ten" group in NYC "Group of Ten" was a very peculiar, enigmatic group... Based on a religious point of view;(where a human figure was prohibited from being created)

GLOSSARY

IN 1997, Paul Jaisini's best friend Ellen Y.K.Gottlieb started a cyber campaign by promoting on a very young Internet, back then, Paul Jaisini's burned paintings as Invisible Paintings, visible only through poetic essays. She and a handful of people saw his originals and were devastated that nobody could ever see them again. "We, his fans, believe that someday Paul will recreate his 120 burned paintings if he has any decency and moral obligation to his fans, who have dedicated decades to make it happen, for their Phoenix to rise from the ashes and the whole world will witness that all these years we spent to get him back to re-paint the Visuals again were not in vain," - said E.Y.K.Gottlieb in 2014 during the 20th anniversary celebration of Invisible Paintings to GIGroup in NYCity. So now, hopefully, this clears up why I and others do what we do - our "cyber terrorism" of good art, dedicated to Paul Jaisini's return, which is & and was our mission & our goal. We post good art to fight "troll art" which is worthless pics, after being passed through 1-click filters of free web apps. We are, in fact, against this www pops pollution, done with "bubble art" by the out of control masses with 5 billon pics a day: Pics of cats, memes, quotes,national geographic sunsets and waterfalls, not counting their own daily "selfies: and whatever self-indulging Me-ego-Me affairs, sponsored happily by photo gadget companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony...who churn out higher quality madness tools at lower cost.

This way Government taking away attention from the real world crisis of lowest morality & economical devastation. The masses are too easily re-engineered/manipulated by the Establishment PopsStyle delivered to them by pop music and Hollywood "super" stars. In 1992 Paul Jaisini's Gleitzeit theory predict such a massive, pops self-entertain madness, following technological explosion, but not in illusive scales.

Uber Aless @2015 NYC USA

NOTE Date's numbers and events can be slightly inaccurate.

#gleitzeit #paul-jaisini #invisible #painting #art #futurism #art-news,

OPEN LETTER TO PAUL JAISINI: “IF THERE’S GOD OR P. JAISINI

DEAR PAUL:

Please give us all hope for the new resurrection of the invisible and visible after the terror of the visual is overpowering and had removed all the essential human qualities.The visual had enslaved all human race into submission, we need the new INVISIBLE premises to be free of the visual terror to return to the DESIRE to possess to cherish. We had lost the desire with the possession of the images, of the unlimited choices. For example… I will SEE enough juice for my memory to keep me for craving it - my daily dose of the search — and the resources are vast - images of the imaginable future girlfriends I could had chosen but have no interest in… Another day of looking and processing. Same as the old girl who calls it: ALWAYS LOOKING AT AND ALWAYS JUDGING. I think I am now not a man — the visual terror had done me in. I turned into “the eyes”.

I can possess the images of so many young girls that in the end of the possession I forget my initial interest.

My voyage had one direction — I was looking for a treasure, but in the process I had forgotten all about the trip and reduced my purpose to the mere observation. I had even forgotten my normal routine and had changed personally. No longer do I want to hold the treasure. I am happy with the process. I don’t ever want to end it. And its something in my imaginable control. I can freely continue to consume the given information (the female images) as a collection of my new memory that stores these images to just process and not to choose.

Lucio-Fontana-cuts-Andy-Warhol-Campbell-Soup-Invisible-Painting-Paul-Jaisini

  

Ruth Bader Ginsburg became just the second female U.S. Supreme Court justice when she took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She faced workplace discrimination in the 1960s despite graduating first in her class at Columbia Law School in 1959.

 

Ginsburg was a longtime, forceful advocate of women's rights and gender equality, and she earned the deep and abiding respect of her colleagues on the Court along with the American public.

 

She died at the age of 87 on Friday, September 18, 2020.

 

She provided us with some earth shattering quotes, such as...

 

(My favourite)

“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

 

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."

 

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception."

 

“Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

 

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."

 

“So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune.”

 

"Don't be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

PROLOGUE

Paul Jaisini was like a messiah, as you wish, who saw/understood the impending end and complete degeneration of Fine art or Art become and investment nothing more than that. He predicted the bubble pops art when everybody would eventually become an artist, including dogs cats and horses, because they as kids followed the main rule: express yourself without skills or knowledge or any aesthetic concerns. J. Pollack started pouring paints onto canvases; Julian Schnabel, former cab driver from NY, suddenly decided he could do better than what he saw displayed in galleries, so he started gluing dishes on canvases; A.Warhol, an industrial artist who made commercial silk-screen for the factories he worked in, started to exhibit "Campbell's soup" used for commercial adds... and later the thing that made him an "American Idol": by copying and pasting Hollywood celebrities (same type of posters he made before for movie theaters).

When Paul Jaisini stood out against the Me culture in the US by burning all of his own 120 brilliant paintings (according to the then-new director of Fort Worth MoMa Museum, who offered hin an exhibition of his art in 1992, and later the Metropolitan Museum curator, Phillippe de Montebello, in 1994).Paul probably assumed all fellow true fine artists would join him or stand by him against corruption of the art world.

And after 20 years of his stand-off...the time has finally come today. Many artists and humanitarians around the world took a place beside him. His invisible Paintings became a synonym for the future reincarnation of fine art and long lost harmony. The establishment is in panic! The "moneybags" (as Paul Jaisini named them) are in panic, because they invested BILLIONS of dollars in real crap made by

craftsmen. Now they realize that the reputation of American legends of expressionism was nothing but a copy of Russian avant-garde" Kazimir Malevich, Vasiliy Kandinsky and tens of others from France and Germany.. US tycoon investors were spending billions on "Me more original, than you". "Artist Shit" is a 1061 artwork by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. The work consists of 90 tin cans, filled with feces. A tin can was sold for £124,000, 180,000 at Sothebys, 2007.

EPILOGUE

Before I resume promoting and admiring a very important art persona on today's international art arena, I'd like to clear up some BIG questions; people ask continuously and subconsciously, directly & indirectly: "Why does the name Paul Jaisini, flood the Internet in such "obnoxious" quantities that it's started suppressing some other activities that my friends might share with the rest of the Internet's Ego Me only Me www society? I can't just answer this... so I'll try to explain why I'm writing this: Jaisini's followers keep posting art and info about,

He IMHO the only hope in quickly decomposing visual fine art. "Paul Jaisini realized many years ago, in 1994, when he declared (at that time to himself only) the start of a New era, a New vision, that he is trying to redirect from the rat race, started by an establishment in post-war New York, long before the Internet culture.

Sub related information: Adolf Gottlieb, Mart Rothko, etc (after visiting Paris France in 1933):

"We must forget analytical art, we must express ourselves, as a 5 year old child would, without a developed consciousness. Forget about results - do what you feel, EXPRESS yourself with your own unique style"

With this statement Mark Rothko starts to teach his students, degeneration of fine art begins, and the generation of war of styles took a start signal of the material race, greatly rewarded by establishment "individual" - eccentric craftsmen - show business clowns.

Sub related Information: In the summer of 1936, Adolf Gottlieb painted more than 800 paintings, which was 20X more than he created in his whole art career as a painter, starting from the time of Gottlieb becomes a founding member of "The Ten" group in NYC "Group of Ten" was a very peculiar, enigmatic group... Based on a religious point of view;(where a human figure was prohibited from being created)

GLOSSARY

IN 1997, Paul Jaisini's best friend Ellen Y.K.Gottlieb started a cyber campaign by promoting on a very young Internet, back then, Paul Jaisini's burned paintings as Invisible Paintings, visible only through poetic essays. She and a handful of people saw his originals and were devastated that nobody could ever see them again. "We, his fans, believe that someday Paul will recreate his 120 burned paintings if he has any decency and moral obligation to his fans, who have dedicated decades to make it happen, for their Phoenix to rise from the ashes and the whole world will witness that all these years we spent to get him back to re-paint the Visuals again were not in vain," - said E.Y.K.Gottlieb in 2014 during the 20th anniversary celebration of Invisible Paintings to GIGroup in NYCity. So now, hopefully, this clears up why I and others do what we do - our "cyber terrorism" of good art, dedicated to Paul Jaisini's return, which is & and was our mission & our goal. We post good art to fight "troll art" which is worthless pics, after being passed through 1-click filters of free web apps. We are, in fact, against this www pops pollution, done with "bubble art" by the out of control masses with 5 billon pics a day: Pics of cats, memes, quotes,national geographic sunsets and waterfalls, not counting their own daily "selfies: and whatever self-indulging Me-ego-Me affairs, sponsored happily by photo gadget companies like Canon, Nikon, Sony...who churn out higher quality madness tools at lower cost.

This way Government taking away attention from the real world crisis of lowest morality & economical devastation. The masses are too easily re-engineered/manipulated by the Establishment PopsStyle delivered to them by pop music and Hollywood "super" stars. In 1992 Paul Jaisini's Gleitzeit theory predict such a massive, pops self-entertain madness, following technologicalexplosion, but not in illusive scales.

Uber Aless @2015 NYC USA

NOTE Date's numbers and events can be slightly inaccurate.

#gleitzeit #paul-jaisini #invisible #painting #art #futurism #art-news,

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

 

Fairfax, Maine had celebrated what would become the standardized Halloween holiday since 1925. Back in the day, it had made the wise transition from tolerating youths engaged in vandalism and arson, to promoting wholesome events the the entire town could enjoy. Through all the naysayers that disliked the macabre themes, the costumes and exchange of sweets persisted, and the community overall took pride in the festivities.

 

For the past five Halloweens, Roger had not known that sensation. Where Christmas or Thanksgiving could be spent indoors with close relatives, Halloween most certainly, intrinsically needed a touch of rebellion, a smidge of boldness.

 

For the past five Halloweens, no parade. Roger remembered he really liked it when he was younger; probably wouldn’t be the same anymore, but it was nevertheless a missing piece to the season.

 

For the past five Halloweens, fewer and fewer people felt like decorating their lawns and street corners. There were certainly taller fences around the lawns, though, and every few street corners there was a police officer. Fairfax, still contending with an influx of meta-human crime, would have its Halloween, in some shape or form. Roger stood by that same sentiment. In fact, the envelope, he felt, could be pushed a little more.

 

He leans off the Kings’ front gate as Chris finally hops out the door, checking his costume.

 

Roger inspects the ensemble. “From this, I’m getting… medieval C.H.U.D?”

 

Chris’ head jerks up from his last button. “Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster. He’s not medieval, he’s… one of those ‘-ian’ eras.”

 

“Still, you’re carrying a… sword.”

 

“The Creature definitely survived the Arctic at the end. And he was definitely smart enough to start using a weapon. He disliked guns, right? So.”

 

Roger scoffs. “Man, if you could go back and learn that the author said Frankenstein wields a sword in a potential sequel, I’d give you all my candy tonight.”

 

He glances over his shoulder, also back at the door. “You told your parents you’re staying at whose house?”

 

Chris winces. “‘Vic’s’.”

 

Roger does a double-take at his friend. “‘Vic’!?”

 

“Hey they asked me before I even had a name ready in my head, and it just sorta... Don’t worry Roger, they don’t even know Vicki, and won’t think about it twice.”

 

“Yeah… okay,” Roger groans. “We’ve got an hour and forty-five to get stocked. Then I get you and the others past ‘security’… Old guy on the end of my street still has a hole in his backyard fence, straight to the park. Then, the farm out to the east-“

 

“You’re eerily familiar with this,” Chris chuckles.

 

“Roger!”

 

The boys, almost onto the sidewalk, spin around at the sound of Mrs. King’s voice.

 

“Your parents can still make it over tonight? I’ve got more food than I know what to do with.” She smiles.

 

“Will-do Mrs. K, just as soon as my dad’s off work!”

 

She nods. “Chris, don’t stay out later than nine, and stay in Vic’s house until the morning.”

 

Roger sees Chris begin to protest, when Mrs. King adds on, “For your father, please.”

 

“Yes, Mom.”

 

She retreats inside and they resume their walk through the quietest streets Fairfax had seen on Halloween to date.

 

“My folks are really glad yours are back, Chris. I don’t think I knew, when we were little, how it was… that they lost good friends too…”

 

Chris’ eyes snap out of a glaze. “Mm.”

 

“How’s Gary? Does he remember any friends from here? You could’ve invited him along too, you know; it’d have gone cool with me.”

 

“Ha, no,” Chris says dismissively. “That bookworm doesn’t care about sneaking out, or having any adventures. Or candy. Imagine that. Thirteen, and doesn’t like candy.”

 

Glinda rounds a corner in front of them, and Chris points. “Ah, I get it… ‘cause, Glinda, and she’s a witch…”

 

“Hey guys! Isn’t this dress smart?” She fluffs some of the hair under the brim of her pointed hat. “I found a matching bag too!”

 

“That’s… rad,” Roger almost yawns. “Vicki was supposed to be be here with you. She’s your sleepover alibi.”

 

“Behind schedule,” Glinda hums. “Said she needed more time for an outfit and, I quote, she ‘could track down those two delinquents, and their secret hideout, blindfolded’, so she said go on ahead.”

 

“You’ll keep up with us? You’re not going to get all antsy?” Roger inquires.

 

“You’re not scaring me tonight, Roger Dunbar.”

 

“Sure, sure. But if you do get cold feet, just remember there’s no place like home, and click your heels.”

 

“That’s the strangest idiom you’ve ever come up with,” Glinda declares, waving her wand at him.

 

Roger once again becomes flustered. “It’s not an idi-“

 

“I’d actually just as soon wait for Vicki,” Chris interrupts. “We still have time to stay around her house and trick-or-treat, before we head off. You DID say we’d all stick together.”

 

Roger flips down the black mask that had been resting in his hair and points a finger at Chris. “‘I am ALtering the dealll.”

 

Chris fails to hide the growing dimples on his cheeks, and he nods. “Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

 

Glinda wrinkles her nose. “Why’d you make your voice all deep?”

 

“You have GOT to watch movies.”

 

***

 

“I’m already late, so it’s no big deal if I’m MORE late,” Vicki offers. “You change your mind?”

 

Frannie Nash keeps fiddling with the straps of her backpack. “Don’t have a costume.”

 

“The boys can shove their costumes. Just bring you. … they’re not a bad group.”

 

“I won’t have fun,” Frannie states. Her voice didn’t raise at all. It wasn’t even an argument.

 

Vicki sighs. “I wouldn’t force you to go. Just don’t want you to think I’m picking favorites.”

 

Frannie tucked in her neck. “You’re not, I know.”

 

They were just about to cover the last of the park’s turf and cross the street to Frannie’s house, and before the crosswalk went green, Vicki wanted to be sure things were squared away.

 

“Then that’s the end of it. I won’t bring that stuff up, okay? I trust you with your own judgements.”

 

“Thanks Vicki-“

 

Someone leaps straight through the shrub on Vicki’s right before the pair of girls reach the corner. She and the apparent prankster stumble onto their knees and palms in the sod, with a startled Frannie a split-second away from taking off.

 

“Why don’t you watch it, you-!“

 

Vicki sees him face-on just for a moment, as he was already pulling himself up without an apology nor an indication he had succeeded in some deliberate bit of tomfoolery. He was terrified. The boy she saw every recess, walking alone outside of school, had undeniable panic written into his features.

 

Frannie backs up as he stands and continues his flight by successfully vaulting a bench this time. “I… I have to go Vicki. See you…”

 

“Frannie…” Vicki starts. She blinks away the spinning in her head from the collision, and brushes off her sleeves as Frannie scurries the last stretch of her way home. Vicki scans for the boy again, inadvertently kicking something with a muddied high-top. His… sketch pad?

 

She recovers it, and finds herself flipping through heavily-worn pages. The same figure drawn over and over, but in various poses, each running into the next like a meticulous comic. Vicki catches herself.

 

“Stop being a busybody and go after him. He’s going to miss this.”

 

She’s stopped again from picking up his trail, but this time, for a very different reason. She can just make out a another face, situated between some trees that Frannie and she had passed before their encounter with the boy. It had the strangest quality to it; Vicki was looking directly at it, but felt as though its attributes were in a distant memory, hazy and indistinguishable. She shook her head and tried again to focus on whoever it was, but the same ambiguity suffocated her perception. Was the face… glowing? Was it attached to a body?

 

“Definitely time to go home,” Vicki affirmed to herself. “I’ll find the boy tomorrow.”

 

She dashed off of park property, purposely jaywalking in the hopes of getting one of the officers stationed all over to notice, in case the face was following her. But there was no one to be seen, anywhere. Not even lights in houses, despite the sun being on the horizon. At the top of her lungs Vicki hollered for anyone at all to come out, but to her ears, nothing but a whisper escaped her.

 

Now she ran without thinking. The two remaining blocks to her house flew by. Sheer fright kept her from devoting energy to anything but her legs. It was only once she was gripping the iron work on her home’s front gate that her thoughts caught up with her. What if the thing stopped chasing her and targeted Frannie instead? Was it even a good idea to go inside? This had to be a dream… except, she could remember the entire day…

 

Vicki swung open the gate, but the metal hinges didn’t creak like they had for years and years. The latch didn’t even feel right. She hurried past the trees whose branches were being tossed in a wind she failed to feel in her hair or jacket. She felt as though she were on the verge of nausea. Coming to a halt at her stoop, Vicki realized her neighbor’s dog was in its yard. She almost cried at the sight of something not out of place, until it turned its snout down between its forelegs and howled, long and plaintive. She’d never seen a dog do that, not in that way.

 

Her knuckles were gripped over the banister, bloodless and frigid. The face was off to the side of her yard, wavering, its specific characteristics still not discernible.

 

“You should find the boy,” it spoke to Vicki.

 

“What do you want?!” Vicki begged.

 

“Maybe he can help you,” was all it suggested.

 

“You’re doing this! Get away or-!”

 

“Find your friend and this can stop. I do not think you will be safe, otherwise.”

 

Vicki drew a breath, and dared two steps back towards the gate. The face made no move to intercept her. So she took off once more. She had to find him. Her mind was starved for something, anything normal.

 

***

 

Glinda takes a moment and again studies the imposing cornstalks encircling her and her friends. They shift as one and rustle in the breeze. There were no glimmering fangs or gnarled claws to be seen waiting impatiently within the wall of husks. She allows herself another exhale and returns to Roger and Chris, sorting their earnings for the night.

 

“Another cherry one, Chris. Trade me.”

 

“It’s your loss, but here,” Chris accepts, chucking a small packet from his own bucket.

 

“Not a loss at all,” Roger says, catching it. “Cherry ones always taste like the cough syrup.”

 

“What’s wrong with that?”

 

“You hurt me physically, Chris. But y’know what..?”

 

Roger passes two unwarranted candy bars towards Chris. The largest ones he had.

 

“Whoa, how’d I earn these?”

 

“For not being a square, even with a cop for a dad. Honestly I thought you might not sneak out here tonight.”

 

Chris rocks back and snorts. “Pshaw! I’ve been WAITING to do this kind of stuff again. It was no fun when we moved to the city. Hey Glinda, you should get one of these too.”

 

Glinda takes the candy. “Thanks… Roger, why did you think Chris wouldn’t come? Didn’t you say you both did this all the time when you were little?”

 

“He means specifically here. Because it’s a crim-” Chris begins with a mouthful of licorice, before Roger gives him a wide-eyed look.

 

“‘Because’..?” Glinda probes. “Because what? Roger…”

 

She watches the boy expectantly. Chris, between the two, pulls his wig down over his face.

 

“It’s nothing Glinda; inside-joke we have,” Roger brushes it off.

 

Glinda is unfazed.

 

Roger caves in. “It’s uh… may be, in a way, possibly, an off-limits zone? Right now?”

 

She continues drilling a hole through him with her eyes.

 

“Because of a shady investigation dealing with radiation?”

 

“WHAT?”

 

“That was really smooth, Chris,” Roger moans. “Really smooth.”

 

“You weren’t going to say anything before you lead me out to a creepy field that might be mutating us into sludge-monsters as we speak? Roger Dunbar I’m…”

 

“Glinda, chill! Chris’ dad was actually on the scene; he said no one there had any side-effects!”

 

Chris adds, “They didn’t find any, with the screening processes they used. There’s actual a few ways they didn’t try, Dad said-“

 

Roger’s face goes red. “Chris, I swear, you’re one syllable away from getting duct-taped… the next time I have some.”

 

“We should’ve gone back so long ago anyway!” Glinda protests. “I let you ditch Vicki, and then I find out… Oh, I want to leave!”

 

“If Vicki is still on her way here, then we can’t go now!” Roger reasons.

 

“Guys, I…” Chris perks up. “That was something out there I just heard…”

 

“Don’t you start!” Glinda sniffs. “You think it’s so funny, trying to razz me with dumb-“

 

“No, I’m REALLY serious. There shouldn’t be any caretakers out here.”

 

“… Would they have kept investigators out this late?” Roger asks, now in a hushed tone.

 

Glinda backs into to the adjacent barrier of corn. “I want to go now.”

 

Roger scoops up his helmet. “Yeah. Forget the candy.”

 

The three kids inch away, eyes locked on the thicket whence the noises are carrying. Glinda whips out a Polaroid camera from her robes as Roger and Chris come up alongside her.

 

“What are you doing with that?” Roger hisses.

 

“Maybe we can blind whoever it is, long enough for us to escape. I… I thought I would take pictures, mostly if Vicki got here, to show off…”

 

“You can’t share where we were at school, Glinda! If you brag about this, who knows which of your friends would blab-“

 

“I won’t NOW!” Glinda seethes, nearly giving away their position. “Why’d I have to choose you two to spend Halloween with? Of all the pea-brained…”

 

She trails off, and Chris lets out an unintentional squeak. Something bipedal, bullet-shaped and dripping lurches out of the greenery. It gives a caw like that of a sickly crow, and clumsily scoots one of the discarded containers of candy around with the entirety of its bulky upper-half.

 

“We… say… nothing,” Roger murmurs.

 

“Yep.”

 

“Mhm.”

 

The new arrival seems preoccupied with an Almond Joy; enough, to not to notice the trio, even when Roger’s lightsaber prop slips from his belt loop and lands noisily in a puddle. Glinda’s heart almost stops. Chris motions fervently.

 

“Maybe it can’t hear, c’mon…”

 

Just as the kids are mere feet from circling around to another row of crops, the clouds part slightly to reveal an ominous full moon. Glinda’s sequined clothes are illuminated a vivid sapphire, contrasting the murky landscape. What must have been the monster’s head wobbles upright, wrappers lodged in its lumpy skin. A string of slick globes lines its underbelly. At the top, two more are side by side; these ones luminescent and, without a doubt, lidded. The thing produces an unearthly trill, and hurls itself bodily after the reflection.

 

The kids scream at the charging abomination. Chris pushes Glinda and Roger ahead of him into the leaves, then sidesteps a rubbery appendage lashing through the vegetation. Glinda sees him cowering as the attacker rips away more of their means of cover. She tries to make herself pivot, but her knees lock.

 

“I can’t. I have to. I can’t. He’s going to get-“

 

The flailing beast slams the ground, settling Glinda’s dilemma for her as she is flung backward in a wave of wet earth. It spots her again, with the unobstructed moon still transforming her into a beacon. Glinda lays frozen in the muck, with the hideous shape tramping ever closer. A hundred thoughts try to enter her mind, only to be extinguished to making way for a hundred more. She didn’t remember what she last said to Vicki. The last thing she HAD said to her parents had been a lie. Did Roger know…

 

Roger was yards away, dust in his vision. Their eyes meet. Glinda’s internal shouts pounded in her head like the tide.

 

“He can’t leave. Please don’t. Please.”

 

But from her lips, different words sprung: “RUN! JUST RUN!”

 

Roger looks to Chris now, but his friend is sprawled out, breathing hoarsely with his arms tangled over his face. Glinda watches, dumbstruck, as Roger snags a shredded portion of Chris’ cape and flings it over the monster’s peaked scalp, then tries weighing down one of its squirming tentacles with his entire bodyweight, hanging from it like it were a jungle gym. All the while Roger yells like a madman, perhaps more astonished by his initiative than Glinda herself.

 

He only holds on for so long. The greenish brute hurls Roger up and into some yet-undisturbed stalks, which luckily cushion him enough to save him from landing directly on his neck. Before it can also remove its crude blindfold, one of the growths on its torso bursts. It squawks hellishly, turning too late to counter a limber figure’s flying kick in its side. Rescuer and beast impact the ground so hard that Glinda bounces back to her feet only due in part to her own power. The kids’ defender stands up, slapping away a tentacle and driving a knee into his foe. Glinda and Roger race to Chris’ side, trying to keep track of the fight at the same time.

 

Their relief is quickly dispelled. The man who intervened observes the kids through the hollow eyes of an angular mask. One hand tightens into a fist. The other points beyond the valley, back towards Fairfax’s residential area. An electronic roar reverberates from his slitted mouthpiece.

 

“Oorrrrrr elllssee… yooouuuu neexttt”

 

Glinda and Roger made the decision nonverbally. Even Chris, barely conscious, was able to find his bearings. They ran.

 

***

 

Vicki could feel her pulse in her ears. She had scoured the park, the outlying properties of Fairfax and was well into the “wilderness” by now. No indications of the boy having come this way, nor had there been anyone to help her. Whatever was following her, it had to be… concealing everyone from her, and vice versa. It could have been messing with the time too; Vicki felt she could have been searching for half a day, easily, except the sun had been setting all the while. She pauses. Immediately, she could tell the being with an indefinite form was upon her.

 

“You need to find him.”

 

“HOW,” Vicki said between gasps, “can I, if you’re changing everything? He could’ve been-“

 

“I am not altering your perceptions now; we are away from… distractors. Please, continue.”

 

Vicki remembers Glinda and the others. They would be out this way, if she was right in thinking that Roger was daring them to visit that laboratory… something about an incident had been on the news, days ago. If there were any chance of running into them on this path, Vicki knew she had to divert. As much as she wanted to see them again, not be alone… she couldn’t drag them into this.

 

“There’s nothing out this way. Not any place he could be hiding,” she lies.

 

“There must be,” it retorts. Vicki hears emotion this time. It’s growing irritated. “It”… sounded female.

 

Vicki could hardly stand it anymore. “If you know Fairfax why can’t YOU find him yourself?!”

 

“You. Will not. Be safe,” the voice reminds her.

 

“There’s… there’s an abandoned mine to the south!” Vicki recollects in a moment of clarity.

 

“Show me.”

 

The trek ensues. Now, Vicki does not feel as though she is in limbo; her exertions are actually tiring, and the air finally begins to cool. She nears the mine, ready to collapse, trying to ignore her blistering soles. She had thought for years that she might be the single person in Fairfax to know of this location, but if the boy had proven to be so elusive, it stood to reason he had also found such a place. If he wasn’t here… Vicki was prepared to challenge her captor to do their worst; her stamina was all but gone.

 

“Check the the left passage,” Vicki rasped, flopping an arm at the overgrown wooden frames nestled in a shallow hill. “The other one is caved in just a few yards in. … hey… Hey, are you there?”

 

There is not but a symphony of crickets to answer her. The world, for the first time in what may have been an eternity only to her, seemed tangible. No less sinister, however.

 

She is given no chance to call again. A wrist and a shoulder hoist her from under the arms straight up into a tree. Her stomach is further upset, her queasiness making her question what she sees: Athletic-looking boots with a sheen from accumulated dew, pounding up the trunk, are the means by which she is being whisked away. She and the gravity-defier tip onto a sturdy branch just at the apex of their jump. They steady one another on the small beam. It’s the boy.

 

“What in the NAME of-“

 

“How did you get here?” the boy demands sharply.

 

“You THREW me up here!” Vicki wails shakily.

 

“I did no such- I mean ‘here,’ as in, the mine!”

 

She reveals the boy’s dropped book and thrusts it at him. “Take this thing, and get me down! I don’t want anything else to do with you… you meta-maniacs!”

 

“You didn’t… you led someone else here?” He grabs her shoulder and looks over his own. The forest is… quiet. Expect for a soft, rhythmic whooshing, maybe of an owl. Also a metallic clatter of equal pitch.

 

The boy plunges off the vantage point instantly, covering Vicki’s mouth. The tree fragments like kindling above them. The boy lands light as a feather despite their velocity, and deposits Vicki in a dry gulley.

 

“Do NOT come out until I lose them again, or they get me and have left.”

 

“What?!”

 

He takes out his returned sketchpad and effortlessly outlines more figures in an action sequence. Vicki watches his hand become imperceptible as it flies over the page. Then he pockets it and front-flips back to the regular forest floor. Vicki clambers a short ways up the embankment only to duck again as clods of dirt, from another violent impact, rain down. The boy has confronted a giant of a man, who is reeling in a ball and chain from a newly-formed crater. The links each had the circumference of a football, and the weighted end, not much smaller than a disco ball. The villain hefts them back to him as if they were paper mâché.

 

“Enough dodgeball, kid. You didn’t make bail,” he rumbles through a latticed visor. The ends of the chain jostle at his heels.

 

Then “she” materializes between Vicki’s hiding spot and the boy. The face from before now belongs to a body, sinewy and swirling with the entire color spectrum. Her white hair behaves almost like the rays shooting off her skin. The boy doesn’t wait for them to get any closer; he dives at a medium-sized tree, and propels himself a second time off its bough, aiming for the man with the chain. The trunk snaps off from his kick and begins to fall on the shining woman, but she flicks two fingers at it, and it dissipates into a swarm of bats.

 

The boy has evaded yet another flailing chain, nimbly taking a few steps on it as its length rockets beneath him. He executes a roundhouse kick for the man’s head, but to Vicki’s shock, the villain doesn’t budge, and boy’s ankle twists. He flops unto a grass patch and screams; the blades have become real blades, courtesy of the woman. Vicki’s seen enough.

 

“Go to hell!” she bellows, pitching a rock from the ditch with her might. It cracks the woman on the spine, and at once she slumps to one knee. Vicki realizes that a piece of the woman has actually chipped off. The shard lay there, losing its multitude of hues.

 

“Glass…”

 

The large man scrambles to his accomplice’s side. Vicki equips another rock, when sirens can suddenly be discerned. She thought she might have even heard dogs. The man lifts up Vicki’s tormentor and starts to flee, which she resists.

 

“The boy has to be dealt with. And her, too” Vicki overhears her wheeze.

 

“He IS dealt with, and the girl’s left with the mess. We’re done here.”

 

He turns to Vicki briefly as he exits, repeating himself with a snarl. “We’re DONE here. I’m warning you now: Don’t get caught up in this.”

 

Vicki flips him off as he barrels away with the woman. She then crouches at the boy’s side. He’s clutching in vain at countless puncture wounds in his belly and ribs.

 

“Lie still. There’s a patrol coming, and they can help you.” In truth, Vicki didn’t know that. She had no idea how serious his injuries were.

 

The boy seems to only now be aware of the sirens, as well as blue and red flashes breaking through the leaves. He sits up and pitifully hugs her shoulder.

 

“It’s okay,” she reassures.

 

“I can’t afford to bet that they’re really police. And neither c-augh, can you,” he coughs.

 

“What?” She feels on her shoulder that he’s holding one torn-out sheet from his book. In the darkness she can just see there are two distinct figures drawn on it, not the same one over and over like before. They were falling.

 

“I haven’t done this before, so I’ll understand you wanting to kill me after.”

 

“What are you-“

 

He throws himself a short distance upward, then pulls Vicki with him straight through the ground.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

 

medium.com/art-submissions/invisible-art-manifesto-haters...

Invisible Art manifesto - HATERS, FANS, & COOL PPL ONLY!!!!!!

March 21, 2015 at 8:31pm

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART - PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return perhaps to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

  

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

  

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

  

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many friendships/relationships impossible for me, melting the glorious ice sculpture of my social life into a sad little puddle. I refuse to have those spiteful, jealous people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards someone like Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome gal I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what my eyes showed me in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, bettereverything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

  

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge anything of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion, though further really. You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum—an unending, unshakable drive to reach your highest self. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep pushing on, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game:YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all - death and rebirth of spirit.)

  

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should be required to wear a radioactive warning sign (his energy field will melt your brain - best wear your tinfoil hats in his presence). The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later… Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness - you can feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed towards. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak to a specific audience of intelligent humans who will understand perfectly, so I’m counting only on them, the ones, the “Awesomes.”.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for “butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job” in his words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG - “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

  

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies—I mean—artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing - two damn decades of spreading an art virus - IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey. In reality, IVA simply stands for Invisible Art.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit - e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called art photography passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us - and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our artverse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

  

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff… rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary oooh and aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitous, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of standards and save the whole bloody planet.

  

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often elicits bad blood between classically trained artists who can create unique works that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeoplewhose skills are adequate enough to create decorative fillers for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common themes of fantasy, and other simple things. Skills alone are not enough for high art - you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify, attract and repel, arousing powerful emotions in viewers, illuminating, mystifying. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a massive load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital packratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks… businessmen highly trained in entrepreneurship disguised as artists.

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini or Gleitzeit or Invisible Art thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject while they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their loud assertions. My BS detector seldom fails on such things as credibility. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to avoid looking the pompous fool, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly with more concern over *who* is right than *what* is right. Who in their right mind can stand them? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience, observation from different angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions be regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I must push harder.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world… DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life—and prove themselves worthy as a good, positive influence. Avoid dark clouds, attention whores and idle, bored people - they are all energy vampires. Practice control over your emotions and block out distractions others place on you, block out pity completely.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

Now don’t judge me, I’m young and still learning, but I’m glad to have these strong convictions and aspirations already. It truly feels at times like a supernatural power is guiding me. Something unexplainable out of nowhere possesses me to write these half-crazed mini-novels and make strange art.

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

Betty Harris

 

The Lost Queen Of New Orleans Soul

  

Back in the sixties, soul ‘anoraks’ (myself included), who already treasured and sought out the works of the more obscure and emotive singers, absolutely revered Betty Harris (and, then again, soul-wise, I guess I still do!).

 

The couple of publicity shots that existed back then showed that she looked great, her gospelly interpretive voice was second-to-none and her best-known material was stunning, chiefly because it was chosen by top-flight producers like Bert Berns and Allen Tousssaint. But just as intriguingly, she was then something of a ‘mystery woman’. No-one really knew anything about her. Rumours circulated that she had begun as Big Maybelle’s ‘maid’ (did travelling black women entertainers of the late-50’s really take ‘maids’ with them?). Then someone said that, after her Sansu/SSS recordings, she had retired to become a truck-driver (did lissom black female ex-singers still only about 30 years of age really drive giant, freeway-eating Mack and Kenwood trucks – maybe these days, but surely not in early-70’s America!).

 

Today, thanks to researchers and the re-surfaced Betty herself, we certainly know much more about her - and that includes the fact that both of the above rumours were false, although each had truthful associations, as we shall see.

 

However, some mysteries and contradictory information remain. Whilst it’s clear that Betty was born in Orlando, Florida, many potted biographies quote a 1941 or a 1943 date. Even in David Cole’s excellent interview/article (‘In The Basement’ magazine No.32, October 2003), Betty’s birthdate is given as 9 September 1943 (which is repeated on a current Harris-related web-site). However, only a few months later, on 19th July 2004, Betty herself stated in a telephone interview with Amy Gold: “I wasn't born in the '40s at all. I was born in '39.” My opinion is that a woman may lie about her age to make herself appear younger but she would never lie (especially to another woman!) in such a way as to make herself look older! Therefore I reckon Betty Harris was born in 1939 – I rest my case!

 

This date is also in line with Wikipedia’s biography, yet that not-always-reliable source gives Betty’s surname as Harridick. It’s just possible this might be the married surname Betty acquired after her retirement from the music scene at the end of the 60’s as it was the guy who then became her husband who apparently ran a trucking business, hence giving rise to the false rumours about Betty herself driving such vehicles for a living. However, her true birth-surname was certainly Crews, as stated not just in the Cole interview but in a 2004 article about her younger sister, the operatic-quality spinto-soprano and now Fort Pierce, Florida-based evangelist, Sybil Maria Crews Young.

 

However, there is another possibility. When Betty was still only about 18 years of age, it seems she had a son, Selwyn T. Crews. (This chronology is based on the intro to the Amy Gold interview in 2004 in which Selwyn – sometimes called Tony and now apparently living in Atlanta - was said to then be 47 years of age). If Betty briefly married the father and if the father’s surname had been Harridick this could have led to her later adopting the ‘truncated’ name of Harris. When Betty joined the Hearts vocal group in around early 1958 (see later), she was still using the name Betty Crews but certainly something around that time must have prompted her to change her surname to Harris as this had already occurred by the time of her early-60’s first solo recording (see later). However all this begs one final question: how did Betty’s son inherit her own surname of Crews as opposed to that of his father (whoever he was)? Whether or not Betty married the father, perhaps either she ‘on her own’ (or perhaps close relations) raised the baby boy and ‘awarded’ him the family surname in place of that of his father?

 

When Betty left the music scene in the late 60’s her son would have been approaching his teenage years. She would then soon marry but her daughter, Christina would not arrive until about 1982, when Betty was in her early forties (this chronology is also based on the 2004 Amy Gold piece when Christina was said to be then merely 22 years of age and, according to the Cole interview published only a few months earlier, then attending university, married with a surname of Clemons and the mother of a young baby).

 

Anyway, what’s most important perhaps is Betty’s wonderful musical heritage and we should instead concentrate on that and how she came to take up secular singing.

 

Betty’s own father, a minister in the Pentecostal church, was the Rev. Rufus C. Crews, while her missionary (and later also Overseer/Miinister) mother was Winifred Crews. When Betty was about 3 years of age, her family - which included her non-musical brother Donnell but did not yet include her younger sister, Sybil Maria - moved from Orlando Fla. to Dothan in Alabama where her father took on new church responsibilities. Soon, he and his wife would become founders of Pentecostal Deliverance Ministries in both Dothan and Cottonwood.

 

Betty says her father had a loud tenor voice which could dominate his church and he was apparently also capable of hitting very high notes (an ability clearly his youngest daughter Sybil inherited). Indeed, it’s claimed he could play five instruments and had a three-octave vocal range. Unusually, he regularly indulged in the generally ‘white church’ vocal technique termed ‘Sacred Heart’, a form of accapella shape-note singing. However, it seems the Rev. Crews’ influence soon also became a magnet for touring black gospel stars, whose appearances he occasionally ‘promoted’ locally.

 

So it was no surprise that all of Betty’s early singing was done in church and, by the age of about 12, she had already fronted a choir supporting the big-voiced gospel star Brother Joe May, known as the ‘Thunderbolt of the Middle-West’. Betty would also meet the likes of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, The Dixie Hummingbirds, both groups of Blind Boys and the The Caravans, whom she idolised, although she soon realised harmony singing was not for her. Nor was the ‘gospel life’. She says: “I knew all of the gospel singers and I knew how they lived, and I just really didn't want to ... I didn't see myself making money. And (so) I went ‘secular’."

 

Betty left home at a very early age seeking that secular singing career. This was a huge and audacious step for a young girl from such a strict church background and clearly must have caused quite a ‘family split’ at the time. Betty says: “My parents were gospel preachers. I mean, my house was strict, very strict. They were holiness preachers, so you didn't play rhythm and blues in the house, they didn’t believe in that.”

 

Her parents remained in their church-dominated world in Alabama and in 2004 Betty reported that, although her father was by then deceased, her mother was then a fit 92 year-old ‘overseer’, still in charge of four Dothan churches. Sadly her mother too has since ‘passed’ and Betty, who had been looking after her, moved south temporarily to Atlanta for a few years from her Connecticut home so that her mother could spend her last days closer to the churches which she helped found.

 

Anyway, back in the 50’s, the brazen teenaged Betty headed off alone to far-flung New York to try to begin a singing career but first she took employment as a maid with a Long Island family thinking this would at least put a roof over her head (this was the ‘maid’ reference which later led to the false claims that Betty had held down just such a job with Big Maybelle, a singer whom she would not actually encounter for a year or two yet - see later). However, Betty says she wasn’t a maid for more than a week as she was offered a job singing at the nearby Celebrity Club in Freeport.

 

She was soon ‘discovered’ by J&S label-owner Zell Sanders, one of the few early black women entrepreneurs in the music biz. Zell got Betty to fill-in at a club she owned in Hempstead, Long Island, where she had just fired another girl singer. The show there at the time featured Johnnie & Joe, already with hits for Chess ‘under their belt’, Johnnie being Zell Sanders’ daughter, Johnnielouise Richardson, later of the Jaynetts.

 

Zell had then also recently fired virtually the entire Hearts vocal group who recorded for her J&S record label and, after failing to replace them en masse with another existing group, the Bouquets, she asked Betty to join with Mandy Hopper, Lezli and Mary Green, Ann King and earlier member Theresa Chatman to form a new incarnation of the Hearts.

 

Betty takes up the story: “I was too young to be away from home. So I left Long Island and went to live with (Zell). She became like a mother to me – very protective. I worked with the (Hearts) for a while and played some shows in New Jersey. I don’t remember the songs I recorded with them at all (she may have sung harmony on other recordings but Betty takes lead on just one side, namely the repetitive teen-slanted item “Like Later Baby”, released on J&S 1626 in October 1958, the flip of “I Want Your Love Tonight” – J&S 1627. The track is included on the 2006 UK Ace CDCHD 1089 release “Baby Washington And The Hearts”); but I was not cut out to be a group member. I wasn’t into harmony singing. When my spell with the Hearts finished, (Zell) took me all the way back home to Alabama; but she didn’t realise how determined to sing I was. Within a few weeks I was off again.”

 

It was some time after her return to the Big Apple that Betty would seek out the aptly-named powerhouse singer Big Maybelle, who was performing at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater.

 

Betty says: “If you listen to Big Maybelle's voice, you get the idea that this is a big woman. When you listen to mine, you would think I was a big woman and I'm not. Never have been. And when I realized that that voice was about the closest thing to ‘me’ that I had heard, I went to see her at the Apollo (that was when I was around, oh I guess, maybe 19) and I sat through 3 or 4 shows. And the way she handled the audience, the way she sang, how she told jokes, the whole persona on stage fascinated me. So after the show I went back and I met her. I had a voice and some control, but I realized I needed more. I told her what I needed, and she allowed me to go on tour with her. I watched her night after night, and (during the) days she kept me in a mirror singing. She worked very hard with me until the time she felt I was ready to go on stage. Please let me say this. People pay a lot of money and spend years trying to get what I got from this woman. I want to thank Big Maybelle for her contributions to my career. I was not, repeat not, her maid. She was my teacher, my instructor and my coach. She was an entertainer that I really, really appreciated because she helped me when no one else would. I knew all about gospel. I knew what gospel singing was about, but when it came to R&B, I really didn't know the ropes.”

 

Anyway, it’s clear that Betty toured with Big Maybelle, taking lessons from her all the while, for some considerable time. This took her all over the States and at some point (some say after taking a break following the final show, in Chicago, of a nationwide Maybelle tour) she headed west to California where she cut her first solo 45 for Walter Douglas’ little-known Douglas label. Both of the featured songs were penned by Wilhelmina Clayton who, amongst other credits, wrote “So Little Time”, which Brook Benton would include on his 1964 Mercury MG 20886/SR 60886 album “Born To Sing The Blues”.

 

Sources vary about the date of Betty’s Douglas single and Betty herself doesn’t recall the details. 1960 is often given but if this particular visit to California was the same as the one during which she encountered the guy who would become her manager and would take her back to New York to introduce her to Bert Berns (see shortly), then the other, later date of 1962, often cited for this recording, would seem to be the more likely.

 

Betty’s release on Douglas 104 gave her own name greater prominence on the label than the company name itself. ListenYesterday’s Kisses is given ‘AA’ status while “Taking Care Of Business” gets just one ‘A’.

 

Betty’s voice had certainly matured since her Hearts ‘outing’ but the vocals seem in rather too high a register for complete comfort to my ear, although there is an assertive ‘attack’ to them somewhat akin to that on some of Etta James’ earlier work. The male back-up group seems competent enough (probably an established West Coast outfit) but, while the performances are not outstanding, they can certainly be regarded as ‘work in progress’.

 

Very little is known about the Douglas label or its owner but, with the Harris release being numbered 104, one assumes there must have been a few other releases. I did find a publishing-related web-site which linked Walter’s name and that of his publishing company (“Prolific”, which appears on the labels) to a Fort Worth, Texas residential address, so maybe he retired down there.

 

Anyway, if the record was cut in 1962 it would have been around this time - and in California - that Betty encountered Solomon Burke and his then manager Marvin Leonard ‘Babe’ Chivian.

 

Chivian (born 24 August 1925) was a Philadephia-based car repairer-dealer and property speculator who, in 1959 offered Burke a red Lincoln Continental convertible if he would let him be his manager. The originally-gospel-only-singing and also Philadelphia-raised Burke had earlier failed to get his secular career off to a start via Herb Abramson’s Triumph logo as, at that time (late 1958), he had found he was still contracted to his old gospel label, Apollo. However, it seems that by 1959 this obstacle was out of the way and Burke duly signed up with Chivian who arranged for the singer to record for the local Philly-based Singular label, owned by WPEN disc jockey Edwin L. "Larry" Brown and the aptly-named Canadian-born vocal coach, Artie Singer. However in November 1960, after two commercially unsuccessful Singular 45s (one of which, “This Little Ring”, Chivian had apparently co-penned), ‘Babe’, as he was most often called, was recommended by Billboard’s Paul Ackerman to take Burke to meet with Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun. This he did and Solomon duly moved to the Atlantic label where, by December 1961, he had been put (initially reluctantly) under the production of Bert Berns. Of course, Berns won Burke over by cutting him successfully on the producer’s own fine song “Cry To Me” (Atlantic 2131), a No.5 R&B/No.44 Pop hit for Solomon which charted through the Spring of 1962, a song which would soon of course play a big part in Betty’s career.

 

It seems Chivian (and presumably Burke too) were suitably impressed with Betty Harris’ potential and one can therefore see why, at this juncture, they would suggest she should go back with them to New York to audition specifically for Berns, although a pre-requisite was, of course, that Betty should first make ‘Babe’ Chivian her manager.

 

This was agreed and Betty duly returned to the Big Apple to meet with Berns, although at this time she would base herself in Philadelphia, probably because that was where ‘Babe’, her new manager, lived. Betty told David Cole: “Bert (Berns) was wonderful as far as I was concerned. He was the type of person you could easily work with, easily get to know.” Betty of course had heard Burke’s version of “Cry To Me” but told Berns she would have sung it ‘slower’ and with even more “expression and soul”. Berns asked her to sing it how she felt it and was so impressed that he called his arranger Garry Sherman down to work out a basic piano arrangement there and then.

 

The resultant July 1963 session was held at Bell Sound, New York before Betty had any kind of recording contract. The finished recording was achieved via the third ‘take’. The Sweet Inspirations (Cissy Houston, Dee Dee Warwick, Sylvia Shemwell and Estelle Brown) did back-ups, the sound also being beefed-up by some male singers, whom Betty recalls were from the Mitch Miller TV show. Although the label shows the recording to be a Leiber & Stoller Production, they were nowhere around and it was all down to Betty, Bert, Garry Sherman, a tight NY rhythm section, a white-shirt-and-bow-tie string section and the incomparable ‘Sweets’.

 

For the first time on record, Betty calls upon her gospel pedigree to obtain the depth of feeling and expression inherent in such an emotionally-worded song, turning Burke’s certainly very good, faster-paced soul performance into an altogether much slower, deeper and more telling experience. Betty says: “By being young I only had so much experience of pain, or what I considered ‘blues’ to be about, but I ‘felt’ the lyrics. I knew how to reach deep in my soul and bring out all the pain and disappointment I felt. All my childhood feelings and wants came out in ListenCry To Me. I wanted to give the world something I could feel.” And she certainly did that!

 

Berns had obviously spared no expense in bringing a top team together to obtain what he wanted from Betty and, in view particularly of his recent success for Atlantic with Burke, he hoped he would be able to lease his master to Jerry Wexler even if Chivian didn’t manage to actually get Betty signed to the label. However, in the event, Jerry ‘passed’, probably because his company had only just had a major hit with the song. So Bert offered it to Jerry Blaine at Jubilee, who snapped it up. Chivian also got Blaine to sign Betty to his label, the event being marked by a dinner in a swanky New York restaurant where Jerry Blaine’s son Steve gave Betty a French Poodle.

 

Betty’s superb reading of the song made No.10 R&B and No.23 Pop on Jubilee 5456, perhaps surprisingly a lower position than Burke’s more ‘commercial’ version in the Billboard R&B chart, yet a higher position in the usually more commercially-influenced Pop chart.

 

The overtly more ‘pop’, but still appealing Berns composition “I’ll Be A Liar” appeared on the flip.

 

Betty soon embarked on several promotional live performances and one such on 28 September 1963 (the very day of her record’s entry into the R&B chart) put her on a multi-act bill at San Francisco’s huge ‘Cow Palace’ auditorium, introduced by local Radio KWA dee-jays, Bob Mitchell and Tom Donahue.

 

Betty’s live version that day of ListenCry To Me in front of an orchestra conducted by Phil Spector was recorded by Autumn Records for their “Memories Of The Cow Palace” Autumn 101 LP (reissued in 1983 by Rhino on RNLP 105).

 

Vocally, Betty gives her hit-song 110 percent, although the band unsurprisingly does not compare favourably with the New York musicians on her studio recording and, in particular, includes a rather poor trumpet-player. However, I agree with a review of Betty’s performance, written at the time of the Rhino reissue, which commented: “It’s rawer than the single and shows what she must have sounded like on the chitlin’ circuit."

 

When it was time for Betty to record her follow-up to “Cry To Me” she embarked on what must have been two quite intensive sessions, both held on 13th November 1963, with most of the overdubs and editing carried out on 26th November. The side chosen for release on Jubilee 5465 was the Berns and Mike Stoller song “His Kiss” and this time Bert was actually credited on the label as producer despite reference once more to it being (nominally) a Leiber & Stoller production. The song is another slow-paced gospelly piece with almost a feel of Theola Kilgore’s “The Love Of My Man”. It’s another telling performance from Betty, as is the fine flip ListenIt’s Dark Outside, which I think is even better and also features some lovely churchy piano-playing. Despite “His Kiss” being the side that would ‘chart’, Billboard’s review concentrated on “It’s Dark Outside”.

 

“Mo Jo Hannah”, a Clarence Paul co-penned song first cut the previous year by the unfortunately-named Henry Lumpkin for Motown (1029), is a very pacy if slightly messy, swamp-soul opus which would appear as one side of Betty’s third Jubilee 45 (# 5480). This song would later be rather better recorded by Esther Phillips in February 1964 for her first Atlantic single (Atlantic 2229), a session which would also be arranged by Garry Sherman and feature the Sweets on back-ups. Others to cut the song would include Aaron Neville, The Intrigues and, in 1972, Tami Lynn for Cotillion and UK Mojo, although New Orleans native Tami had also cut a rather better version back in 1963 for the AFO organisation which saw release on an Opus 43 LP (OP 4303) and appears on the 1993 Ace CD “Gumbo Stew” (CDCHD 450).

 

Betty’s version was coupled on her third Jubilee single with an ultra-slow re-vamp of the 1947-first-published (and probably much older) New Zealand Maori ‘farewell song’ “Hearere Ra”, better known to English-speaking folk as “Now Is The Hour”. Those who remember the song as something of a ‘family favourite’ sung by friends and relatives at the end of a party or simply to someone heading off to pastures new, may find Betty and the Sweets’ deeply gospelised interpretation little more than a weird ‘novelty’ – personally I love it! After Betty’s rather uncertain opening melisma on the word ‘now’, she and the girls drench the song’s inherent schmaltz with some wonderful gospel-soul and make the departure of a loved one really sound like the sad occasion it usually was.

 

Jerry Blaine

Two unissued-at-the-time tracks were also recorded, one pretty good and one just throwaway pop to my ears. “Why Don’t You Tell Him” is a very pretty soul-ballad which sees Betty for the first (and probably only) time in ‘uptown sweet-soul’ mode – but she handles the style very well indeed and the result, which required some vocal overdubs from her as late as 25th May the following year, probably deserved release on a fourth Jubilee single, although it wasn’t to be. The awful unissued “Everybody’s Love” (aka “Just Like Mine”) with Betty’s vocal all but lost in front of a fast Bo Diddley beat and some uncharacteristically quasi-teen-girly singing from the Sweets, is best forgotten. This song had already been cut in 1961 as “Just Like Mine” by The Renaults on Wand 114.

 

Apart from her vocal overdubs to the one unissued track in May 1964, these November 1963 sessions would be Betty’s last for Berns and for Jubilee. “His Kiss” had at least made the Pop Hot 100, peaking at No.89 but sales to black R&B fans were not helped by Billboard ceasing to publish an R&B chart from the end of that very November (it wouldn’t be reintroduced until 23 January 1965). The record made No.74 on the Cashbox Pop chart and No.15 on their R&B listing.

 

Bert Berns

Jubillee would reissue “Cry To Me” and “I’ll Be A Liar” on #5658 in 1969 (when it would again make the R&B chart, peaking at No.44) and the next reissue of Betty’s Jubilee material would be on two 45s in the Virgo Golden Memories Series, “Cry To Me” being paired with a reissue of Joe Henderson’s “Snap Your Fingers” on Virgo 6014 in 1973, while two years later Virgo 6036 effectively reissued Jubilee 5465 by pairing Betty’s “His Kiss” with “It’s Dark Outside”.

 

Then in 1980 UK Charly’s “In The Saddle” CRB 1002 Harris set featured just two Jubilee sides, “Cry To Me” and “I’ll Be A Liar”. All the Jubilee material (including the unissued tracks) finally came together in 1998 on UK Westside’s fine “Soul Perfection Plus” CD (WESA 807), which also included some pre-take studio chat. 2005’s Australian Aim 1502 CD “The Lost Soul Queen – Soul Perfection Plus Rare Tracks” included just “Cry To Me” and “I’ll Be A Liar” of the Jubilee tracks.

 

Thinking back to these sessions, Betty admits that “Jubilee did not turn out as good as it should” and the main reason she cites is the loss of both her manager, ‘Babe’ Chivian and her producer Bert Berns. The ‘loss’ of Berns does not refer to his later untimely death on 30 December 1967 as this happened too late to have had any effect on Betty’s career but rather to his attention in the mid-60’s being on things other than Miss Betty Harris. We’ll come to that in a moment but first, what of her manager, ‘Babe’ Chivian?

 

Well, in October 1963 (a month before Betty had even undertaken her second set of sessions with Berns), ‘Babe’ Chivian was being “sought by the FBI as a material witness to illegal Cosa Nostra activities in Philadelphia” (to quote a news report of the time). Quite what degree of involvement this implies is unclear but even the phrase “being sought” suggests he wasn’t readily ‘coming forward’ and may even perhaps have ‘disappeared’ for a time. What does seem certain is that, at this juncture, his primary attention would not have been on Miss Harris (or even on Mr Solomon Burke).

 

Quite what happened to Chivian after this is also unclear. He may well have nominally retained his managerial role with Betty but he also certainly returned to Philly and to the auto trade as, some 8 years later, a 2nd October 1971 press report quoted the FBI as saying “the largest amount of forgery contraband ever seized in Philadelphia” had been discovered in Chivian’s office and that Chivian had been “charged with larceny, receiving stolen goods, counterfeiting, and ‘uttering’ and issuing forged ‘instruments’.” Much of this was connected with auto-licensing activities. Whether or not Chivian was tried and found guilty I have not discovered –but there probably wasn’t time as, within 3 months (according to Wikipedia), he would be dead, aged only 46.

 

The ’loss’ to Betty of Bert Berns’ attention clearly points to just how busy Bert was with other activities by late 1963 and how little time he was able to give to her. Throughout that year he had produced hits on UA for The Exciters and Garnet Mimms, had produced another hit for Baby Jane & The Rockabyes and had written hit material for the Four Pennies and The Rocky Fellers. He had also maintained the more-established Solomon Burke’s momentum for Atlantic with “Words”, “If You Need Me”, “Can’t Nobody Love You” and “You’re Good For Me”.

 

As the press was reporting Chivian’s problems in October of that year, Berns flew off to the UK for his first visit to Decca in London and must have returned only just in time for Betty’s second set of sessions in mid-November. Meanwhile Bert’s private life was keeping him busy too - he had met and fallen in love with fashion model and dancer Ilene Stuart, whom he would marry in 1964.

 

A probably now temporarily managerless Betty would wait in vain for Bert to produce a third set of sessions for Jubilee. His professional attention had now turned almost exclusively towards Atlantic. In March 1964 he would form his Keetch label to be distributed by Atlantic and then went on that year to write and produce lots of hits for Atlantic acts such as The Drifters, Solomon Burke, The Vibrations and LaVern Baker. In October of that year Bert was back in London to record Lulu and Them; then, with further big Atlantic successes on into 1965, Bert would form his Web IV publishing company in March of that year (‘Web’ for Wexler, the two Erteguns and Berns) before, in May, launching his own Bang label, named after the first names of the same four men.

 

It’s probably a shame that Betty did not get taken to Atlantic at this stage as Berns would probably have continued to record her, perhaps first for them and then maybe even for his own R&B subsidiary label, Shout; but I guess if that had happened, however good the results, we would then have been denied the fine body of work she was soon to ‘put down’ in New Orleans with Allen Toussaint.

 

Some sources say Betty apparently met Toussaint in New Orleans while on tour but a Harris-related web-site claims Toussaint caught her act at the Apollo and Betty herself told David Cole that she thought it was her manager (was it still Chivian or someone else?) who brought them together, the pair meeting in New York in mid-1965 to strike a deal before Betty flew down to New Orleans to record.

 

Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn were launching their then brand-new Sansu label and Betty would have the first release on it. The partnership between these two men (legalised via the Tou-Sea production company and the Marsaint publishing company) had actually begun with Lee Dorsey’s “Ride Your Pony”, which Marshall had taken to New York and leased to Larry Uttal for issue on Amy 927, the 45 becoming a hit just about the time Toussaint met up with Harris. However, wanting their own imprint, Allen and Marshall had then set up Sansu, whose offices in these early days were located on St. Phillip Street, while, for recording, use was probably made initially of Cosimo Matassa’s recently opened third studio, Jazz City, situated at 748 Camp Street (although Harris’ post-1967 recordings would have been cut either elsewhere in the Crescent City or possibly in Atlanta as it was in that year that the IRS seized Jazz City and all its contents from Matassa, with Toussaint and Sehorn not opening their own Sea-Saint Studio on Clematis Street until 1973, long after Harris had ceased recording).

 

So Jazz City is most likely where Betty Harris appeared in about August 1965 for her first Sansu session, which resulted in “I’m Evil Tonight” and “What A Sad Feeling” (Sansu 450), with the former track also seeing later reissue as one side of Sansu 466. Both songs were penned by Toussaint (using his mother’s maiden name of Naomi Neville) and Allen would not only arrange, produce and usually play on all of Betty’s Sansu (and one SSS-Int.) recordings but would also write all 20 of them too.

 

“I’m Evil Tonight” nicely combined an appealing semi-pop main riff with some meaningful and, at times, quite intense vocalising from Betty.

 

The original ‘plug-side’, though, was ListenWhat A Sad Feeling, a slower and altogether more dramatic opus. You can imagine Irma Thomas singing this one but, with no disrespect to the true Soul Queen of New Orleans, the ‘usurper’ from Dothan via the Big Apple makes such a fine job of this telling piece that there’s no need to imagine the song in anyone else’s hands; indeed, despite her several fine Jubilee sides, this track really marks the beginning of the recordings which turned Betty into the revered deep-soul 60’s legend she deservedly became. Commercially though, the 45 failed to return Betty to the charts.

 

Betty’s second trip to New Orleans was early in 1966. “Sometime” was a pleasant-enough fairly lay-back pop-soul ballad which Betty mainly sings in sweet-mode although she still manages to include some dramatic gospelly passages here and there. “I Don’t Wanna Hear It” was a rather brooding-sounding mid-to-up tempo piece with strong vocals from Betty, especially each time she sings in front of the back-up girls as they chant the title-line. Sadly, this pairing, issued on Sansu 452, also failed to make much impression saleswise.

 

Undeterred, Toussaint persevered and in about April 1966 Betty flew south again, this time to cut the potent, driving and funky Listen12 Red Roses, using exactly the same production techniques and male-back-up sound which was then bringing Toussaint and Sehorn big commercial success with Lee Dorsey. It’s a great ‘never-let-up’ opus with an irresistible Crescent City beat and some very tasty piano fills from Toussaint.

 

If that was good, ListenWhat’d I Do Wrong on the other side of Sansu 455 was something else! This was one of Betty’s ‘killer’ solo deep-soul outings for the label. Everything is right about this wonderful recording. The mournful brass backdrop, the terrific guitar fills and Toussaint’s beautiful bluesy piano passages which still allow the existence of an almost eerie sparseness, with no back-up singers (rightly) deemed necessary behind Betty’s emotion-soaked gospelly vocal. This is also great writing by Toussaint and no-one could ever have bettered Harris’ interpretation of his telling lyrics. The cut would also reappear as one side of Betty’s Sansu 478 release nearly two years later (see shortly).

 

Back in 1966, “12 Red Roses” should have easily made the US charts – but no, it didn’t. One wonders what kind of national promotion Betty’s 45 received as I can find no review or advertisement for it in Billboard, despite Sansu being distributed by New York’s Bell label. However, I have a feeling that most of Larry Uttal’s Toussaint/Sehorn-related promotion budget was being expended instead on Lee Dorsey’s product, as Lee was in the process of enjoying four straight Top 10 R&B hits on Utall’s own Amy imprint.

 

This theory is perhaps given support by the very obvious ‘Dorsey sound’ on Betty’s next Sansu 461 single, “Lonely Hearts”, cut in early 1967 but brought to a close by a weak and overly-long instrumental segment when what was clearly needed was at least another verse from Betty.

 

Slightly better was “Bad Luck”, a nice mid-pacer with not such an obvious Dorsey connection and offering a good superstitious tale of Betty being so prone to bad luck that even a four-leaf clover withered when it touched her hand!

 

Again the single flopped and Betty must have wondered if she was ever going to return to the charts; but, fortunately, her next Sansu outing finally achieved that very goal.

 

In mid-1967 Betty’s jet-hopping visits to New Orleans were renewed, yet the session produced only one known side, “Nearer To You”. Toussaint pared down the backing and Betty actually delivered a genuinely ‘deep’ vocal performance, the ‘commercial’ aspects of the arrangement being chiefly the overly sweet back-up chants and a rather cheesy organ. However, this combination of styles certainly did the trick as, despite a continuing lack of much press promotion, the song, coupled on Sansu 466 with a reissue of “I’m Evil Tonight”, made No.16 on Billboard’s R&B chart and No.85 on their Pop listing.

 

Betty’s new R&B hit may not have been a high-charter but it was a very steady seller, remaining in the listings from 15th July to 30th September and it would have been around August, when she was probably touring on the strength of it, that she joined up with James Carr and found herself moonlighting on one of his Goldwax recordings, “I’m A Fool For You” (#328). This was essentially a gently-rolling-rhythmed duet between the these two fine singers with James taking most of the lead lines and Betty answering his baritone with some quite high register responses. The record had appeal for sure and provided Betty with another hit, albeit she was unnamed on the label for contractual reasons. The recording would enter the charts on 23rd September, making No.42 R&B/No.97 Pop.

 

Betty explained her sortie with Carr thus: “We were travelling together and we sang all kinds of songs. I went with him (to his session and) on our way his guitar-player wrote this song for him. At the session we were goofing around with it, not doing anything for real, but it was taped and it sounded good. I called Marshall Sehorn about me being on it and he said ‘No’.”

 

So this was why Betty couldn’t be credited, even though, just like her own Sansu label, Goldwax was, at this time, also distributed by Larry Utall’s Bell organisation. According to Quinton Claunch’s recollections with Colin Dilnot, the recording itself was cut at Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis but the label writers’ credits feature not just James’ guitarist but no less than five top Memphis-related personalities, namely Dan Greer, Quinton Claunch, Earl Cage, George Jackson, and Rudolph Russell. Betty’s brief association with Carr would lead to yet another untrue rumour that she later became his road manager.

 

Anyway, both sides of Betty’s own ‘follow-up’ Sansu 45 were actually cut around August 1967 while “Nearer To You” was still charting and pretty close to the time of her encounter with Carr. “I’m Gonna Git Ya” returned Betty to the ‘Lee Dorsey’ format but, having said that, I find this slow but very ‘New Orleans-second line’ piece with its potent backbeat and girl group support to be really appealing.

 

However, the other side of Sansu 471, ListenCan’t Last Much Longer, was another Harris deep gem which rivalled even “What’d I Do Wrong” for top honours in those particular stakes. A pathos-inducing piano and then a brass fanfare introduce us to a fast-fading Betty (though not vocally!) who is such ‘a fool’ for her guy that she can’t put up much longer with the total disinterest he is now showing in her. The lyrics are so mournfully expressed one fears there could even be a potentially suicidal outcome for the girl rather than merely a reluctant acceptance of the inevitable ending of the relationship. It’s just a terrific piece of deep-soul.

 

For Betty’s next outing, Toussaint decided to pair her up with Lee Dorsey. This was probably merely an attempt to have some of Dorsey’s recent much bigger chart success rub off on Betty, although Betty referred to her duet with James Carr and surmised that “maybe that’s where the Lee Dorsey idea was born.”

 

The pair got together around October/November 1967 and the results were intriguing. “Love Lots Of Lovin’” was very much in the style Dorsey had been recently using and was a rather lightweight poppish piece, although both singers perform well enough, especially on the bridges between the main sections of the song. The crossover appeal was not enough though for major success, the record on Sansu 474 merely ‘bubbling under’ the Billboard Pop chart at No.110 for just the one week commencing 23rd December. One wonders what might have been if Amy had picked up the master and issued it effectively as a Lee Dorsey release.

 

However, the flip-side, ListenTake Care Of Our Love, was a superb piece of funereally-paced deep-soul – indeed I would go as far as to say that it’s probably the finest example from a male/female duo that I can recall. Lee Dorsey would not be a singer one would normally associate with deeply expressive singing but here he absolutely gives as good as he gets and what he gets from Betty is a staggeringly emotive response.

 

The empathy between the two singers seems stunningly good and yet Betty had reservations. She regarded the top-side (not unreasonably perhaps) as “definitely throwaway” but went on to say she didn’t like the other side either. She added: “I didn’t consider myself a double-singer but I had no say in the matter”. Betty, it seems, has always preferred to sing solo, although she was clearly more than happy to join vocally with James Carr.

 

Towards the end of 1967 Betty was preparing to go on a tour of Europe the following year with Otis Redding (an artist she had toured with before) but of course this would come to nought as a result of the Big O’s untimely death on 10 December.

 

Although Betty’s sporadic visits to record with Toussaint usually only resulted in two songs being recorded, it seems she managed three at her next session in early 1968, although, on this occasion only, there was a sizable gap between the master numbers of each of these recordings and it’s just possible there were actually three separate sessions. In any case, this session (or sessions) might well not have been in New Orleans as Cosimo’s Jazz City studio had now closed and, in addition to using other Crescent City studios, Toussaint and Sehorn also apparently did some recording in Atlanta. (However, when Betty herself recalled her Sansu years, she implied that she cut all her songs for Toussaint actually in New Orleans).

 

Anyway, the first song in the can was “Mean Man”, by far the funkiest record Betty had yet cut for Sansu which possibly introduced the use on her recordings of the Meters, whom Toussaint and Sehorn had by now more or less recruited as a ‘house-band’. The track was released on Sansu 478 with the older but wonderful “What’d I Do Wrong” re-used on the flip.

 

The other songs recorded allegedly at the same session were the mid-paced “Hook, Line n’ Sinker” on which Betty’s vocal is well up to its usual potent standard as she really tries to ‘sell’ what is, in truth, a fairly ‘average’ song; and “Show It”, a slightly pacier but rather mediocre item. These two were coupled on the very next Sansu release (#479).

 

By about June of ’68 it seems Toussaint was getting a bit desperate as to how to return Betty to the charts and he selected for her session at that time a revival of Lee Dorsey’s “Ride Your Pony” hit. I’m sure Betty’s heart would not have been in this one but as always her professionalism took over and she really delivers on what is a fine, funky foot-tapper, proving she could handle a driving piece of soul as well as anyone.

 

Some wonderful bass-lines introduce and underpin the very impressive other track cut at that time, namely ListenTrouble With My Lover. This is a rare case where mid-paced funky soul can also be very telling in the hands of a singer of the quality of Harris. For me, this is the best mid-to-uptempo side Betty cut for Sansu, along with “There’s A Break In the Road” (see shortly). Sadly, when released together on #480, neither of the mid-’68-recorded sides caused much of a stir saleswise.

 

There followed a longish gap in recording before Betty returned to Toussaint in about March of 1969. This is possibly due to the abandonement at that time of the Sansu label, only a couple of Art Neville singles having crept out after Betty’s last effort. The label would not be re-activated until the mid-70’s and the two sides Betty cut in ’69 were leased out for single release to Shelby Singleton’s SSS-International label.

 

As already implied, “There’s A Break In the Road” is a terrific piece of mid-paced Meters-led funky-soul, with Betty riding the potent riff in great style. I love the guitar-feedback that seems to have been deliberately featured here as it just adds ‘edge’ to what is almost a groundbreaking track for the late-60’s.

 

Conversely, the other track recorded for inclusion on the SSS-Int single is just one huge musical ‘mistake’ as far as I’m concerned. In about mid-’68, an artiste called Zilla Mayes (her surname more usually excluded the ‘e’) recorded a great Allen Toussaint song called “All I Want Is You” for one of Allen and Marshall’s subsidiary labels, Tou-Sea (#132). Zilla was older than Betty and, in addition to sporadically recording since 1951, she was also an Atlanta Radio dee-jay and gospel singer. Her 45 also had an excellent Toussaint song on the other side called “I Love You Still”.

 

Anyway, at her1969 (and last) session for Toussaint, Betty also cut a Toussaint song called “All I Want Is You” but this was a totally different, appalling tuneless ‘turkey’ of a song which sounded like it was destined for some third-class theatrical musical show. What’s more, if it really is Betty Harris trying to sing it (which I can barely believe), she has real trouble even holding what little there is of a tune and also struggles to hit some of the notes. This awful track should have been left to go mouldy on the cutting room floor.

 

This untypical Harris performance and Zilla Mayes’ amazing similarity to Betty’s more usual singing-style on her own very different song of the same name, would later completely ‘throw’ UK Charly Records whose 1980 “In The Saddle” CRB 1002 compilation would wrongly use Zilla’s recording in place of Betty’s, whilst crediting Betty on both the label and sleeve track-listing (aurally an absolutely understandable mistake).

 

It’s a great shame that such a wretched recording was the last side Betty would ever cut for Allen Toussaint as, overall, her body of work for him was outstanding. However, it seems that, although Betty clearly always gave of her professional best for Allen, she did not relate to him as well as she did to Bert Berns during her admittedly far fewer sessions with the New York producer.

 

Of her nearly 4 years of sporadic recording for Sansu, she agreed that “…the music was fantastic” but she clearly felt that she was not involved enough in the song-selection and recording process when she added: “All my sessions…were put together before I arrived…and some things were done after I left.”

 

Mind you, to be fair, with Betty simply flying in from the east coast to cut maybe no more than a couple of tracks and then flying home again as soon as possible, one can perhaps see how a writer, arranger and producer as adept as Allen Toussaint would want to have songs and maybe some rhythm tracks ready in advance of her arrival and then to arrange sweetening processes perhaps after her departure.

 

Musically, it’s clear Betty liked her ‘deeper’ work best when she concurred: “That was me, that’s just me. The faster stuff I did because you had to do it but lyrics have always meant a lot to me. Out of the things Allen did, I was in love with ‘Can’t Last Much Longer’ (and) ‘Nearer To You’. Some of his music was, like, very, very meaningful to me.” Us too, Betty!

 

Having cut 20 known tracks for Sansu, Betty might well have expected at least one album to have been issued by the label but – no, it was left to the UK to provide one.

 

Her earlier Jubillee material had seen scant coverage in the UK at the time (only “Cry To Me”/”I’ll Be A Liar” appearing there on UK Decca’s London American label #9796); however, EMI’s UK Stateside label did at least issue two singles of Sansu material, while a small UK label called Buffalo picked up just on the Dorsey-Harris two-sider.

 

Thanks to Sansu’s distribution by Bell, the first (close to contemporaneous) album releases anywhere of some of Harris’ Sansu recordings appeared on the revered UK various-artist 3LP set “Bell’s Cellar Of Soul” (issued separately on MBLL 102, 107 and 117, the first two albums appearing in 1968 and the third in 1969).

 

However, also in 1969, as Betty’s tenure with Sansu came to an end, a small UK label called Action put out what became for many years the definitive Betty Harris LP, still much sought-after and pricey, entitled “Soul Perfection” (ACLP 6007). This contained 16 of Betty’s Sansu outings (a large number of tracks for an LP in those days).

 

Action had been formed in 1968 by record-store owner, soul music magazine editor and later UK Contempo and US Ichiban owner John Abbey. It was distributed by Island Records and based at Music House, 12 Neasden Lane, London NW10. Action issued no less than 56 singles in the 1968-1969 period from many different chiefly US soul-related sources (including a pairing of Betty’s “Ride Your Pony” and “Trouble With My Lover” on ACT 4535), plus another 24 singles when the label was revived between 1971 and 1974. It also put out 12 albums, including Betty’s.

 

Regarding later Harris reissues, apart from the aforementioned 45s of Jubilee material by Jubilee itself (1969) and Virgo (1973 and 1975), it would be 1980 before UK Charly issued their also already-mentioned CRB 1002 Harris LP “In The Saddle”, another 16-tracker, although only 13 Harris Sansu sides were featured, as also included were both sides of Betty’s first Jubilee single and the Zilla Mayes recording of “All I Want Is You” masquerading as by Betty.

 

In the same year, UK Charly also issued a three-track black-and-white picture sleeve single featuring “Ride Your Pony”, “Trouble With My Lover” and “Nearer To You” (CTD 102).

 

The CD era saw the aforementioned 1998 “Soul Perfection Plus” comprehensive Harris collection from UK Westside (WESA 807), followed by the also already mentioned “The Lost Soul Queen – Soul Perfection Plus Rare Tracks” Australian AIM 1502 set from 2005.

 

After Betty ended her association with Allen Toussaint, she decided to give up major musical activity chiefly because she was tired of the almost endless touring, drab hotel rooms and living out of a suitcase. However, the exact chronology of her movements from this point right up until 1996/7 have so far never been satisfactorily clarified.

 

At some point she returned to Alabama about which she recalls: "I said I'd rather be broke and be happy, than to have money and be miserable. And with that in mind, I went back home to Alabama, and I knew that it was going to be hard because I had lived an upscale life.”

 

However, possibly after she had returned to her native State, it seems she moved to Miami where she performed just at one or two clubs before deciding to quit all forms of the music scene completely. She says: "Otis had passed, Bert had passed, ‘Babe’ had passed. I looked at this business and said maybe this is not what God wanted me to do. As much as I loved singing, I just did not find things in the world the way I thought they were. I had to find me.”

 

Betty went ‘back to school’ for a time to learn business studies, married, and settled with her new husband and son in Florida. Then, in about 1982, her daughter came along and she gave much of her life over to raising her. Betty says: “I guess God put my child in my life. My daughter Christina, I just did everything for her. I put her in pageants and parades. My daughter became the focus of my life.”

 

In addition to her family responsibilities, Betty still sang, but now only in churches and at community events, as she had done in Alabama in her childhood.

 

In 1996/7 she moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she joined an Artists Collective and began giving singing lessons. It was here too that she put her daughter through high school, also temporarily spending some time in Atlanta during her mother’s final months.

 

Then in 2001, her daughter found several Betty Harris fan sites on the web, prompting the singer to join a soul mailing list to announce her whereabouts. Her re-emergence caused quite a stir in deep soul circles and this inspired Betty to consider the possibility of performing again. Indeed, by 2004 she was anticipating that the BBC in the UK would be making a film about her life and announcing her intention to co-produce a new CD slated to be cut in Boston starting September 6th and released that December. This was to have been in conjunction with Boston-based guitarist and producer Chris Stovall Brown. However, neither of these projects came to fruition and Betty finally resurfaced in the music world on April 17, 2005, when she played her first live gig in 35 years at a benefit at Weaver High School in Hartford, which her daughter, by then at college, had once attended. Just a few weeks after this, Harris performed at New Orleans’ legendary annual Ponderosa Stomp.

 

Later in 2005 she went to Melbourne, Australia where she played a Hurricane Katrina benefit gig at the city’s Prince Of Wales venue that raised more than $30,000 for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic. The Australian band was comprised of carefully chosen members of the local roots scene who had cut their teeth on early New Orleans soul, R&B and funk sounds, fronted by Andy Baylor on guitar.

 

Harris was so impressed with this band that she allegedly parted company with the Stovall Brown unit on her return to the States and re-visited Melbourne again in November 2006 to play once more with Baylor and co. at the Prince Of Wales and at the Queenscliff Music Festival. While ‘down under’ she also appeared on the television program "Rockwiz", where she sang "Cry to Me" solo and her old Lee Dorsey duet "Love Lots of Lovin'" with Australian singer John Paul Young.

 

It had been during her 2005 trip to Australia that a visit to Hound Dog's Bop Shop in West Melbourne had triggered a series of events that led to Harris obtaining the rights to her Sansu master tapes. When she was shown the AIM compilation CD of her work, her lawyer Fred Wilhelms III contacted the Australian label and asked them who had licensed Harris' music to them. The trail led to a company called Gulf Coast Music. Fred Wilhelms explained to Red Kelly that GCM had been the entity set up by the Federal court to handle Marshall Sehorn's music assets when he declared bankruptcy in the mid-90s as a result of several judgments against him for bootlegging the Chess catalogue. When approached, Wilhelms says GCM accepted Betty’s claim to the Sansu masters because there was no proof she had ever been paid royalties and the rights were duly transferred to her.

 

This was just in time, as pop diva Christina Aguilera had then only recently sampled Allen Toussaint’s Harris-recorded song “Nearer To You” as part of her “Understand” track from her “Back To Basics” album, which had then already sold 2 million copies worldwide.

 

So, finally, not only was Harris' soul legacy being recognised but she would also receive some long-overdue and well-deserved financial reward for her past endeavours. In 2006, Betty commented: "I was angry because I did all of that work and didn't get anything for it. Normally you would get paid for studio time - I didn't even get that. It was a very hurtful time in my life. I thought what I was doing was worth a lot more than that. But you have to move on, so I got out of show business, went back to school, and I married and had kids. I refused to be labelled as a has-been in this business. I've always been a very determined person, to try and make the best of any situation. I've learnt that if you wait long enough, it's bound to come to you. I was able to get all my masters back from Sansu. We went to Nashville and I had them digitally redone and before too long we’re going to release them”.

 

It was also suggested that some of the songs Betty obtained have never yet seen reissue and so these would therefore have to be unissued Sansu Harris recordings. To my knowledge some 4 separate reissue compilations have appeared between 2006 and 2011 (see cover shots nearby), two of them, “Soul Cuts” (28 tracks on Master Classics) and “Selected Hits” (16 tracks on Charly) apparently being for MP3 download only, while the other two, “Greatest Hits” (15 tracks on Platinum Records) and “”Lonely Hearts” (16 tracks on Jukebox Entertainment) were also made available on CD. I am not aware of the inclusion on any of these releases of ‘new’ titles from Betty’s past recording history, although it seems the “Lonely Hearts” set did include 2 versions of “I Don’t Want To Hear It”.

 

2007 was another busy year for Betty, including an appearance at the "Porretta Soul Festival" in Italy before travelling on to make her French debut at the Perigueux New Orleans Music Festival that August. Betty would be back home in time for the release in November of her long-awaited ‘come back’ CD “Intuition”, but what a disappointment it proved to be. She had signed a deal with Jon Tiven to produce it in Nashville for his Evidence label (# ECD 26135-2) but, despite one or two names from the soul past like Jerry Ragovoy, Don Covay and Freddie Scott having some marginal input, and despite Betty herself being in fine voice, most of the songs had no soulful content at all, running closer to modern country-blues in style (the best is a moving tale of domestic violence entitled “She Stays On” which has a very Swamp Dogg feel to it). Tiven would produce the same level of mediocrity on his two Evidence CDs the following year featuring two more soul legends, Garnet Mimms and Howard Tate (whose earlier Ragovoy-produced “Rediscovered” Private Music/BMG CD in 2004 had been much better). In my opinion, Tiven simply failed to major on the great expressive vocal talents who had come his way.

 

If you want to hear just how soulfully emotive Betty could have been with the right material, then go here to catch a 1 min 52 sec. clip of her singing part of her “Cry To Me” rendition at the Porretta Terme festival in the same year her CD emerged. Allowing for the ‘iffy’ sound, one can soon tell that Betty could still sing deeply and impressively and it’s a shame that the clip cuts off abruptly for some reason well before the performance is finished. Tiven should have been watching and listening and, whilst one can understand that neither he nor Betty would have wanted a CD merely full of re-vamped old soul favourites, at least more of the modern songs could have been given a soulful feel.

 

Since 2007 Betty has also visited Spain, Italy, France once again, Australia twice more and has appeared at New York’s Lincoln Center.

 

With her daughter now married and having produced a grandchild, Betty has since based herself in another Connecticut city, Middletown. In January 2012, the local paper reported that, after all her touring, she was now ready to play “where she lives”, with a new band of her own, The Breaking News, which included musical director Tony Cafiero of Guilford on keyboards and Tom Smith of Cheshire on drums, these English-sounding cities actually being in Connecticut of course. Betty said: “Out of all this time that I’ve played, I’ve never had my own group, my own band, and I’ve found that to be an excellent experience; to have guys who rehearse with you, they know what you’re going to do. To have someone that has sat down and worked it out and is not just playing a chart. ... it’s really nice.”

 

Betty and her band played a ‘tune-up’ gig in December 2011 at The Cypress Restaurant in Middletown and on 7th January 2012 they played a bona fide $30-at-the-door Soul & Funk concert at Trinity-on-Main, a former church in New Britain that’s now a local cultural and performing arts center.

 

It’s nice to know that a great performer from the classic soul era is still ‘on song’ and entertaining the masses. Long may it be so.

 

UPDATE ~ On Saturday July 21st, 2012 Betty gave a radio interview on Station WRTC-FM out of Hartford, Connecticut (near her own present home). A few interesting observations emerged which add a little more info. to that contained in the main article.

 

Betty confirmed her high regard for Bert Berns. She said her “Cry To Me” session at Bell Sound took just 3 takes, the shortest session she ever had, although Berns was a person who “knew what he wanted to hear” and apparently, at a later session for him, another of Betty’s songs would see her made to sing 33 takes. She had nothing but praise too for the Sweet Inspirations who linked into “Cry To Me” so easily with only a minimum of discussion between them about what they were going to do.

 

On her 1967 3-month gruelling road-tour with the Otis Redding Review, she notes that they started off at the Apollo with 18 acts on the bill, including Johnnie Taylor and Bettye Swann (though neither she nor the generally knowledgeable dee-jay could remember Bettye’s surname!) She found Otis to be quiet, focused but not pushy, serious about what he did, a businessman but also a guy who could just be himself and didn’t worry about other acts maybe being in competition with him in any way.

 

Re her Sansu recording “Love Lot’s Of Loving” with Lee Dorsey, she confirms this was not a true duet in that Dorsey’s vocal and much, if not all of the backing track had already been cut by Allen Toussaint before Betty hit the Big Easy and Betty merely added her own vocal to the proceedings. Betty comments that she actually preferred the way she cut her Sansu tracks (by adding vocals to existing backing-tracks) to cutting ‘live’ in the studio. She maintained this allowed her to be more creative regarding her vocal before it got added into the mix. It was also made clear that Betty was already living in Miami during the time of her Sansu tracks and she was flying into New Orleans from there (not New York) for mainly 2-week periods to cut her sessions with Toussaint (some four weeks for her first ones).

 

Re her “Nearer To You” Sansu track, she confirms that, when she arrived to cut her vocal, there was very little already laid down, namely just a basic Toussaint piano track plus a bass. She left New Orleans of course before Toussaint mixed the final track and was amazed when, back in Miami, she heard the finished product with all the overdubs etc and barely recognised the piece.

 

When the dee-jay played Betty’s “A Bible And A Beer” from her 2007 Evidence CD, “Intuition”, Betty commented that her preacher-mother would not have approved of that title as she used to say to her when she was a younger secular soul singer: “That’s not the way God wants you to live”. It’s also clear that Betty shares my own view about this particular CD – basically she doesn’t rate it and doesn’t consider it to showcase “the real Betty Harris”.

 

When she first began her legal processes to recover her rights to her Sansu recordings - via her first lawyer Fred Wilhelms (now sadly deceased after contracting pancreatic cancer) - she was having a pretty rough time, as she says that was soon after she had lost both her mother and her husband.

 

While talking about her currently on-going legal action against Sony over Christine Aguilera’s sampling of her “Nearer To You” track, it was made pretty clear that she apparently regards all four of the reissue Harris CDs shown in the montage picture near the end of the main article as unlicensed and may well be bringing further actions against those responsible for these particular releases.

     

Yugoslavian postcard by ZK, no. 2914.

 

French actress France Nuyen (1939) was discovered at the beach by famous photographer Philippe Halsman. After her starring role in the stage hit 'The World of Suzie Wong', she became the second major Asian Hollywood star - after Anna May Wong.

 

France Nuyen was born France Nguyen Van Nga in Marseille, France in 1939. Her mother was French, her father Vietnamese. During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the occupying Germans during World War II for being gypsies. Nuyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls ‘an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me’. In interviews, she also says that she thinks of herself as culturally French and feels she has little in common with most Asians. In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nuyen was discovered on the beach by LIFE magazine photographer Philippe Halsman. She came to America in 1956 and became a member of the Lee Strasberg Acting Studio in New York. She was featured on the cover of the Oct. 6, 1958 issue of LIFE. In that magazine, she is quoted saying a proverb she repeated years later in character as a spy in the TV series I Spy: "I am Chinese. ... I am a stone. I go where I am kicked." Nuyen made her film debut portraying Liat in South Pacific (Joshua Logan, 1958) with Rossano Brazzi, the film version of the stage musical of Rodger and Hammerstein. The film became one of the biggest box-office successes of the 1950s and Nuyen won the Daniel Bloom Award for her role. She followed this with a role in the war film In Love and War (Philip Dunne, 1958), co-starring Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter. Her roles in these two films earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Female Newcomer. Nuyen then became a stage actress and played the lead in The World of Suzie Wong (1958), a play about the relationship between a prostitute and a painter (William Shatner) in Hong Kong. Initially, she had to learn her lines phonetically. She won the 1959 Theatre World Award for her performance in the play, which ran for a total of 508 performances. She was to reprise her role in the 1960 film adaptation of the play and even shot half the film, but she was suddenly replaced by producer Ray Stark with Nancy Kwan. A bitter disappointment.

 

France Nuyen did appear in the films The Last Time I Saw Archie (Jack Webb, 1961) with Robert Mitchum, Satan Never Sleeps (Leo McCarey, 1962) starring William Holden, A Girl Named Tamiko (John Sturges, 1962) with Laurence Harvey, Diamond Head (Guy Green, 1963) starring Charlton Heston, and Dimension 5 (Franklin Adreon, 1966) again opposite Jeffrey Hunter. From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist. They have a daughter Fleur, who resides in Canada and works as a film makeup artist. Her distinctive accent made her recognizable to television audiences, and she guest-starred in episodes of such popular series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965) and Gunsmoke (1966). She met her second husband, Robert Culp while appearing in 1966 on his show I Spy. They married in 1967 but divorced three years later. Nuyen and Culp were to appear as co-hosts of the second episode of the TV series Turn-On in 1969, but the show was canceled after just one week. She worked with William Shatner again in Elaan of Troyius (1968), a memorable episode of the cult series Star Trek. She played Elaan, a representative of an alien culture that could manipulate others' emotions to commit acts of violence. A single tear shed by Elaan would cause Captain Kirk (Shatner) to fall madly in love with her. Their chemistry also worked in the CBS TV movie, The Horror at 37,000 Feet (David Lowell Rich, 1973) and in an episode of the TV series Kung Fu (1974). On TV, she guest-starred in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), in Charlie's Angels (1977), and with Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode Murder Under Glass (1978). In 1986, she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988. In 1990, she had a recurring role on the long-running prime-time soap, Knots Landing. She continued to appear in films including the Western One More Train to Rob (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1971), The Big Game (Robert Day, 1972) with Stephen Boyd, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973, J. Lee Thompson). In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in clinical psychology and began a second career as a psychological counselor for abused women and children, and women in prison. She received a Woman of the Year award in 1989 for her psychological work. France Nuyen more recently appeared in films like the successful film adaptation The Joy Luck Club (Wayne Wang, 1993), the comedy A Smile Like Yours (Keith Samples, 1997) The Battle of Shaker Heights (Efram Potelle, Kyle Rankin, 2003) starring Shia LaBeouf, and The American Standards (Joe Wehinger, 2007). France was upset that the producers of The Joy Luck Club, did not put her name more prominently on the poster. Rightly so. The blog Cult Sirens described her as one the greatest neglected actresses: “France Nuyen, a face that everyone knows but on which so few can place a name on. And yet, she's been equally present either on the big or small screen since 1958, aptly able to give memorable performances of stoic and/or tragic characters, too often hiding some passionate fire.”

 

Sources: Memory-alpha, Cult Sirens, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANIFESTO GLEITZEIT 2015

BY STELLY RIESLING

Featured below is another original art work of mine in homage to THE PIONEER OF INVISIBLE ART — PAUL JAISINI. Forget all the copycats that came after him — Master Paul Jaisini was the *FIRST* of a totally original concept and the *BEST*. My favorite thing about him is that he’s a voice, not an echo, which is quite rare.

DISCLAIMER: This is for anyone who is a hater OR wishes to better understand me, what I’m all about, so you can decide whether I’m weird or normal enough for you — a kind of very loose manifesto, rushed and unrevised, full of raw uncut emotion that I don’t like to be evident in my writing as lately I prefer a more professional, formal style, so we can consider this a rough draft of the more polished writing to come when I have extra time. I might return to this text later and clean it up or break it into separate parts. Right now it’s a long-winded hot mess, so if you manage to make any sense of it, BIG PROPS TO YOU. lol …and if you manage to read it ALL, you have my solemn respect!!! in a day when reading has been reduced to just catchy headliners and short captions of images once in a while. The consequence of this one-liner internet culture is non-linear, tunnel thinking, which is baaaaaad.

There lives among us a most enigmatic and charismatic creature named Paul Jaisini who led me into the wonderful world of art, not personally, but through descriptions of his artworks in essays written and published online by his friend, which painted the most fascinating images in my mind. Early on as a kiddo, I experimented with photography, simple point and shoot whatever looked attractive to me. Digital manipulation of my photographs with computer software followed… and somehow I learned useful drawing techniques along the way to combine existing elements with nonexistent ones, which allowed me to elevate the context for my ideas. Later, I started creating my own digital art from scratch for my friends and family as a favorite pastime. They would shower me with praise and repeatedly encouraged me to share my “different” vision with the rest of the world… it took a while and wasn’t easy to overcome the insecurity of not being good enough along with a gripping fear of being harshly criticized, but one day I woman-ed up and started publishing my work on the web, reminding myself that my livelihood didn’t depend on a positive reception.

Paul Jaisini’s role in all this has been to not disgrace myself, even if what I do is just a hobby. And I would never do him and other genius artists the disservice of calling myself a professional because I know I’ll never be as good as any of the GIANTS of pre-modern history. Be the best or be nothing, no middle ground.

People’s jealousy in the past, future and present over my obsessive love of Paul Jaisini, which they are well aware is purely plutonic, has caused them to despise the man and has made many relationships/friendships impossible for me. I refuse to have such people in my life because by harboring any negativity towards Paul, they unknowingly feel that way about me and express it to me. It’s their own problem for not realizing this. Paul’s new art movement, Gleitzeit, shaped me into the allegedly awesome girl I am today, giving my art more edge, more “sexy” because it refined my vision of the world and propelled me to attain the skills necessary to not dishonor my family name through tenacious pursuit of perfection. Since the beginning of my life, I attempted to depict what I saw in visual, musical and literal forms, but continuously failed without adequate training and determination. Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit was the answer to my prayers. Who I am today I owe mostly to him and his selfless ideals of the artverse that I’ve given unconditional loyalty to (he has this cool ability for hyper-vision to see whole universes, not itty bitty worlds, hence I call it an artverse instead of art world, with him in mind). So again, anyone who hates Paul Jaisini hates ME because, regardless of what he means to you, he is the most important person in my life for making me ME. The way a famous actor, dancer or singer inspires others to act, dance or sing, Paul inspired me to become a better artist, better writer, better everything. More people would understand if he was a household name because they’re wired to in society. But we’re inspiring each other all the time in our own little communities without being famous, so if someone has the ability to change even ONE person’s life immensely with creativity, it is a massive achievement. And passionate folks like myself are compelled to scream it from the cyber rooftops. So here I am. It’s whatever.

Furthermore, I’d like to address here a few pressing matters in light of some recent drama brought on by both strangers and former friends. To start, I never judge the passions, interests or likes of others, which are often in my face all over the place, so likewise they have no right to judge any of mine. It is quite unfortunate and frustrating how very little understanding and education the majority of people have or want to have. Their logic is as primitive as a chipmunk when it comes to promotion of fine art on the web: “spamming, advertising, report!” It’s their own problem that they fail to understand what it’s about due to the distorted lens through which they see the world or inability to think for themselves; an inherent lack of perception or inquisitiveness. Well, guess what? Every single image, every animation, every video, every post dedicated to Mr. Paul Jaisini and “Gleitziet” (to elaborate: a revolutionary new art movement Paul founded with his partner in crime and personal friend, EYKG, who discovered him and believed in him more than anyone) has an important purpose. Every one of those things you run across is a piece of a puzzle, a move in a game, an inch down a rabbit hole; the deeper you go, the more interesting it gets; the more levels you pass, the more clues unfold, the greater the suspense and nearer the conclusion (yet further). You earn awesome rewards like enlightenment, spiritual revelations, truths, knowledge, wisdom and the most profound reward of all: the drive to improve yourself to the absolute maximum, so an unending, unshakable drive. People often make a wrong turn in this cyber game and go back a few levels or get stuck. Those that keep on pushing, however, will come to find the effort has been worth it. And what awaits you in the end of it all? The greatest challenge to beating the game: YOUR OWN MIND. You will be forced to let go of every belief you held before you had reached the last level, to completely alter your mindset and perception of the world, of life, of yourself. But by the time you’ve gotten to that point, it will be as easy as falling off a cliff! (It is a kind of suicide after all — death and rebirth of spirit.)

Paul Jaisini does NOT, *I repeat* does NOT use mystery and obscurity to his advantage as a clever marketing ploy, no, he’s too next level for that with a consciousness so rich, he should wear a radioactive warning sign (he’ll melt your brain, best wear a tinfoil hat in his presence as I certainly would.) The statement he makes is loud and clear, hidden in plain site for those who take the time to connect the dots and have enough curiosity to fuel their journey into unknown territory (an open mind and flexible perception helps a lot). Actually, anyone with an IQ above 90 is sure to figure it out sooner or later. Hint: You don’t have to SEE an extraordinary thing with your eyes to know it exists, to understand it and realize its greatness — you can only feel it in your bone marrow, your spinal fluid, your heart and soul. The moment you do figure it out, as the skeleton key of the human soul, it will unlock the greatness and massive potential buried deep within, changing the doomed direction humanity is undoubtedly headed. I don’t speak in riddles, I speak in a clear direct way that intelligent humans will understand, so I’m counting on them.

GIG is an international group of artists and writers that support Paul Jaisini’s Gleitzeit. We started off as an unofficial fan club of Jaisini in 1996, comprised of only 6 individuals spanning 3 countries, and eventually escalated in status to an official fan group across the entire globe. A decade later it had grown to hundreds of fans. Nearly another decade later, there are thousands. Let’s not leave out another delightful group of vicious haters that have been around for nearly as long as us since the late 90s and have also grown in impressive numbers. Now, for the record (and please write this one down because I’m sick of repeating myself), Paul Jaisini himself is not part of our group and has nothing to do with us. He loves and hates us equally for butchering his name and making him appear as a narcissistic nut-job in his own words. He casts hexes on us for the blinding flash we layer over the art that members contribute to GIG — “disgusting-police-lights, seizure-inducing-laser-lightshow, bourgeois-myspace-effects retarded-raver shit” in Paul’s words. Ahh, how we love his sweet-talking us. In a desperate attempt to please him, those among us who make the art and animations have spent countless hours and sleepless nights trying to solve a crazy-complex quantum-physics type of equation = how to not create tacky or tasteless content. He does fancy some of it now, we got better, that’s something! In the reason stated below, our mission just got out of hand at some point.

What little is known about Paul Jaisini, even in all this time, is he’s a horrible perfectionist who slaughtered hundreds of innocent babies — I mean — artworks of remarkable beauty created by his own right hand (mostly paintings, some watercolors and drawings). He’s a fierce recluse who wants nothing to do with anyone or anything in life. But those few of us who know of an incredible talent he possesses (one could go as far as calling it a superpower), could not allow him to live his life without the recognition he FUCKING DESERVES more than any artist out there living today and, arguably, yesterday. We use whatever means necessary to reach more people, lots of flash and razzle-dazzle to lure them into our sinister trap of a higher awareness. Mwahaha! The visual boom you’ve witnessed in both cyber and real worlds, that is GIG’s doing — two damn decades of spreading an art virus — IVA. InVisibleArtitis… or a drug as in Intravenous Art. It’s whatever you want it to be, honey.

Our Gleitzeit International Group (GIG) started off innocently enough and gradually spiraled out of control to fight the haters, annoying the hell out of them as much as humanly possible. They don’t like what we do? WE DO MORE AND MORE OF IT. But never without purpose, without a carefully executed plan in mind collectively. If we have to tolerate an endless tidal wave of everyone’s vomit — e.g., idiotic memes and comics; dumbed-down one-liner quotes; selfies; so-called “art photography” passed through one-click app filters; mindless scribbles or random splatters by regular folks who have the nerve to call themselves serious/pro artists; primitive images of pets, babies, landscapes, random objects, etc… then people sure as shit are gonna tolerate what we put out, our animated and non-animated visual art designed for our beloved master, Paul Jaisini, who has shown us the light, the right path to follow, taught us great things and done so much for us — and so in our appreciation of him, we stamp his name on everything, for the sacrifices he has made in the name of art, to save our art verse, he’s a goddamn hero. There’s a book being written in his dedication where little will be left to the imagination about him.

If Paul Jaisini was as famous as Koons or Hirst, for example, people would know it’s not him posting stuff online with his name on it but fans creating fanart like myself among others. But noooooo, such a thing is unfathomable to most people - the promotion of another artist. Like, what’s in it for us? Uhh, nothing?? This is all NON-PROFIT bitches, the way art should be. It’s a passion FIRST, a commodity/commercial product/marketable item LAST and least. Its been that way for us since the early 90s to this day. Not a single member of GIG has sold an art work (neither has Paul Jaisini who’s a true professional) and we want to keep it that way. We do it for reasons far beyond ego. So advertising? Really? How the hell do you advertise or sell thin air, you know, invisible paintings, invisible anything? Ha ha, very funny indeed. The idea here is so simple, your neighbor’s dog can grasp it. Our motives: replace fast food for the mind with fine art, actual fine art. You know, creativity? Conscious thought? Talent? Skill? Knowledge? All that good stuff rolled into one to bring viewers more than a momentary ooohand aaahh reaction. Replace the recycled images ad nauseum; repetitious, worn-out ideas; disposable, gimmicky, money-driven fast art for simpletons. Stick with the highest of ideals and save the whole bloody planet.

Fine art is often confused with craft-making. This often creates bad blood between classically trained artists who put out paintings that leave a lasting impression, that make strong conversation pieces, that are thought-provoking and deep… and trained craftspeople whose skills are adequate to create decorative pieces for homely environments — landscapes, still lifes, animals, pretty fairies, common things of fantasy, and other simplicity. Skills alone are not enough for high art, you need a vision, a purpose, the ability to tell a story with every stroke of your brush that will both fascinate and terrify the viewers, arousing powerful emotions, illuminating. I have yet to see a visible painting in my generation that does anything at all for me, other than evoke sheer outrage and disgust. What a terrible waste of space and valuable resources it all is.

Paul Jaisini leads, we follow. He wishes to remain unknown - so do most of us. I’m next in line, slipping into recluse mode, no longer wanting to attach my face, my human image to my art stuff. I wish to be a nameless, faceless artist as well, invisible like P.J., and in his footsteps I too have destroyed thousands of my own artistic photography and digital art made with tedious, labor-intensive handwork. The whole point of this destruction is achieving the finest results possible by letting go of the imperfect, purging it on a regular basis, to make way for the perfect. I love what I do so it doesn’t matter, I know I’ll keep producing as much as I’m discarding, keeping the balance. Hoarding is an enemy of progress, especially the digital kind as there’s absolutely no limit to it. It’s like carrying a load of bricks on your back you’ll never use or need.

The watering down of creativity that digital pack ratting has caused as observed over the years is most tragic. For the creative individual, relying on terabytes of stock photos or OSFAP as I call them (Once Size Fits All Photos) instead of making your own as you used to when you had no choice, being 100% original, is a splinter in the conscience. It’s not evil to use stock of, say, things you don’t have access to (outer space, deep sea, Antarctica, etc.), but many digital artists I know today can’t take their own shot of a pencil ‘cause they “ain’t got no time for that!” How did they have time before? Did time get so compressed in only a decade?

Ohhhhh, and the edits, textures, filters, plug-ins and what-have-you available out there to everyone and their cats… are responsible for the tidal wave of rubbish that eclipses the magnificent light of the real talents.

I can tell you with utmost sincerity there is no better feeling on earth than knowing your creation is ALL yours, every pixel and dot, from the first to the last. It’s not always possible to make it so, but definitely the most rewarding endeavor. I’m most proud of myself when I can accomplish that.

Back to Paul Jaisini, from the start there have been a number of theories floating around on what his real story is. One of my own theories is that he stands for the unknowns of the world who can’t get representation, can’t get exhibited at a decent gallery because highly gifted/trained artists aren’t good enough - those kind of establishments prefer bananas, balloon dogs, feces, gigantic dicks/cunts, and all kinds of what-the-fucks…

So again, you don’t get the Paul Jaisini thing? That’s your problem. Don’t hate others for getting it. People are good, very good, at making baseless assumptions and impulsively spewing it as truth. They criticize and judge as if they’re high authorities on the subject yet they clearly lack education in fine art or art history and possess little to no talent or skill to back up their bullshit. My little “credibility radar” never fails. When they say I know this or I know that, I reply don’t say “I know” or state things as fact as a general rule of thumb - instead say “I assume/believe” and state the reasons you feel thus to appear less immature, especially about a controversial topic like invisible art. I have zero respect or tolerance for egomaniacs who think they know it all and act accordingly like arrogant pricks. Who can stand those, right? Once again, a good example would be: I, Stelly Riesling, believe everything I’ve written in this little manifesto to be correct based on personal experience and observation from multiple angles, thorough research and sufficient data collected from verifiable sources (and don’t go copying-pasting my own words back at me, be original). Just because you or I say so doesn’t make it so. Just because you or me think or believe so doesn’t make it true or right. I only ask that my opinions are regarded respectfully and whoever opposes them does so in a mature, civilized manner. We should only be entitled to opinions that don’t bring out the worst in us.

I don’t normally take such a position, but the time has come to stand up for what I believe in! It’s quite amusing and comical how haters think calling me names, attacking me or my interests or members of the project I’m part of for years is going to change something. It only makes more evident the importance of what I’m doing so I push on harder still.

Words of advise to those who can identify with me, with my frustrations over people’s reluctance to change their miserable ways, with our declining art world…

DON’T waste time on people who sweat the small stuff, whose actions are consistently inconsistent with their words. DO waste time on people who always keep their eye on the ball—the bigger picture of life.

Paul Jaisini’s invisible paintings are more than hype, more than your lame assumptions. Here’s one I got that’s pure gold: a cult! It started out as A JOKE OF MINE that was used against me. I told a then-good friend that he should come join our little “art cult” in a clearly lighthearted manner, and later he takes this idea I put in his head first and accuses me of being in an (imaginary) cult—the jokes on me eh?. But wait, aren’t cults religious? Our group consists of people around the world of different faiths (or none at all) so how could that ever work? If religion was about making fine (non-pop) art mainstream and bringing awesome, fresh, futuristic concepts to the collective consciousness, the world would not be so fucked up today because talent, creativity, originality and individuality would be the main focus, not superficial poppycock; those things would be praised and encouraged and supported in society by all institutions, not demonized and stigmatized.

Here is one thing I CAN state as solid fact: only one person close to Paul Jaisini knows the TRUE story, or at least some of it: EYKG. Everything else that has ever been said about him is myth, legend, gossip, speculation, the worst of which is said by jealous non-artists (wannabes, clones, posers, hang-ons, unoriginal ppl in general) and anti-artists (religious psychos, squares, losers and -duh- stupid ppl). Sadly, people are unable to see the bigger picture by letting their egos run their lives or repeating after others as parrots.

Commercial art, consumerism, and ignorance of the masses truly makes me want to curl up in a ball, not eat or drink or move until I die, just die in my sleep while dreaming of a better world, a world where real fine artists rule it with real fine art as they used to and life is beautiful once again….

Well I hope that settled THAT for now, or perhaps inadvertently made matters worse. I hope I didn’t sound too pissed from all these issues that keep popping up like penises on ChatRoulette… just got to me already! Can you tell? I had to put my foot down, stomp ‘em all!

To be continued, still lots more ignorance and pettiness to battle… Till then peace out my bambini. MWAH!

 

The most powerful drug for a person,is another person.

Especially if that person has the smile that makes you wanna look at it for as long as possible and it is capable of taking your breath away.

Dedicated.

  

“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but have only presently lost track of.”

 

Self Portrait

This is a very popular dance form in South India. It is oldest of all classical dance forms in India. Dance of mind & soul. It is extremely traditional and known for its grace, purity, tenderness, staturesque & sculpturesque poses. It uplifts the dancer and the beholder to a higher level of spiritual consciousness. The dancer is considered as a worshiper, worshiper of the Divine. An embodiment of beauty, charm and gracefulness.

 

The general interpretation for the name is

BHAva(expression) + RAga (music) + TAla(rhythm) + NATYAM(dance) = Bharatanatyam

 

Origin of Bharatanatyam

 

The Gods & Godesses pleaded Lord Brahma to create another veda which would be simple for the common man to understand. It is believed that considering this request Lord Brahma created the Panchamaveda, Fifth veda, Natyaveda, an essence of the other four vedas. It is believed that he has taken pathya (words) form the Rigveda, abhinaya (gesture) from the Yajurveda, geet (music and chant) from Samaveda and rasa (sentiment and emotional element) from Atharvaveda to form the fifth veda, Natyaveda.

 

After creating this natyaveda, Lord Brahma gave the same to sage Bharata and asked him to popularise this veda on earth. Following the words of Lord Brahma, sage Bharata wrote Natyashastra or the Science of Dramaturgy, a great, comprehensive work on the science and technique of Indian drama, dance and music.Bharatanatyam might have got its name from sage Bharata also.The dancers still follow this work to perform.

 

There is also another story which says that Godess Parvathi tought this dance form to Usha, daughter of Banasura, a demon. Usha taught the same to the Gopikas of the city of Dwaraka, Lord Krishna's birth place. Thus the divine dance form Bharatanatyam was introduced to the mankind.

 

In Indian mythology,Lord Shiva is considered as the supreme lord of dance. This divine art form is performed by Lord Shiva & his wife Goddess Parvathi. The Dance performd by Lord Shiva is known as Tandava, which depicts his violent nature as the distructor of the universe. The tandava performed with joy is called Ananda Tandava and performed in violent mood is called Rudra Tandava. There are 7 types of Tandava. Namely Ananda Tandava, Tripura Tandava, Sandhya Tandava, Samara Tandava, Kaali tandava, Uma Tandava and Gauri Tandava. There are few people who believa that there are 16 types of Tandava. Tandava has vigourous, brisk movements.The dance performed by Goddess Parvathi is known as Lasya, in which the movements are gentle, graceful and sometimes erotic also. Some scholars call Lasya as the feminine version of Tandava. Lasya has 2 kinds. Jarita Lasya and Yauvaka Lasya.

 

The art form has definitely gone through lot of changes over the years. In olden days it was performed mostly by female artists. They were called Devadasis, who would perform in the temples. These devadasis were accomplished artists who would sing, dance, play many instruments. They were well worsed in sanskrit & other languages which helped them to interpret compositions which they would perform. But this tradition came to an end as the devadasis lost their position in the society.

 

Then dance entered the royal courts. Here the artists called Rajanartakis, performed in the courts of kings who gave them shelter.Even these were accomplished artists like devadasis.

 

The next well-documented period of dance history is far more recent. In the first half of the 19th century the dance tradition was revitalized and defined anew through the contributions of four talented brothers (known today as the Tanjore Quartet)Chinniah, Sivanandam, Ponniah and Vadivelu. By coordinating their diverse talents, the four managed to organize all the basic dance movements of pure dance into a progressive series of lessons [adavu chapters]. Each adavu (basic unit of motion) was taught in systematic order and then combined with others to produce choreographed sequences based upon the rhythmic contour of a musical composition (Krishnamoorthy Pillai). In addition the brothers composed new music specifically for the dance, and introduced a different sequence of items which integrated the various aspects of dance and music into a carefully coordinated, aesthetically sound progression. This infusion of creative energy marks the early 19th century as one of the most innovative periods in the history of Indian dance.

 

The contribution of Udayshankar, Rukminidevi Arundale and Balasaraswathi, in the 20th century, cannot be forgotten at this juncture.

 

Even though Bharatanatyam has gone through lot of changes, it still has its roots deep into the religious and rich mythological heritage of India. In the modern day scenario it is performed by both male & female artists. Many learn as a hobby and few make it as a profession. Whether taken as a hobby or a profession it certainly needs lot of practice,concentration and dedication.

  

About Bharatanatyam

 

Bharatanatyam is evenly divided between three elements Nritta, Nritya and Natya .

 

Nritta : Rhythmic Element.Interprits the language of rhythm with the help of body movements.

 

Nritya : Combination of Rhythm with Expression.Conveys poetic meaning with the help of expressions, rhythmic gaites and postures. eg. Varna, Shabda, Pada etc.

 

Natya : Dramatic Element.Performing for a theme like Ramayana, Mahabharata etc.

 

Nritta

Nritta can be broadly divided into Chari, Karana, Angahara and Mandala. Movement of a leg is called Chari. Movement of both the legs is Karana. 3 Karanas make a Khanda. 3 to 4 Khandas make a Mandala. 4 to 9 Karanas make a Angahara. 4 to 5 Angaharas also make a Mandala. 108 Karanas and 32 Angaharas are defined in Natyashatra. The 13 Nritta Hastas (explained later) are used to perform nritta. The rythmic body movements along with hand gestures are called Aduvus. Number of aduvus constitute a Jati. Jati will generally end with a Muktaya or Teermana.

There are varieties of Aduvus like

 

Tattaduvu

Mettaduvu

Nataduvu

Kattaduvu

Kudittamettaduvu

Maiaduvu

Mandiaduvu

Jati

Nadai

Ardi

 

There are 12 aduvus in each of the above explained. Hence 120 aduvus exist in total. Only about 70 - 80 are in practice. The aduvus are more or less Karanas. Hence can be concluded that there are 108 aduvus. The 108 Karanas or Aduvus are carved in the Chidambaram Temple in Tanjore, Tamilnadu, India. To perform an aduvu aramandi, bending of the knees is very very important.

 

The entire body is divided as Anga, Pratyanga and Upaanga.

Anga

Anganyatra shirohastau vaksha paarshwakateetatau

Paadaviti shaduktaani greevamapyapare jaguhu

Head, Hands, Chest, Waist, Bottom, Legs are the Six Angas. Some people include Neck also.

 

Pratyanga

Pratyangaani twathaskandhau baahoo prushtam tathodaram

ooroo janghe shadityahurapare manibandhakau

jaanooneekoorparamiti trayamapyadhikam jaguhu

Shoulders, Arms, Stomuch, thighs, Knee are the Six Pratyangas. Some people include Wrist, elbow and Ankle also.

 

Upaanga

Drushtibhrooputatarashcha kapolau naasikaahanuhu

Adharodashanaa jihwaa chubukam vadanam tatha

Upaangani dwadashitaanyanyaanyangaani santi cha

Paarshnee gulbautathangulyaa karayoho padayostale

Sight, Eyebrow, Eye lids, Eye balls, Cheeks, Nose, Gums, Lower Lip, Teeth, Tongue, Chin and Face are the 12 Upaangas. Few people include Heels, Fingers, Feet, Palm also into upaangas.

Pratynaga and Upaangas should move along with the Angas.

Anga Lakshana, the way of moving body parts, are described below.

 

Shirobhedha - Head Movement

Greevabhedha - Neck Movement

Drushtibhedha - Eye Movement

Paadabhedha

Mandala - Standing Posture

Utplavana - Leaps

Bhramari - Circling Movement

Chari - Leg Movement

Gatibhedha - Charecteristic walks and

Hastas or Mudras - Hand Movements

Asamyuta Hasta

Samyuta Hasta

Deva Hasta

Dashavatara Hasta

Navagraha Hasta

Jaati Hasta

Bandhu Hasta

Nritta Hasta

  

When all Angas(main body parts) coordinate (along with pratyanga and upaanga) the artist is said to have Angashudhi. Anga meaning body parts and shudhi, meaning perfect. Any dancer should try to achive this perfection. The Natyashastra, which talks about all aspects of Bharatanatyam, quotes shlokas to perform all the above movements. All the above said movements are dealt in detail in the respective links.

 

Aspects of Abhinaya

 

The expressions which are shown to express poetic meanings is Abinaya. Here the emphasis is more on facial expressions than rhythmic movements. The Abinaya is divided as

Angikabhinaya

Vachikabhinaya

Aharyabhinaya

Satvikabhinaya

 

Angikabhinaya : Expressing the meanings of lyrics using the body parts like Head, Hands, Legs etc. is Angikabhinaya. The Bhedas which i have explained above come under Angikabhinaya.

Vachikabhinaya : Expressing the Story using narrations in the dance drama is Vachikabhinaya.

Aharyabhinaya : Imitating the Costumes, Jewellary, Make-up etc. in a dance comes under Aharyabhinaya.

Satvikabhinaya :Showing the Bhava(moods) come under Satvikabhinaya.

 

Lord Shiva is praised as the embodiment of the above 4 types of abinaya in this following shloka.

 

Angikam bhuvanam yasya

Vachicam sarva vangmayam

Aharyam chandra taradi

tam vande satvikam shivam.

 

Meaning for the above shloka is

 

We bow to Him the benevolent One

Whose limbs are the world,

Whose song and poetry are the essence of all language,

Whose costume is the moon and the stars..."

 

In Lord Shiva's well-known pose of NATARAJA,

his right hand holds the drum of creation - symbolising a new awakening

his left hand holds fire - representing destruction of the old order

his other right hand is raised in blessing

the other left hand points to his left foot, which has crushed demon Muyalaka - representing ignorance.

 

There are nine main or primary emotions, Sthayibhavas. It is also termed as Rasa(Mood).

  

Shringara - Love

Hasya - Mirth

Veera - Heroism

Roudra - Anger

Bhayanaka - Terror

Bheebatsa - Disgust

Adbhuta - Wonder

Karuna - Compassion

Shanta - Tranquility

  

Vatsalya(Parental fondling) rasa is also sometimes included as one of the stayibhava.

Vibhava (cause of emotion), Anubhava (effect of emotion) and Sanchari bhava (subordinate emotions) constitute the state of rasa.

 

Now i would like to talk about Nayika(the Heroine) and Nayaka (the Hero) bhavas.

 

The Nayika Bhava

 

The shastras have classified the basic mental status of woman, the Nayika, into Eight divisions, called Ashtanayika bhavas. These divisions portray the heroine in different situations, express different feelings, sentiments & reactions.

The Ashtanayika bhava are

Abhisarika

Kalahantarika

Khandita

Proshitapathika

Swadheenapathika

Vasakasajjika

Virahotkantita

Vipralabda

  

Abhisarika - She is the one who boldly goes out to meet her lover.

Kalahantarika - She is the one who is repenting her hastiness in quarrelling with her lover, which has resulted in their seperation.

Khandita - She is the one who is angry with her lover for causing dissapointment.

Proshitapathika - She is the one who is suffering in the absence of her beloved, who is away on a long journey.

Swadheenapathika - She is the one who is proud of her husband's or beloved's love and loyalty.

Vasakasajjika - She is the one who is preparing for the arrival of her beloved, by decorating herself and her surroundings. to provide a pleasent welcome to her lover.

Virahotkantita - She is the one who is seperated from her lover & is yearning for reunion.

Vipralabda - She is the one who is dissapointed that her lover has not turned up at the tryst as he promised.

 

Other classifications of the Nayika bhava are

Mugdha - Inexperienced in love.

Madhya - Partly Experienced in love.

Pragalbha - Matured in the art of love.

This Pragalbha Nayika is further classified as

Dheera

Adheera

Dheeraadheera

Sweeya - Married & faithful to her husband.

Parakeeya - Married but in love with another man.

Samanya - A free woman, who truly belongs to any man for a price.

Jyeshta - The preferred one.

Kanishta - The other woman.

 

Further classifications are

Uttama - Self-controlled & tolerant.

Madhyama - Literally the middle one, who gives as she gets.

Adhama - Literally the low one, who has no self restraint.

 

The Companion to the Nayika plays an important role in any padam, javali or Ashtapadi. This Companion is the one to whom the Nayika will convey her feelings, she is the one who will take the message,if any, from the nayika to the nayaka, she is the one who will sort out the differences between the nayika & the nayaka. This companion is usuallly a girl who is close to the Nayika.

The classification of the Companion is as follows.

Daasi - Servant

Sakhi - Friend

Kaaroo - Woman from a lower caste

Chatriya - Step Sister

Prativamshini - Neighbour

Lindini - Saint

Shilpani - Artist

Swaa - Nayika herself as a messenger

The Nayaka Bhava

Just like the heroines, the moods and emotions of the hero are also classified into different divisions. The main division is

 

Dheerodaatta eg. Lord Rama

Dheeroddhata eg. Demon Ravana

Dheeralalita eg. Vatsaraaja

Dheerashanta eg. Buddha

 

The other classification is

Pati - Married & faithful to his wife.

Upapati - Married but in love with another woman.

Vaisika - One who pays & enjoys women.

 

Further Nayaka classifications

Anukoola - Faithful to the Woman. eg. Lord Rama

Dakshina - Loves all his wives or women. eg. Arjuna

Drishta - When rejected, pleads to be accepted by his woman. eg. Vaali

Shatha - The deceitful one. eg. Lord Krishna

 

Most of the ashtanayika bhavas are experienced by the Nayaka also though the depiction of ashtanayika is more than the nayaka.

Nayaka's Companion plays an important role too. This companian is categorised as

Peetamardhana

Vita

Cheta

Vidooshaka

  

Arangetram

 

Arangetram is a tamil word.Aranga meaning raised floor and Etram meaning climbing in Tamil,one of the south indian languages. It is also called Rangapravesha in Kannada, another south indian language, Ranga meaning Stage and Pravesha meaning Enter. Ideally this should be the first public performance of an artist. After learning bharatanatyam under the guidance of an accomplished guru, this is the occation for the proud guru to present his/her deciple to the public. This is the testing time for both the guru & the shishya(deciple) as the guru's knowledge & the deciple's talent both are judged by the public. Hence, the guru will decide when the deciple is ready for public appearence. Atleast 10 - 12 years of training is necessary to give a comendable performance.

 

This arangetram was known as Gejjepooje in old mysore district, meaning worshiping the jingles in kannada, a south indian language.For a dancer, jingles are considered devine. In olden days, deciples were not allowed to wear jingles till their first public performance. In their first performance, they were made to worship the jingles, wear them & then perform.

Accompaniments play a major role in the making of a memorable dance performance.Basic accompaniments are a Singer, Mridangam player, Violin player and ofcource the Natuvanga. Veena,Flute and other instruments are optional. These people sit in the corner of a stage or in a place in front of the stage which will be in a lower level than that of the stage.

The artist will wear lot of jewellery, make-up and a specially stitched dress. Jingles are a must.

Usually duration of an arangetram will be 2 1/2 - 3 hours. To perform for such long hours one must have good stamina and concentration. This time is divided into two halves.

 

In the first half the artists generally perform

 

Pushpanjali or Alaripu

Jatiswara

Shabda

Varna

 

In the second half

 

Padam

Ashtapadi or Devaranama

Tillana

Mangala

 

Pushpanjali

This is an item where the artist salutes to god, guru and the audience. This item is a warmup item where the artist prepares the body for the next few hours of vigorous performance.

 

Alaripu

This is a tamil word.Alar meaning to bloom. It comprises of set of movements without any meaning or expression. The movements are performed for syllables set for a beat(Tala). The complexity of the movements gradually increase. The steps are so formed that it looks like a bud blooming into a flower. This is also a warmup piece to prepare the body for the next few hours of performance. Eventhough there is no meaning, this can also be considered as an item where the artist salutes god,guru and the audience.

 

Jatiswaram

This is also an item where the movements will not convey any meaning or theme. Here the steps are more complex than the previous items. The composition can have amazing postures and teermanas or muktayas(ending of a jati). This is a musical composition set to a raga unlike alaripu which has only syllables.

 

Shabda

This is a dance item with both nritta & abinaya. Usually the theme of the lyrics will be devotional like praising lord krishna, depicting lord krishna's childhood , praising a king etc.The movements here are leisurely.

 

Varna

This is the item where the dancers are tested for their capacity to perform abinaya & nritta. This can be treated as a benchmark to judge the artist's talent.The item will contain many complex steps and will have lot of room for expressions also. To perform this item one should have lot of stamina & concentration. The lyrics can be devotional, praising a king etc. Varna can also have shrigara rasa as its theme.

 

Padam

In this dance item the dancer's abhinaya is put into test. It narrates expression of divine love or pangs of seperation in love. The tempo is slow and the performance is based on a specific mood of love.Padams will have Nayaka(Hero, Supreme lover, Divine Lord)& Nayika(Heroine, the yearning soul). Heroine will talk to her friend(sakhi) and narrate her feelings towards her hero. The lyrics can be about how the hero has betrayed, how he has delayed the arrival, how she is angry with her beloved hero etc. The Nayika and Nayaka Bhavas are explained in detail Here.

 

Ashtapadi

These are poet Jayadeva's Sanskrit compositions called Geetagovinda, an extremely romantic composition. It describes the love of Krishna and Radha in twelve cantos containing 24 songs. The songs are sung by Krishna or Radha or by Radha's maid. Each Canto is named differently considering Krishna's status of mind.

 

Saamodadamodara - Joyful Krishna

Aakleshakeshava - Careless Krishna

Mugdhamadhusoodhana - Bewildered Krishna

Snigdhamadhusoodhana - Tender Krishna

Saakankshapundareekaksha - Longing Krishna

Kuntavaikunta - Indolent Krishna

Naagaranaaraayana - Cunning Krishna

Vilakshalakshmeepatihi - Abashed Krishna

Mandamukunda - Languishing Krishna

Chaturachaturbhuja - Intellegent Krishna

Saanandadamodara - Blissful Krishna

Supreetapeetambara - Ecstatic Krishna

Expressions are given foremost importance while performing these poems. Needs lot of grace. The artist should be mature enough to understand the lyrics and the situation to show the rasas.

 

Devaranama

This item is a devotional piece where the lyrics are in praise of god, describing the god etc. This is a pure abhinaya item with almost no emphasis on nritta. Usually the lyrics are in Kannada. These songs are the compositions of great mystics like Purandharadaasa, Kanakadaasa, Vijayadaasa, Vyasaraaja to name a few. The compositions are popularly known as Daasa Sahitya. It is a devotional literatures written in simple language understood by common man. It has made remarkable contribution to the spiritual and cultural upliftment of people by preaching phylosophy of Love, Devotion and Peaceful Co-Existance.

If you are looking for some compositions, here they are.

 

Tillana

This is usually the last item in any bharatanatyam performance. Tillana is full of complicated movements & postures. This will also have complicated Muktayas or Sholkattu, ending of any step or aduvu. This is mainly a nritta piece which might have a charana, a meaningfull lyrics for which abinaya is shown.

 

Mangala

Meaning ending the performance. Here the artist will again salute god, guru & the audience for making the performance a success.

 

Original source can be found here.

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj]; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor who had an immense and enduring effect on Soviet culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street-jargon. He was also a prominent stage- and screen-actor. Though the official Soviet cultural establishment largely ignored his work, he was remarkably popular during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's musicians and actors.

 

Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev. Vladimir's mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator.[3] Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Soviet Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.

 

Vladimir's theatrical inclinations became obvious at an early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet," often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family's guests' poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat's to shave himself!") or appall unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood (Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.

 

As World War II broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblast where the boy had to spend six days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for twelve hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both returned to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the 273rd Moscow Rostokino region School.

 

In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced. From 1947 to 1949, Vladimir lived with Semyon Vladimirovich (then an army Major) and his Armenian wife, Yevgenya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya", at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany (later East Germany). "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered. Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of the Moscow 128th School and settled at Bolshoy Karetny [ru], 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a four-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (who was just 28 at the time), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother. In 1953 Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov.[7] "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he received his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend, bard and a future well-known Soviet pop lyricist Igor Kokhanovsky taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into his mother's new home at 1st Meshchanskaya, 76. In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.

 

In 1955, Vladimir enrolled into the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova who four years later became his wife; soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by his Russian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first Moscow Art Theatre role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On 20 June 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential. A short stint in 1962 at the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour."

 

Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin's Career and 713 Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later jokingly remarked. In 1961, Vysotsky wrote his first ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" (Большой Каретный) and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.

 

In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Taganka Theatre. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won't you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours," Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition. On 19 September 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as the Second God (not to count two minor roles). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; the War theme becoming prominent in his musical repertoire. In 1965 Vysotsky appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then Ten Days that Shook the World (after John Reed's book, April) and was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new World War II play. The Fallen and the Living (Павшие и Живые), premiered in October 1965, featured Vysotsky's "Stars" (Звёзды), "The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte" (Солдаты группы "Центр") and "Penal Battalions" (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand how Mayakovsky or Seryozha Yesenin were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me." With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labor camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, 20 April 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career. At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.

 

Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on 17 May 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Viktor Turov's war film I Come from the Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever "serious" (neither comical, nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called "When It's Cold" (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic "Common Graves" (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.

 

Stanislav Govorukhin and Boris Durov's The Vertical (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radioman), brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including "Song of a Friend [fi]" (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Melodiya disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional climbers' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter. Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Brief Encounters featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called "Things to Do" (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky or, rather one of the latter character's five different versions) in the experimental piece called Listen! (Послушайте!), and now regularly gave semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.

 

In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha [ru] in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka's finest. "He put into his performance all the things that he excelled at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. Several weeks after the premiere, infuriated by the actor's increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years). In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs," allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sowing seeds of evil." Then Komsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia. Composer Dmitry Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Soviet Composers' Committee tribune criticised the Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like "Song of a Friend" (Песня о друге) an unwarranted airplay. Playwright Alexander Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky's songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum." The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Mikhail Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.

 

Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka's Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Yevgeny Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years. At least four of Vysotsky's 1968 songs, "Save Our Souls" (Спасите наши души), "The Wolfhunt" (Охота на волков), "Gypsy Variations" (Моя цыганская) and "The Steam-bath in White" (Банька по-белому), were hailed later as masterpieces. It was at this point that 'proper' love songs started to appear in Vysotsky's repertoire, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Master of Taiga where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadier, and more entertaining Dangerous Tour. The latter was criticized in the Soviet press for taking a farcical approach to the subject of the Bolshevik underground activities but for a wider Soviet audience this was an important opportunity to enjoy the charismatic actor's presence on big screen. In 1970, after visiting the dislodged Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and having a lengthy conversation with him, Vysotsky embarked on a massive and by Soviet standards dangerously commercial concert tour in Soviet Central Asia and then brought Marina Vlady to director Viktor Turov's place so as to investigate her Belarusian roots. The pair finally wed on 1 December 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and spent a honeymoon in Georgia. This was the highly productive period for Vysotsky, resulting in numerous new songs, including the anthemic "I Hate" (Я не люблю), sentimental "Lyricale" (Лирическая) and dramatic war epics "He Didn't Return from the Battle" (Он не вернулся из боя) and "The Earth Song" (Песня о Земле) among many others.

 

In 1971 a drinking spree-related nervous breakdown brought Vysotsky to the Moscow Kashchenko clinic [ru]. By this time he has been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from this period deal, either directly or metaphorically, with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (due to the encouraging presence of Marina Vladi), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour and wrote a cluster of new songs. On 29 November 1971 Taganka's Hamlet premiered, a groundbreaking Lyubimov's production with Vysotsky in the leading role, that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine.

 

Also in 1971 Vysotsky was invited to play the lead in The Sannikov Land, the screen adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction,[47] which he wrote several songs for, but was suddenly dropped for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognisable" as a state official put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory "Capricious Horses" (Кони привередливые), became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky's 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One and the "righteous guy" von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new works of the time: "A Singer at the Microphone" (Певец у микрофона), "The Tightrope Walker" (Канатоходец), two new war songs ("We Spin the Earth", "Black Pea-Coats") and "The Grief" (Беда), a folkish girl's lament, later recorded by Marina Vladi and subsequently covered by several female performers. Popular proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: "Mishka Shifman" (Мишка Шифман), satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine, "Victim of the Television" which ridiculed the concept of "political consciousness," and "The Honour of the Chess Crown" (Честь шахматной короны) about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fischer to a match.

 

In 1972 he stepped up in Soviet Estonian TV where he presented his songs and gave an interview. The name of the show was "Young Man from Taganka" (Noormees Tagankalt).

 

In April 1973 Vysotsky visited Poland and France. Predictable problems concerning the official permission were sorted after the French Communist Party leader Georges Marchais made a personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple. Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning some unsanctioned concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to the Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev. As a result, he was granted the status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according to the court verdict, which was a substantial sum, considering his monthly salary at the theater was 110 rubles. That year Vysotsky wrote some thirty songs for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay where he himself has been given several minor roles. His best known songs of 1973 included "The Others' Track" (Чужая колея), "The Flight Interrupted" (Прерванный полёт) and "The Monument", all pondering on his achievements and legacy.

 

In 1974 Melodiya released the 7" EP, featuring four of Vysotsky's war songs ("He Never Returned From the Battle", "The New Times Song", "Common Graves", and "The Earth Song") which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, owned by millions on tape. In September of that year Vysotsky received his first state award, the Honorary Diploma of the Uzbek SSR following a tour with fellow actors from the Taganka Theatre in Uzbekistan. A year later he was granted the USSR Union of Cinematographers' membership. This meant he was not an "anti-Soviet scum" now, rather an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema elite and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West." More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on 10 January 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). Out of nine ballads that he wrote for the latter only two have made it into the soundtrack. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window. Among the songs written at the time, were humorous "The Instruction before the Trip Abroad", lyrical "Of the Dead Pilot" and philosophical "The Strange House". In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former tutor (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend (or a "bottle-sharer", in Vladi's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio. After a brief stay in England Vysotsky crossed the ocean and made his first Mexican concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay, some describing it as one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, who disliked the piece, accused Efros of giving his actors "the stardom malaise." The 1976 Taganka's visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys's interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he gave the role of Hamlet to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when stressed out Vysotsky started taking amphetamines.

 

Another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France and from there (without any official permission given, or asked for) flew to the North America. In New York Vysotsky met, among other people, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Joseph Brodsky. In a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather he stressed he was "not a dissident, just an artist, who's never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs." At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided as regards the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Mikhail Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, asked him to perform live in his daughter Galina's home, listening to this concert on the telephone. In 1976 appeared "The Domes", "The Rope" and the "Medieval" cycle, including "The Ballad of Love".

 

In September Vysotsky with Taganka made a trip to Yugoslavia where Hamlet won the annual BITEF festival's first prize, and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow Lyubimov's production of The Master & Margarita featured Vysotsky as Ivan Bezdomny; a modest role, somewhat recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Vysotsky's new songs of this period include "The History of Illness" cycle concerning his health problems, humorous "Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook", the metaphorical "Ballad of the Truth and the Lie", as well as "Two Fates", the chilling story of a self-absorbed alcoholic hunted by two malevolent witches, his two-faced destiny. In 1977 Vysotsky's health deteriorated (heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of physical and mental collapse.

 

In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 Minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky's LPs in France (including the one that had been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York City film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.

 

1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on 11 November 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka's Genre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on 10 July 1979 and later released as a double LP).

 

In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (according to biographer Vladimir Novikov) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities. What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally," Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Central Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry. Still, of nearly 800 poems by Vysotsky only one has been published in the Soviet Union while he was alive. Not a single performance or interview was broadcast by the Soviet television in his lifetime.

 

In May 1979, being in a practice studio of the MSU Faculty of Journalism, Vysotsky recorded a video letter to American actor and film producer Warren Beatty, looking for both a personal meeting with Beatty and an opportunity to get a role in Reds film, to be produced and directed by the latter. While recording, Vysotsky made a few attempts to speak English, trying to overcome the language barrier. This video letter never reached Beatty. It was broadcast for the first time more than three decades later, on the night of 24 January 2013 (local time) by Rossiya 1 channel, along with records of TV channels of Italy, Mexico, Poland, USA and from private collections, in Vladimir Vysotsky. A letter to Warren Beatty film by Alexander Kovanovsky and Igor Rakhmanov. While recording this video, Vysotsky had a rare opportunity to perform for a camera, being still unable to do it with Soviet television.

 

On 22 January 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (his concentration lacking, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. The last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky [ru] institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing "My Sorrow, My Anguish" and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was "A Letter to Marina": "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."

 

Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day, given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as his grueling work schedule and the stress of the constant harassment by the government. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. Clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. Accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues concerning his last hours were compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov.

 

Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he ended up trading alcoholism for a severe drug dependency that was fast spiralling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On 25 July 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Soviet Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.

 

Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. Relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.

 

In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he relapsed into alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).

 

On 3 July 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On 16 July Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On 18 July, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around 21 July, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysotsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On 24 July, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of 25 July to an unusual silence and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who had demanded the actor's immediate hospitalization on 23 July but were allegedly rebuffed by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.

 

No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day, millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On 28 July, he lay in state at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow. The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.

 

According to author Valery Perevozchikov part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yankelovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatoly Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanasyeva (later Yarmolnik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, a department head at the Sklifosovski hospital who was responsible for much of the supply of drugs.

 

Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence, he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary. The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yankelovich and others were needed to organise them.

 

Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to the hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he might die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.

 

On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post-mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky. On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son), who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yankelovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently, the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to the absence of evidence taken at the time of death.

 

Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater institute students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on 25 April 1960.

 

He met his second wife Lyudmila Abramova in 1961, while shooting the film 713 Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (born 1962) and Nikita (born 1964).

 

While still married to Lyudmila Abramova, Vysotsky began a romantic relationship with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had three children, while Vladimir had two. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.

 

In the autumn of 1981 Vysotsky's first collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25,000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the second one followed (100,000), then the 3rd (1988, 200,000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on 25 January 1989.

 

In 1982 the motion picture The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe was produced in the Soviet Union and in 1983 the movie was released to the public. Four songs by Vysotsky were featured in the film.

 

In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Robert Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Natalya Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N. Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky's verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).

 

In 1989 the official Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky's legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.

 

In the years to come, Vysotsky's grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.

 

In 1995 in Moscow the Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: 'They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota'", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.[95] A further monument to Vysotsky was erected in 2014 at Rostov-on-Don.

 

In October 2004, a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, near the Millennium Bridge. His son, Nikita Vysotsky, attended the unveiling. The statue was designed by Russian sculptor Alexander Taratinov, who also designed a monument to Alexander Pushkin in Podgorica. The bronze statue shows Vysotsky standing on a pedestal, with his one hand raised and the other holding a guitar. Next to the figure lies a bronze skull – a reference to Vysotsky's monumental lead performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the pedestal the last lines from a poem of Vysotsky's, dedicated to Montenegro, are carved.

 

The Vysotsky business center & semi-skyscraper was officially opened in Yekaterinburg, in 2011. It is the tallest building in Russia outside of Moscow, has 54 floors, total height: 188.3 m (618 ft). On the third floor of the business center is the Vysotsky Museum. Behind the building is a bronze sculpture of Vladimir Vysotsky and his third wife, a French actress Marina Vlady.

 

In 2011 a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thank You For Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.

 

Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky, such as his first song (1977) was based on "The Wolfhunt", and dedicated to his memory the song "Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego" ("Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky").

 

Every year on Vysotsky's birthday festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Wolf Biermann in Germany, Bob Dylan in America, or Georges Brassens and Jacques Brel in France.

 

The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.

 

During the Annual Q&A Event Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Alexey Venediktov asked Putin to name a street in Moscow after the singer Vladimir Vysotsky, who, though considered one of the greatest Russian artists, has no street named after him in Moscow almost 30 years after his death. Venediktov stated a Russian law that allowed the President to do so and promote a law suggestion to name a street by decree. Putin answered that he would talk to Mayor of Moscow and would solve this problem. In July 2015 former Upper and Lower Tagansky Dead-ends (Верхний и Нижний Таганские тупики) in Moscow were reorganized into Vladimir Vysotsky Street.

 

The Sata Kieli Cultural Association, [Finland], organizes the annual International Vladimir Vysotsky Festival (Vysotski Fest), where Vysotsky's singers from different countries perform in Helsinki and other Finnish cities. They sing Vysotsky in different languages and in different arrangements.

 

Two brothers and singers from Finland, Mika and Turkka Mali, over the course of their more than 30-year musical career, have translated into Finnish, recorded and on numerous occasions publicly performed songs of Vladimir Vysotsky.

 

Throughout his lengthy musical career, Jaromír Nohavica, a famed Czech singer, translated and performed numerous songs of Vladimir Vysotsky, most notably Песня о друге (Píseň o příteli – Song about a friend).

 

The Museum of Vladimir Vysotsky in Koszalin dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky was founded by Marlena Zimna (1969–2016) in May 1994, in her apartment, in the city of Koszalin, in Poland. Since then the museum has collected over 19,500 exhibits from different countries and currently holds Vladimir Vysotsky' personal items, autographs, drawings, letters, photographs and a large library containing unique film footage, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. A special place in the collection holds a Vladimir Vysotsky's guitar, on which he played at a concert in Casablanca in April 1976. Vladimir Vysotsky presented this guitar to Moroccan journalist Hassan El-Sayed together with an autograph (an extract from Vladimir Vysotsky's song "What Happened in Africa"), written in Russian right on the guitar.

 

In January 2023, a monument to the outstanding actor, singer and poet Vladimir Vysotsky was unveiled in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in the square near the Rodina House of Culture. Author Vladimir Chebotarev.

 

After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed "anti-Soviet" and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky's Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life's major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005).

 

A group of enthusiasts has created a non-profit project – the mobile application "Vysotsky"

 

The multifaceted talent of Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).

 

Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.

 

The songs – over 600 of them – were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were blatnaya pesnya ("outlaw songs"). These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulag. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life-threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.

 

Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.

 

Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.

 

Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.

 

His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC)

 

Songs written in this key include "Stars" (Zvyozdy), "My friend left for Magadan" (Moy drug uyekhal v Magadan), and most of his "outlaw songs".

 

At around 1970, Vysotsky began writing and playing exclusively in A minor (guitar tuned to CFACFAC), which he continued doing until his death.

 

Vysotsky used his fingers instead of a pick to pluck and strum, as was the tradition with Russian guitar playing. He used a variety of finger picking and strumming techniques. One of his favorite was to play an alternating bass with his thumb as he plucked or strummed with his other fingers.

 

Often, Vysotsky would neglect to check the tuning of his guitar, which is particularly noticeable on earlier recordings. According to some accounts, Vysotsky would get upset when friends would attempt to tune his guitar, leading some to believe that he preferred to play slightly out of tune as a stylistic choice. Much of this is also attributable to the fact that a guitar that is tuned down more than 1 whole step (Vysotsky would sometimes tune as much as 2 and a half steps down) is prone to intonation problems.

 

Vysotsky had a unique singing style. He had an unusual habit of elongating consonants instead of vowels in his songs. So when a syllable is sung for a prolonged period of time, he would elongate the consonant instead of the vowel in that syllable.

Wandering the streets of central Punta Arenas we passed by the Municipal Library (the Liceo Sara Braun building).

 

The library mural is a "Tribute from the city of Punta Arenas to the Nobel Prize winner Gabriera Mistral" (Homemaje de la ciudad de Punta Arenas a la Premio Nobel Gabriera Mistral).

 

The mural is based on a quote from one of Mistral's poems "God said to me: The only thing I have left you is a lamp for your night" (Dios meadijo: Lo,Unico Que Te He Dejado es Una Lampara Para Tu Noche".

 

How is that for a mouth full?

 

The mural is by Chilean artist Guillermo Meriño Pedrero.

 

THE GRAFITTI

"Sara genocida!!"

Involved in many charitable endeavours, Sara Braun was celebrated for her benevolence, however later scholarly investigation has uncovered the history of the Braun family and their business partners in the Menéndez family and the genocide of the Selk'nam people.

 

Don't count on Pedrero’s mural passing the test of time based on how we are taking a closer look at our racist histories today around the world - hello USA.

 

ABOUT GABRIERA MISTRAL:

Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral, was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator and humanist.

 

In 1945 she became the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world".

 

Some central themes in her poems are nature, betrayal, love, a mother's love, sorrow and recovery, travel, and Latin American identity as formed from a mixture of Native American and European influences.

 

Her portrait also appears on the 5,000 Chilean peso bank note ($9 Canadian)..

 

ABOUT GUILLERMO MERIÑO PEDRERO:

Guillermo Meriño Pedrero was born on October 12, 1949 in Lanco, Chile.

 

In 1979 he graduated as Professor of Plastic Arts from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Temuco headquarters and in 1986 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago.

 

For 10 years he worked as a teacher of drawing and painting at the Pontifical Catholic University, Temuco headquarters, a city where he also worked promoting and teaching plastic expression workshops for children in the Araucanía Region.

 

In 1993 he moved to the Magallanes Region where he has been in charge of Culture for the Municipality of Punta Arenas.

 

From that position he has managed several initiatives, including the creation of the Municipal School of Arts and the Blue Gallery of Art, as well as the organization of exhibitions and cultural exchanges with other cities in the country and abroad.

 

His work explores various genres and materials ranging from oil paintings, working with acrylic threads on wood to making enamelled ceramic murals.

 

Within this last technique, the mural Tribute of the city of Punta Arenas to Gabriela Mistral stands out, which is located in the Sara Braun Lyceum building where the Chilean poet was director.

 

Pedrero has stood out as a sculptor with the creation of various large-format pieces located in public spaces.

 

An example of this is the Araucanía Monument located in the Aníbal Pinto square in Temuco and the Monument to the inauguration of the Strait of Magellan located on the Coastal Highway of Magellan Strait in Punta Arenas.

 

A shot of his Strait of Magellan work will be posted soon.

Spanish postcard by Archivo Bermejo, no. 6505, 1960. Photo: 20th Century Fox. France Nuyen in South Pacific (Joshua Logan, 1958).

 

French actress France Nuyen (1939) was discovered at the beach by famous photographer Philippe Halsman. After her starring role in the stage hit 'The World of Suzie Wong', she became the second major Asian Hollywood star - after Anna May Wong.

 

France Nuyen was born France Nguyen Van Nga in Marseille, France in 1939. Her mother was French, her father Vietnamese. During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the occupying Germans during World War II for being gypsies. Nuyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls ‘an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me’. In interviews, she also says that she thinks of herself as culturally French and feels she has little in common with most Asians. In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nuyen was discovered on the beach by LIFE magazine photographer Philippe Halsman. She came to America in 1956 and became a member of the Lee Strasberg Acting Studio in New York. She was featured on the cover of the Oct. 6, 1958 issue of LIFE. In that magazine, she is quoted saying a proverb she repeated years later in character as a spy in the TV series I Spy: "I am Chinese. ... I am a stone. I go where I am kicked." Nuyen made her film debut portraying Liat in South Pacific (Joshua Logan, 1958) with Rossano Brazzi, the film version of the stage musical of Rodger and Hammerstein. The film became one of the biggest box-office successes of the 1950s and Nuyen won the Daniel Bloom Award for her role. She followed this with a role in the war film In Love and War (Philip Dunne, 1958), co-starring Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter. Her roles in these two films earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Female Newcomer. Nuyen then became a stage actress and played the lead in The World of Suzie Wong (1958), a play about the relationship between a prostitute and a painter (William Shatner) in Hong Kong. Initially, she had to learn her lines phonetically. She won the 1959 Theatre World Award for her performance in the play, which ran for a total of 508 performances. She was to reprise her role in the 1960 film adaptation of the play and even shot half the film, but she was suddenly replaced by producer Ray Stark with Nancy Kwan. A bitter disappointment.

 

France Nuyen did appear in the films The Last Time I Saw Archie (Jack Webb, 1961) with Robert Mitchum, Satan Never Sleeps (Leo McCarey, 1962) starring William Holden, A Girl Named Tamiko (John Sturges, 1962) with Laurence Harvey, Diamond Head (Guy Green, 1963) starring Charlton Heston, and Dimension 5 (Franklin Adreon, 1966) again opposite Jeffrey Hunter. From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist. They have a daughter Fleur, who resides in Canada and works as a film makeup artist. Her distinctive accent made her recognizable to television audiences, and she guest-starred in episodes of such popular series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965) and Gunsmoke (1966). She met her second husband, Robert Culp while appearing in 1966 on his show I Spy. They married in 1967 but divorced three years later. Nuyen and Culp were to appear as co-hosts of the second episode of the TV series Turn-On in 1969, but the show was canceled after just one week. She worked with William Shatner again in Elaan of Troyius (1968), a memorable episode of the cult series Star Trek. She played Elaan, a representative of an alien culture that could manipulate others' emotions to commit acts of violence. A single tear shed by Elaan would cause Captain Kirk (Shatner) to fall madly in love with her. Their chemistry also worked in the CBS TV movie, The Horror at 37,000 Feet (David Lowell Rich, 1973) and in an episode of the TV series Kung Fu (1974). On TV, she guest-starred in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), in Charlie's Angels (1977), and with Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode Murder Under Glass (1978). In 1986, she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988. In 1990, she had a recurring role on the long-running prime-time soap, Knots Landing. She continued to appear in films including the Western One More Train to Rob (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1971), The Big Game (Robert Day, 1972) with Stephen Boyd, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973, J. Lee Thompson). In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in clinical psychology and began a second career as a psychological counselor for abused women and children, and women in prison. She received a Woman of the Year award in 1989 for her psychological work. France Nuyen more recently appeared in films like the successful film adaptation The Joy Luck Club (Wayne Wang, 1993), the comedy A Smile Like Yours (Keith Samples, 1997) The Battle of Shaker Heights (Efram Potelle, Kyle Rankin, 2003) starring Shia LaBeouf, and The American Standards (Joe Wehinger, 2007). France was upset that the producers of The Joy Luck Club, did not put her name more prominently on the poster. Rightly so. The blog Cult Sirens described her as one the greatest neglected actresses: “France Nuyen, a face that everyone knows but on which so few can place a name on. And yet, she's been equally present either on the big or small screen since 1958, aptly able to give memorable performances of stoic and/or tragic characters, too often hiding some passionate fire.”

 

Sources: Memory-alpha, Cult Sirens, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

let the dirt & disgusting leave your body. leave room for the positive to build. quit living your life as a pessimist, it's what i've been telling myself for years. Keep your head up, because you know what? Live by the quotes that are uplifting, cry at movies that spark that emotion, laugh when someone tells that not even funny jokes but it just pokes at you and you know you just have to laugh. Take advantage of the moments you have, because somewhere, someone, can't do what you're doing. I've learned a lot about that this week.

 

SOOC

 

I only hope to live up to what I say.

 

the lovely JenavieveMarie has tagged me, but before you read my facts, please look at her pictures. they are amazing.

 

1. I've only ever had ONE single best friend, and to that, I was not a great one to her.

 

2. I've recently put my faith back out there. I was living a way I didn't want to, and I thank the people at my school, and my friends for helping me find god again.

 

3. One of my biggest dreams is to travel with warped tour. I love music, people, and the open road. Being able to listen to your favorite bands, chilling with the most amazing people, and getting to meet everyone else, would just be a dream come true.

 

4. I feel like sometimes the world is too big. I feel like if there is that one true person you are meant to be with, you'll never find them because of how big the world is. But, on the other hand, I feel like if you go searching for them, you'll never find them either. Either way, it's a lose lose.

 

5. I don't have anything remotely special about me. I'm sixteen years old, crazy. I don't do drugs, I don't drink alcohol, and I like to sit in my house on the weekends. I'd actually say I'm pretty bland.

 

6. I look up to you. Most likely, if you're reading this, I look up to you. I like the fact that I know none of you & that I see what you're like by your writings, pictures, and everything that's amazing. i love all of you.

 

7. I've never had a boy friend, I've been kissed once, & I'm not looking for anyone. Honestly, I'm content with being alone, I know that there's no expectations to be exceeded, and that's the way I like it.

 

8. I have three very close friends. One I met on the internet, one I met at a show, and the other one happens to be the daughter of my mom's old friend in high school. I love all three of them, and don't know what I'd do without them.

 

9. I stutter when I talk, well, sometimes. I'm dyslexic, it even has my name in it, and this messes me up so much. I'll look at something, try to say it out loud and realize it's a completely different word. I think it's funny how my brain is wired xD

 

10. I talk way too much, I barely have any secrets. People don't like me at my school, I get annoying. I like to think I care about people even tho most of the time I say I hate them. I hate talking about myself like this. Please, don't make judgments on me, or anyone else you don't know. You don't know what they've been through or what they might go through. I'm honestly an open book, my pictures tell a story about my life, my descriptions are what I am thinking, about what I see, not to make you happy & to please you. This project, was once for other people, but it has turned into something for myself. I love that people comment my work & give me positive feedback, but I'm glad I don't get a million comments because I know that way, these are the people that actually like what I'm doing, and care for my project the way I do.

  

sorry for so much. I will now tag people (:

  

edit: explored! #365

 

twitter!

formspring!

tumblr :D

Hate.

Fear.

Stress.

Misery.

 

Life is filled with so many awful emotions.Between those emotions there is always love,choked down by all the negativity that's around.Why won't we keep closer to the light of love?Why won't we let love breathe?

Is it really that difficult or even impossible or are we the ones who are responsible for all the smothering love?

Let love take you over no matter what.Cut off what's holding it down to the bottom of your life.

 

The inspiration came by a quote from the movie Blue Velvet:

" I had a dream. In fact, it was on the night I met you. In the dream, there was our world, and the world was dark because there weren't any robins and the robins represented love. And for the longest time, there was this darkness. And all of a sudden, thousands of robins were set free and they flew down and brought this blinding light of love. And it seemed that love would make any difference, and it did. So, I guess it means that there is trouble until the robins come. "

  

(The paper with the word "Hate" ,was too difficult to stay in place from the wind.Sorry about that.)

A huge thanks to my Mom,for helping me with the safety pins and the twine without asking what's wrong with me. :P

 

My Facebook Page

 

tumblr.

flickr blog.

NOTICE: more than half of my photos are not viewable at this time because of my pro account issues. i am trying as best as i can to get it fixed! thank you for your understanding:)

 

knowledge = power

 

im sorry- another crappy photo,

probably will be deleted in a bit.

wrote this in my "this is not a book". ;D

 

still working on that pro account problem..

 

WELL I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE DOING AMAAAAAAZING.

 

6 1/2 days left.

then its summer.

summer summer summer summer summer.

 

so many tests.. algebra EOC tomorrow..

and for those of you who are testing at the moment-

GOOD LUCK, youll do fantastic <3

 

anyone hear of the band 'two door cinema club'?! look.them.up.

 

tagged by lovely elizabeth and tiffany! :D i will try to catch up asap on all my normal tags :) sorry for the wait ...

 

1. What was the last big change that you did to your hair? Are you often experimental when it comes to those kind of things? Or do you usually just stick to what you know suits you best?

well.. i usually dont do much to my hair x) but 1 or 2 years ago i think i finally actually got a real haircut from a REAL barber (sorry, mom), so i guess that was the biggest thing ive done. i enjoy curling my hair experimentally, but i never really wear it outside my house curly.

 

2. Is there anything you are looking forward to doing this summer? If so, what are your plans?

band camp. (shuttup). ;) but im going with one of my best friends for a week and we get to stay in this dorm thing :D also going on a family vacation, and hanging out with my friends and riding lots of rollercoasters ;D oh oh oh and sleeping in of course.

 

3. What type of people do you usually NOT get along with?

i actually usually get along with everybody. i am nice to everyone, but if they are disrespectful to me, i usually just ignore them. i hate people who use me, are rude, or cuss excessively, so i ignore those people too. but i generally get along with everyone. i also feel uncomfortable around extremely serious people.. because.. well if you know me then you know why x)

 

4. Do you have an interest that is uncommon to most people? How many people, if any, do you share this same interest with?

mmm not really. i spose photography since most people my age dont think of it as anything. me and my best friend share this interest :)

 

5. Use this question to talk about something you like. Or anything that is on your mind at the moment. Or vent. Whatever.

okay well. i could go on and on and on about this.. but lets just say theres these two people. and. they really make me angry. and.. i should probably just stop talking now or else this paragraph with explode with all my emotions..

 

6. Do you have any motto in life? Or any quote/sayings that you believe in or follow?

i dont have an exact motto to live by, i just live to the fullest, treat everyone how i want to be treated, and i honestly dont care what other people think about me anymore.

 

7. What is your nationality? Are you proud of your nationality? Do you believe in national or ethnic pride?

im asian :D well, chinese to be specific. i guess im proud of it most of the time, but sometimes i wish i could be a "normal american" because of all these racist comments i receieve. im sick of them.

 

8. What's one stereotype about where you came from that actually applies to you?

"asians are bad drivers". okay well obviously i have never driven a car before but i am HORRIBLE, HOORRRIBLE at directions. i seriously dont even know how to get to walmart.. and its about 5ish minutes away from my house and ive been there at least 200 times.. and plus ive tried to drive go carts in the past and that has ended in disaster..

 

9. What do you think is the biggest misconception about the place that you're from?

apparently if you live in the mid west of the united states, youre a farmer.

but if youre referring to taiwan which is where my parents are from then-

apparently im supposed to be super smart, do nothing but study and read all day, be a complete nerd, only eat rice, etcetc....

 

10. Why do you think people stay in abusive relationships? Have you ever been in one?

i just learned about this the other day in life education x) but i think its because they are afraid to leave. their partner might hurt them. and thank goodness i have never been in an abusive relationship, and i hope it will stay that way.

 

11. What do you think is your biggest personality flaw? How does this affect your relationship with other people?

i think mine is that i get way too attached to people, mainly my friends... i suppose its because i have never really been close to my family, so my friends are the closest thing i have to family. im really clingy to them, and they mean the world to me. this doesnt really affect my relationship with people as much as you would think, they dont really mind it at all.

 

12. What's one movie you're looking forward to seeing right now? If you do not have one, what's the last movie you saw and how did you find it?

THE HUNGER GAAMMMESSSSS.

 

13. Do you think you're funny? How would you describe your humor?

your mom goes to college.

 

14. Do you tend to hoard things?

*puts head down in shame* yes, and my mom's always on to me about it.

 

15. How good are you at handling money? Do you find it harder to save or spend? How often do you find yourself broke?

oh so terrible. when i have money i usually blow it all off on the spot. if it werent for my mom's wise advice id probably be broke now ;)

 

1. Your favourite song right now:

under cover of darkness- the strokes; what you know- two door cinema club

 

2. The nicest text message you ever got:

mmm i dont have a phone x)

 

3. Your favourite place in the WORLD:

my best friend's house.

 

4. Your favourite food:

anything that relates to potatoes or fruit ;) oh and cake is purty good too, juss sayin.

 

5. Your favourite WORD:

PHALANGES!!!!!!!!

 

Something I am afriad of:

robbers, muggers, murderers.. the dark. ghosts. (ironic cause i love ghost adventures?)

 

sorry that was way uber long but i love you if you read all of that :')

TAG YOURE IT. anyone can do this:D

-

  

if you join ill love you forever:D

Happiness.Is.You. / © All rights reserve

German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/242, 1960. Photo: 20th Century Fox. France Nuyen in South Pacific (Joshua Logan, 1958).

 

French actress France Nuyen (1939) was discovered at the beach by famous photographer Philippe Halsman. After her starring role in the stage hit 'The World of Suzie Wong', she became the second major Asian Hollywood star - after Anna May Wong.

 

France Nuyen was born France Nguyen Van Nga in Marseille, France in 1939. Her mother was French, her father Vietnamese. During World War II, her mother and grandfather were persecuted by the occupying Germans during World War II for being gypsies. Nuyen was raised in Marseille by a cousin she calls ‘an Orchidaceae raiser who was the only person who gave a damn about me’. In interviews, she also says that she thinks of herself as culturally French and feels she has little in common with most Asians. In 1955, while working as a seamstress, Nuyen was discovered on the beach by LIFE magazine photographer Philippe Halsman. She came to America in 1956 and became a member of the Lee Strasberg Acting Studio in New York. She was featured on the cover of the Oct. 6, 1958 issue of LIFE. In that magazine, she is quoted saying a proverb she repeated years later in character as a spy in the TV series I Spy: "I am Chinese. ... I am a stone. I go where I am kicked." Nuyen made her film debut portraying Liat in South Pacific (Joshua Logan, 1958) with Rossano Brazzi, the film version of the stage musical of Rodger and Hammerstein. The film became one of the biggest box-office successes of the 1950s and Nuyen won the Daniel Bloom Award for her role. She followed this with a role in the war film In Love and War (Philip Dunne, 1958), co-starring Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter. Her roles in these two films earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Female Newcomer. Nuyen then became a stage actress and played the lead in The World of Suzie Wong (1958), a play about the relationship between a prostitute and a painter (William Shatner) in Hong Kong. Initially, she had to learn her lines phonetically. She won the 1959 Theatre World Award for her performance in the play, which ran for a total of 508 performances. She was to reprise her role in the 1960 film adaptation of the play and even shot half the film, but she was suddenly replaced by producer Ray Stark with Nancy Kwan. A bitter disappointment.

 

France Nuyen did appear in the films The Last Time I Saw Archie (Jack Webb, 1961) with Robert Mitchum, Satan Never Sleeps (Leo McCarey, 1962) starring William Holden, A Girl Named Tamiko (John Sturges, 1962) with Laurence Harvey, Diamond Head (Guy Green, 1963) starring Charlton Heston, and Dimension 5 (Franklin Adreon, 1966) again opposite Jeffrey Hunter. From 1963 to 1966, Nuyen was married to Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell, a psychiatrist. They have a daughter Fleur, who resides in Canada and works as a film makeup artist. Her distinctive accent made her recognizable to television audiences, and she guest-starred in episodes of such popular series as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965) and Gunsmoke (1966). She met her second husband, Robert Culp while appearing in 1966 on his show I Spy. They married in 1967 but divorced three years later. Nuyen and Culp were to appear as co-hosts of the second episode of the TV series Turn-On in 1969, but the show was canceled after just one week. She worked with William Shatner again in Elaan of Troyius (1968), a memorable episode of the cult series Star Trek. She played Elaan, a representative of an alien culture that could manipulate others' emotions to commit acts of violence. A single tear shed by Elaan would cause Captain Kirk (Shatner) to fall madly in love with her. Their chemistry also worked in the CBS TV movie, The Horror at 37,000 Feet (David Lowell Rich, 1973) and in an episode of the TV series Kung Fu (1974). On TV, she guest-starred in The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), in Charlie's Angels (1977), and with Louis Jourdan in the Columbo episode Murder Under Glass (1978). In 1986, she joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Dr. Paulette Kiem, remaining until the series ended in 1988. In 1990, she had a recurring role on the long-running prime-time soap, Knots Landing. She continued to appear in films including the Western One More Train to Rob (Andrew V. MacLaglen, 1971), The Big Game (Robert Day, 1972) with Stephen Boyd, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973, J. Lee Thompson). In 1986, Nuyen earned a master's degree in clinical psychology and began a second career as a psychological counselor for abused women and children, and women in prison. She received a Woman of the Year award in 1989 for her psychological work. France Nuyen more recently appeared in films like the successful film adaptation The Joy Luck Club (Wayne Wang, 1993), the comedy A Smile Like Yours (Keith Samples, 1997) The Battle of Shaker Heights (Efram Potelle, Kyle Rankin, 2003) starring Shia LaBeouf, and The American Standards (Joe Wehinger, 2007). France was upset that the producers of The Joy Luck Club, did not put her name more prominently on the poster. Rightly so. The blog Cult Sirens described her as one the greatest neglected actresses: “France Nuyen, a face that everyone knows but on which so few can place a name on. And yet, she's been equally present either on the big or small screen since 1958, aptly able to give memorable performances of stoic and/or tragic characters, too often hiding some passionate fire.”

 

Sources: Memory-alpha, Cult Sirens, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

 

>denimandbones.tumblr.com/

  

By Jean-Jacques Rousseau And I'm not ashamed to blow bubbles and giggle when they pop, at 16.

 

I was tagged by Lily, she is amazing by the way, to answer these 20 questions about yourself. I thought I would considering all I have to do is homework and I'm not even going to bother attempting to do that at eight o'clock on a Sunday evening.

 

So here goes,

1. Thing you cannot leave the house without? My iPhone :)

2. Favorite brand of makeup? either Soap & Glory or benefit

3. Favorite flower? oooohhhh either bluebells or azalea's. I can't decide :S

4. Favorite clothing store? Urban Outfitters

5. Favorite perfume? flower by Kenzo

6. Heels or flats? heels!

7. Do you make good grades? they're resonable

8. Favorite colors? indigo and navy blue :)

9. Do you drink energy drinks? GATORADE!! nah, just kidding I don't :P

10. Do you drink juice? every morning! I swear I'm worse than Juno...

11. Do you like swimming? i do in the sea, but not pools. I can't stand chlorine.

12. Do you eat fries with a fork? haha no, I'm not that posh.Just scran with my fingers :D

13. Favorite moisturizer? I don't really use it, but if I do I knick my mum's Elizabeth Arden one ;)

14. Do you want to get married later on in life? depends what happens in my life.

15. Do you get mad easily? crazy easily!

16. Are you into ghost hunting? haha lol yeah I search for cold spots and scream, 'OMG MUM! There's a frickin' ghost in the kitchen!' just joking.

17. Any phobias? it's not a phobia as such, but I'm afraid of losing someone :/

18. Do you bite your nails? *ashamed* yes...

19. Have you ever had a near death experience? I've gotten knocked out a couple of times but that's about it.

20. Do you drink coffee? every day- black, no sugar :D

 

People that I have tagged please do this as I am keen to read your answers! =]

View on black, 'tis waayyy better c:

1) Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow is a literary work by poet Ted Hughes, first published in 1970 by Faber and Faber, and one of Hughes' most important works. Writing for the Ted Hughes Society journal in 2012, Neil Roberts, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield, said:

 

Crow holds a uniquely important place in Hughes oeuvre. It heralds the ambitious second phase of his work, lasting roughly from the late sixties to the late seventies, when he turned from direct engagement with the natural world to unified mythical narratives and sequences. It was his most controversial work: a stylistic experiment which abandoned many of the attractive features of his earlier work, and an ideological challenge to both Christianity and humanism. Hughes wrote Crow, mostly between 1966 and 1969, after a barren period following the death of Sylvia Plath. He looked back on the years of work on Crow as a time of imaginative freedom and creative energy, which he felt that he never subsequently recovered. He described Crow as his masterpiece...

 

The book is a collection of poems about the character Crow, which borrows extensively from many world mythologies, notably both trickster and Christian mythology.[ A central core group of poems in the work can be seen as an attack on Christianity.[ The first Crow poems were written in response to a request by American artist, Leonard Baskin, who had at the time produced several pen and ink drawings of crows.

 

It is quoted briefly in the liner notes of Paul Simon's song "My Little Town",]and in the epigraph of Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge.

 

2) Max Porter’s Grief is the Thing With Feathers: a new take on the Ted Hughes myth

 

Hughes’ Crow sprang up after the death of Sylvia Plath – now a debut novel brings the wild bird back.

 

There are certain stories that seem to bear limitless retelling. Their reality already has the ring of myth. The marriage of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath is such a story – two poetic giants powerfully attracted and repelled like the poles of magnets; Plath’s suicide in the freezing winter of 1963; Hughes’s eternal punishment for her death, bound like Prometheus to the rock. All these things are visions, imagined versions of what went on in that marriage and after it, for the past is wholly vanished and can never be recovered.

 

So Max Porter, in his debut novel, comes sidelong at the story: creating a parallel world in which a father cares for his two small children after the death of his wife. It is told in three voices. “Dad” is an author struggling to finish the book he is writing (for a “scruffy, Manchester-based publisher”), Ted Hughes’s “Crow” on the Couch: a Wild Analysis. The “boys”, whose voices are not distinguished from each other, speak for childhood and the loss of childhood. The mother’s death has been sudden, a swift and terrible loss. She was there one day and gone the next, in the manner of one who commits suicide, although the cause of her death is never made quite plain. A sorrow, a mess. Into this comes the book’s third voice, Crow: anarchic, terrible, violent, careless.

 

Not only did Hughes’s story have the ring of myth; he was also a myth-maker, fascinated by the primal images and creatures that underlie all human imagination. His character Crow sprang up after the death of Plath, a raw voice, “unpoetic”, one that -retains its power to shock. It’s a bold move on Porter’s part to attempt to answer, in a novel, a voice such as Crow’s. Porter’s Crow, at any rate, knows his archetypal nature. “I’m a template. I know that, he knows that. A myth to be slipped in. Slip up into.”

 

“Slip up into” – Porter understands how hard it is to slip into myth. It’s an acknowledgement that this attempt might not be successful. As its title (a riff not on Hughes but on Emily Dickinson, who also provides the book’s epigraph) tells us, grief is the subject of this book, the grief that Dad and the boys experience as they run up against the void that the mother’s death has left. And this is what is absent from the novel: any real sense of what the mother’s loss means to them. The novel’s fragmentary nature never allows for a depth of emotion. Glimpses of the physical are offered: “She won’t ever use (make-up, turmeric, hairbrush, thesaurus). She won’t ever finish (Patricia Highsmith novel, peanut butter, lip balm).” Yet the sense of the lost wife, the lost mother, as a real woman, a real mother, is never made vivid.

 

“We pissed on the seat,” say the boys, in revealing what her loss allows. “We never shut drawers. We did those things to miss her, to keep wanting her.” But the sound of her voice, before her death, when she found that pissed-on seat, that un-shut drawer – there’s hardly any of that here. Perhaps that’s the point: she is gone. That’s the awful absence. She cannot any longer be seen or heard. But if you think that one of the tasks of fiction is to conjure a sense – in this case, that of loss – you won’t find that here.

 

And Crow? How could he be as wild or as striking as his progenitor, Hughes’s Crow? “Krickle krackle, hop sniff and tackle, in with the bins, singing the hymns,” Porter’s Crow barks. It’s a brave flight but it’s too tempting simply to turn back to the original. Crow needs no other words but his own. However, it’s hard not to admire Porter for his engagement with those black plumes. Myths speak to us and we speak back. That’s how we know they are deep in us.

 

The novel sends the reader back to the black, terrible gleam of Hughes’s Crow:

 

Near the face, this hand, motionless.

 

Near the hand, this cup.

 

Crow blinked. He blinked. Nothing faded.

 

He stared at the evidence.

 

Nothing escaped him. (Nothing could escape.)

 

And here’s the trouble: it looks easy. Or as if it might be easy, at least, if you could access the vortex of myth and loss and passion that drew the Crow out of Ted Hughes.

 

By

Erica Wagner

   

The fanfare opening of Montiverdi's profane opera Orpheo is one of the iconic starts in the whole of the classical music repertoire. Written towards the end of the Renaissance, and in view of the coming of Baroque, the work was finished in 1607. By this date, all of the hermitages and churches in the tight cluster of four that feature in this 'moving lens test' were fully constructed and 'in service'. Built around an important pagan loci that, even until recent years, married Christian traditions with folk traditions: cultural rites that stood on corridors with perspectives back through superstition with potential glimmers of residual Celt and post prehistoric rite.

 

The Toccata of Orpheo rings with 'Court' and formal cultural social ornament, and there are some academics who go as far as to squeeze the fanfare towards a military guise. Hearing the first version on traditional folk instruments, and seeing how the key elements of melody and rhythm fit so snugly into a simpler pastoral musical form, is between happenstance and intrigue. Far from sounding like a military fanfare, the toccata when played by traditional instruments, sounds like an assemblage of bird songs, calls and chatters - might Montiverdi have taken a synergy of ancient 'rural melody' and polished these into 'power' for feudal and centralised ornament? The 'underworld' for centralising Medieval was the endless pagan undulations with its myriad corners of folk and pagan duties and habits. Here, 'saving' Orpheo from the underworld is almost a guise for taking melody out from the countryside and placing it into the context of the court. This is pure speculation, but something to think about whilst contrasting the two versions.

 

In the film, the two versions of the tocatta are presented side by side, with a short gap between, and neither comply rigorously with Montiverdi's score. One is played by the Spanish folk musicologist Juanma Sanchez - tabor pipe in one hand and string drum over his shoulder, and the second, a more recent and justifiably popular recording by Gabriel Garrado, with a potentially over-wide orchestration and using modern recording techniques.

 

Primitive folk musical instruments vary with local example but are spread over a wide and detailed rural geography, from the Near East to the Atlantic coast, with other correlations toward the north of the African continent and beyond: drums, cithares, luths, bagpipes, flutes, whistles and recorders, shakers and casternets, dulcimer and salteriums all finding local expressions over vastly different local geographies: different tuneings, frets, chords and strings, materials and combinations - but all locally made and frequently played expressions from shared themes.

 

The shepherds, fowlers and free-time musicians, who played at local gatherings in the dark ages, may not have been subject to artistic description, and we are left knowing that simple pipes and flutes were established with man during the ice age and that bagpipes and string drums (zithers and lutes) were known in parts from the iron age, and that their distribution is vast, varied and detailed. The wide range and local differences may suggest a deep and continuous time and variation beyond some of the Middle Ages dates of origin often quoted. A migrant from Greece or North Africa may install in mountains and quietly continue with a soundscape... People create tunes and people dance to music. Man is a tool maker, and the complements to his voice diversity were just the 'tools' for melody and rhythm.

 

A three holes tabor pipe is long enough to find an octave by varying the speed of air. Whilst the notes are a little less precise than a two handed pipe, a three holed tabor lets the left hand guide the rhythm for dancers. A single unit musician can thus guide both practices and gatherings, allowing music to penetrate into the smallest corners of countryside and then meet as complicit larger gatherings of known musical themes and mastered moves. The gathering fields aside the village of Tella were dynamic and variable enough to host every possible mass gathering a year could generate. Pilgrims from the plane who arrived, looked up to the high mountains and down on their distant valley perspectives; shepherds and crofters, cross summit traders and east west traders all passing through the spiritual and social Babel of Tella - in many ways an unusual loci for both history and prehistory.

 

Tella is in the Spanish Haut-Aragon, and is located at an altitude of 1387m, overlooked by the high passes of Portillo de Tella 2089m and the peaks of Mont Perdu 3355m, Castillo Mayor 2110m and the Sierra d'as Zucas 2781m. The pagan fields and cluster of Hermitages are found on available land to the east of a rocky pog now known as the "Punton de las Brujas" (witches python). The image of pagan gatherings linked with conceptions of evil is hosted by the Basque word Akerra - which translates as the 'Billy Goat". The assignment of 'Evil' to the Akerra gathering may have been part of anti pagan protocols and a goat is an animal that domesticates with its own mischievous opinions. Dancing and gathering to honour 'mischievous' elements within nature is not necessarily the same as 'devil worship'. However hard you try to domesticate a Billy goat, it will still eat anything, stand on everything and bang into all. If sheep want to stay on a crest and the flock's Billygoat is interested in a person far away, then the sheep will follow the Billygoat who is perhaps the original pied piper, with all of the bagage of potential good or evil that 'following' can entail. It can be argued that the art of domestication that accompanied man through the late Mesolithic and in to history and the day-today needed the variable of 'mischief' as part of the equations in a 'lifestyle of folk science' where topics of conversation need to be focused on 'seeds of ideas' and their futures. Here the Billygoat is a personification of the factor today understood as 'levels of uncertainty'.

 

Violent and extreme thunder and lightning land beyond mischief, and are abundant and amplified by the watching peaks of a mountain range: the 'fear and fascination' of this human experience can find focus in a voyeuristic viewpoint like Tella - again this is not the same as the Devil or evil - more a great force that remains outside of human will and domestication. A force of mixed and strong emotions, to be feared and even hated, revered or even admired.

 

Mother earth as a provider of water, sun, soil, seed and birth; the heady seduction of the dance of the life force. Sewing and harvest all asking for get-togethers around the vivid fields of Tella.

 

For all of this pagan dynamic, witches were locally feared and visualised with physical sculptured stone points called 'espantabruja' adorning the roofs of all local buildings. Was there also a 'seedy' side this high mountain vista, coupled with vectors for superstitions and dark ideas. A spinster herbalist is never far from superstition and rite, and where people flow there are often those who settle. It may also be the case that the local herbalist 'witches' of the deep countryside were kept away from the refined spiritual loci.

 

The lens test includes a selection from Goya's paintings of a Spanish witches sabbath (El aquelarre) and the focal point of the Billy Goat character is clearly evident. The painting is context bound to a period of advanced and even procured superstition that followed the retreat of Napoleon's plundering armies from the Iberic peninsula. Goya's works were against superstition, and the lens test includes his image of a pagan goat rite complete with strong stigmatic images of participants handing over babies for sacrifice.

 

The four hermitages and Churches position themselves around the pagan fields, key views, accommodation and sacred-path termini of Tella. They were built as part of a policy to 'syncrétiser' pre Christian activities, or to 'work with' - perhaps akin to Celtic Christian activities to the north. Four Christean buildings, all practically in sight of each other for a mountain village of less than 50 buildings), is an indication of the importance of the landscape and crossroads to people and culture, and the elements of animism are all imposing and strong.

 

Tella is in the Haut-Aagon on the south side of the highest central portion of the east-west mountain range. It sits on ancient paths north south and east west and has intimate views on a mythical mountain Les Tres Serols. Many ancient ancient villages have dry fields and rises to their sides - plots of land where bonfires are lit to mark the Summer Solstice and at a distance where fire does not present a danger for thatched roofs and wooden frame. The equivalent for the mountain village of Tella is a short walk away - hermetically apart, and very vivid, with bonfire fields on three different associated levels all overlooking a rocky outcrop with hints of its own Babel-esque spiral. The moving lens test was largely shot from a fixed point looking down on this ancient loci, revolving around to take in the heady mix of pre Christean elements and Christean elements. The only exception is a shot of the Church in the main village itself - San Martin. An attempt was made in the video edit to evoke a sense of living human drama rather than simple picturesque landscape.

 

Tucked under the rocky outcrop:

L’ermitage de los Santos Juan y Pablo

Consecrated in 1019 and perhaps the first Christian building in the greater region.

 

Starting the second version...

l’Ermita de la Virgen de Fajanillas

13th century.

 

The simple building on the far hill with a view looking down on the unseen path up from the lowlands:

Nuestra Señora de la Peña. 16th century.

 

The main Church of Tella is the

l’Eglise paroissiale San Martín of 1509

 

The original music from Juanma Sanchez:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YObScUtwfVU

Again Juanma Sanchez, here with an overview of the varieties of traditional pipes:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1o2mFVqA0M

 

A string-drum maker's site:

jeanbaudoin.com/cv_en.html

 

An overview of string-drum and pipe variety:

www.pipeandtaborcompendium.co.uk/other%20percussion/strin...

 

Orfeo: Toccata Gabriel Garrido

Ensembel Elyma

Claudio Monteverdi. libretto by Alessandro Striggio

K.617 ASIN : B0000283B7

 

AJM 13.1.20

 

Press play and then 'L' and even f11. Escape and f11 a second time to return.

* Heart does not follow any rules.

  

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61/365

,,No matter what life throws at you - what you make out of it is up to you.'' - Sadhguru

 

I love this quote so much. All of my life I was afraid of failure. I was afraid to go and try.

 

When I started 365 project I learned to accept the failure. Now I can say I pretty much love it. I love when I have a plan and something goes wrong. I need to find another way how to do it or fix it. So instead of feel sorry for myself and blaming everybody around me I take it and I accept it. I learn from my mistakes and use it in future.

 

And that's exactly what's this photo about. When life throws shit on you, when you fail, just take all these negative emotions and transform them into something positive and beautiful. Because if you will keep feeding yourself with negativity you're digging the hole under you deeper and deeper.

 

So just take it easy, make fun of it. Enjoy your life.

 

I also did a speed edit of this image and after three hours it's still exporting. So if it will ever finish you can watch it on my YouTube channel haha.

 

www.youtube.com/channel/UCDmwG9OARKCjxCqm_ldTvEA

Lucifer (/ˈljuːsɪfər/ LEW-si-fər; "light-bringer") was a Latin name for the planet Venus as the morning star in the ancient Roman era, and is often used for mythological and religious figures associated with the planet. Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. Interpretations of a similar term in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as "Lucifer", led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer and its associated stories of a fall from heaven to Satan. Most modern scholarship regards these interpretations as questionable, and translate the term in the relevant Bible passage as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper name, "Lucifer".

Here is the definition that you will find on Wikipedia; Phosphorus (Greek Φωσφόρος Phōsphoros), a name meaning “Light-Bringer”, is the Morning Star, the planet Venus in its morning appearance. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is Ἑωσφόρος (Heōsphoros), which means “Dawn-Bringer”.

The Latin word corresponding to Greek Phosphorus is “Lucifer”. It is used in its astronomical sense both in prose and poetry. The Latin word lucifer, corresponding to, was used as a name for the morning star and thus appeared in the Vulgate translation of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל (helel) – meaning Venus as the brilliant, bright or shining one – in Isaiah 14:12, where the Septuagint Greek version uses, not Φωσφόρος, but Ἑωσφόρος. origins of freemasonry.As a name for the devil, the more common meaning in English, "Lucifer" is the rendering of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל‎ in Isaiah (Isaiah 14:12) given in the King James Version of the Bible. The translators of this version took the word from the Latin Vulgate,[1] which translated הֵילֵל by the Latin word lucifer (uncapitalized), meaning "the morning star, the planet Venus", or, as an adjective, "light-bringing".In classical mythology, Lucifer ("light-bringer" in Latin) was the name of the planet Venus, though it was often personified as a male figure bearing a torch. The Greek name for this planet was variously Phosphoros (also meaning "light-bringer") or Heosphoros (meaning "dawn-bringer"). Lucifer was said to be "the fabled son of Aurora and Cephalus, and father of Ceyx". He was often presented in poetry as heralding the dawn.

 

The second century Roman mythographer Pseudo-Hyginus said of the planet:

 

"The fourth star is that of Venus, Luciferus by name. Some say it is Juno's. In many tales it is recorded that it is called Hesperus, too. It seems to be the largest of all stars. Some have said it represents the son of Aurora and Cephalus, who surpassed many in beauty, so that he even vied with Venus, and, as Eratosthenes says, for this reason it is called the star of Venus. It is visible both at dawn and sunset, and so properly has been called both Luciferus and Hesperus."

Ovid, in his first century epic Metamorphoses, describes Lucifer as ordering the heavens:

 

"Aurora, watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose-filled halls; the Stellae took flight, in marshaled order set by Lucifer who left his station last."

In the classical Roman period, Lucifer was not typically regarded as a deity and had few, if any, myths,] though the planet was associated with various deities and often poetically personified. Cicero pointed out that "You say that Sol the Sun and Luna the Moon are deities, and the Greeks identify the former with Apollo and the latter with Diana. But if Luna (the Moon) is a goddess, then Lucifer (the Morning-Star) also and the rest of the Wandering Stars (Stellae Errantes) will have to be counted gods; and if so, then the Fixed Stars (Stellae Inerrantes) as well.

 

As a name for the morning star, "Lucifer" is a proper name and is capitalized in English. In Greco-Roman civilization the morning star was often personified and considered a god[5] and in some versions considered a son of Aurora (the Dawn).

Venus is the brightest morning “star” and is currently the focal point of the eastern dawn sky. This would be the reason why you will find that all Freemason Lodges face the north and south, but when you walk into the lodge room, you’re symbolically facing the East and all masonic rituals are performed while facing the East in preparation of the son of the morning via the dawn of a new day under the light of the morning star. The motif of a heavenly being striving for the highest seat of heaven only to be cast down to the underworld has its origins in the motions of the planet Venus, known as the morning star.

 

The Sumerian goddess Inanna (Babylonian Ishtar) is associated with the planet Venus. Inanna's actions in several of her myths, including Inanna and Shukaletuda and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld appear to parallel the motion of Venus as it progresses through its synodic cycle. For example, in Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, Inanna is able to descend into the netherworld, where she is killed, and then resurrected three days later to return to the heavens. The three-day disappearance of Inanna refers to the three-day planetary disappearance of Venus between its appearance as a morning and evening star.

 

A similar theme is present in the Babylonian myth of Etana. The Jewish Encyclopedia comments:

 

"The brilliancy of the morning star, which eclipses all other stars, but is not seen during the night, may easily have given rise to a myth such as was told of Ethana and Zu: he was led by his pride to strive for the highest seat among the star-gods on the northern mountain of the gods ... but was hurled down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympus."

The fall from heaven motif also has a parallel in Canaanite mythology. In ancient Canaanite religion, the morning star is personified as the god Attar, who attempted to occupy the throne of Ba'al and, finding he was unable to do so, descended and ruled the underworld. The original myth may have been about a lesser god Helel trying to dethrone the Canaanite high god El who lived on a mountain to the north. Hermann Gunkel's reconstruction of the myth told of a mighty warrior called Hêlal, whose ambition was to ascend higher than all the other stellar divinities, but who had to descend to the depths; it thus portrayed as a battle the process by which the bright morning star fails to reach the highest point in the sky before being faded out by the rising sun. Our story begins with the Lucifer Rebellion and the transporting of the Tree of Life to a high mountainous region by Van the leader of the loyalists. This region would become to be named Afghanistan. So ancient is the beginning of this story that we have no written record of these events. Or do we? It took a long long time to be written but it's there. It took the coming of the Andites and the culture they created to reveal this incredible legend. The Andites are legendary in their own right being from the bloodline of Adam and Eve and the Nodite remnants of the original fallen. And it is most appropriate that part of this story starts here in the wilds of Central Asia. For the Andites have the true first human aboriginal blood from creatures that looked upon the world with the first human eyes knowing they were different from all others. These first humans were Homo erectus by which the Urantia Book names them as the Andonites. Very near this place of epical significance is the beginning of the human race, but that is another story.

However, the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible argues that no evidence has been found of any Canaanite myth or imagery of a god being forcibly thrown from heaven, as in the Book of Isaiah (see below). It argues that the closest parallels with Isaiah's description of the king of Babylon as a fallen morning star cast down from heaven are to be found not in Canaanite myths but in traditional ideas of the Jewish people, echoed in the Biblical account of the fall of Adam and Eve, cast out of God's presence for wishing to be as God, and the picture in Psalm 82 of the "gods" and "sons of the Most High" destined to die and fall. This Jewish tradition has echoes also in Jewish pseudepigrapha such as Enoch and the Life of Adam and Eve. The Life of Adam and Eve, in turn, shaped the idea of Iblis in the Quran. In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 14, the King of Babylon is condemned in a prophetic vision by the prophet Isaiah and is called הֵילֵל בֶּן-שָׁחַר (Helel ben Shachar, Hebrew for "shining one, son of the morning"). who is addressed as הילל בן שחר (Hêlêl ben Šāḥar),The title "Helel ben Shahar" may refer to the planet Venus as the morning star, but the text in Isaiah 14 gives no indication that Helel is the name of a star or planet. The Hebrew word transliterated as Hêlêl or Heylel (pron. as Hay-LALE),[35] occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint renders הֵילֵל in Greek as Ἑωσφόρος (heōsphoros), "bringer of dawn", the Ancient Greek name for the morning star. According to the King James Bible-based Strong's Concordance, the original Hebrew word means "shining one, light-bearer", and the translation given in the King James text is the Latin name for the planet Venus, "Lucifer".

 

However, the translation of הֵילֵל as "Lucifer" has been abandoned in modern English translations of Isaiah 14:12. Present-day translations render הֵילֵל as "morning star" (New International Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, Good News Translation, Holman Christian Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), "daystar" (New Jerusalem Bible, The Message), "Day Star" (New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version), "shining one" (New Life Version, New World Translation, JPS Tanakh), or "shining star" (New Living Translation).

 

In a modern translation from the original Hebrew, the passage in which the phrase "Lucifer" or "morning star" occurs begins with the statement: "On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labour forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!"[45] After describing the death of the king, the taunt continues:

 

"How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: 'Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?'"

J. Carl Laney has pointed out that in the final verses here quoted, the king of Babylon is described not as a god or an angel but as a man; and that man may have been not Nebuchadnezzar II, but rather his son, Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar was gripped by a spiritual fervor to build a temple to the moon god Sin (possibly analogous with Hubal,[citation needed] the primary god of pre-Islamic Mecca), and his son ruled as regent. The Abrahamic scriptural texts could be interpreted as a weak usurping of true kingly power, and a taunt at the failed regency of Belshazzar.

 

For the unnamed "king of Babylon" a wide range of identifications have been proposed.They include a Babylonian ruler of the prophet Isaiah's own time the later Nebuchadnezzar II, under whom the Babylonian captivity of the Jews began, or Nabonidus,and the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II and Sennacherib. Verse 20 says that this king of Babylon will not be "joined with them [all the kings of the nations] in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever", but rather be cast out of the grave, while "All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, every one in his own house", pointing to Nebuchadnezzar II as a possible interpretation.Herbert Wolf held that the "king of Babylon" was not a specific ruler but a generic representation of the whole line of rulers.

 

Isaiah 14:12 became a source for the popular conception of the fallen angel motif[56] seen later in 1 Enoch 86–90 and 2 Enoch 29:3–4. Rabbinical Judaism has rejected any belief in rebel or fallen angels. In the 11th century, the Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer illustrates the origin of the "fallen angel myth" by giving two accounts, one relates to the angel in the Garden of Eden who seduces Eve, and the other relates to the angels, the benei elohim who cohabit with the daughters of man (Genesis 6:1–4).[58] An association of Isaiah 14:12–18 with a personification of evil, called the devil developed outside of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism in pseudepigrapha and Christian writings, particularly with the apocalypses.

Manly P. Hall writes in his book, Initiates of the Flame: “It is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the gateway of the Pyramid, and that there was an underground passage which led from the Sphinx to Cheops (Great Pyramid)” (Initiates of the Flame, p. 68).

The Sphinx symbolizes man. The Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and spirit of the human rising out of the animal desires and emotions. It is the riddle of the ages, and man is once more the answer. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx is a symbol are Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man, or the human head.

So, how can Lucifer be the the prince of darkness, when it has been established that Lucifer is really phosphorus, which a derived from a Greek name meaning “Light-Bringer?”

The facts are that is he is not the prince of darkness or Satan because Lucifer is really phosphorus that resides in our DNA. Once you understand this reality that is science based, you will then have one of the secret keys to the mysteries of the universe.

The light within each one of us humans is where we find Lucifer or Jesus, AKA the morning star.

sphynxeye

Hence, KNOW THYSELF and KNOW GOD. In ancient Egypt is was said; “The body is the house of God,” and one of the many proverbs is “Man, know thyself … and thou shalt know the gods,” and what Manly P. Hall called Aquarius the Man, or the human head represented by the Egyptian Sphinx.

When we KNOW THYSELF, we carry the water of Aquarius the Man and thus become Lion Kings of our own domain which the Egyptians had represented with the figure of a sphinx (Greek: Σφίγξ /sphinx, Bœotian: Φίξ /Phix) which is a mythical creature with, as a minimum, the body of a lion and the head of a human.

Unfortunately, with the advent of certain religions such as Christianity and Islam along with other government controls on the people, these ancient gnostic teachings were corrupted, modified or simply hidden from the multitudes of people because they are or were at one time very dangerous to the church and or government.

These authoritarian institutions operate primarily on the basis of having a master that is outside of you dictating your life, souls and spirit at every step, and they would rather “tell you who you are, where you come from and where you will be going,” rather than us humans being unique individuals who “know thyself … and thou shalt know the gods.”

The facts are that a person who KNOWS THYSELF and KNOWS GOD, is very hard to control by the powers that be because they loose their grip on this persons soul once they figure out “the game” which from day one has been an attempt to trick or steal us all out of our true beings, souls and spirits. Hence, the reason why there are all these lies and propaganda surrounding the name Lucifer.

 

Lucifer represents the angel of light with individual intellect who ‘rebels’ against the outside ‘dark authority’. This is why he is called the ‘fallen angel.’ The dark and outside authority can be attributed to our flesh and fleshly desires coupled with the outside material world that attempts to take us away from the true light within each one of us.

This darkness tries to fool us into looking without when we should have always been looking within the whole time. Hence, this is the whole illusion of the matrix in which Satan, the true prince of darkness that represents the flesh and free will is looking to control you, so you do not look within yourself for the “prince of light” or “the morning star.”

The reference to the Venus is the AS ABOVE of which Lucifer, AKA Phosphorus is the AS BELOW.

The facts are that we are made of stardust” or star debris and are therefore “one with the universe.” This is where we get the AS ABOVE, in the SO BELOW and the AS WITHIN , of the AS WITHOUT. It is that star dust hidden inside you in the form of Phosphorus, which I have already stated is essential for life. The phosphate is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. This is the ‘spark’ in our DNA that makes us human. Lucifer is in all of us in the form of Phosphorus.

This may be where our souls access our divine consciousness and thus we become divine like Saint John or a Christ like Jesus. Or is this what the church calls evil in Lucifer because a conscious soul and spirit is a dangerous one and maybe that is why Jesus was crucified?

What is the fall of Lucifer?

fall of lucifer

It is an allegory of the light that resides in us and the fall is simply the fall away from this light. With the advent of most religions, this caused the fall of mankind. A fall away from the light within us that was then exchanged or forced by a false light that that was to be found outside of ourselves within a book or church.

Hence, the fall of Lucifer is the fall that each one of us takes when we look outside for answers as opposed to looking within for the true light, that which will guide us to the promise land or own own personal heavens.

As I stated above, Lucifer and the Morning Star are references to Phosphorus which is essential for life. Without phosphorus, consciousness, energy and the creation of this article would simply not be happening. When we turn away from this light within, we too fall away from grace. Hence, we fall for lies and truth in which we then become one of Satan’s tools that is represented by the planet Saturn. However, that will be a new article in itself.

Whether you choose to believe what I AM stating here and by confirming what I have written and quoted above, is entirely up to you because this is your path where you have to decide truth from fiction or light from dark on your own. However, if you have not done your own research and you have already reached an ignorant conclusion based on heresay or lies, then you are what Mr. Pike calls intolerable blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls, in which you are one of the billions of Satan’s weak human tools. A soul who chooses darkness rather than light and an unawakened human who worships lies over truth, where ignorance rules your actions over that of true wisdom.

Many people mistakenly think that Lucifer is Satan and vice versa, but the facts are that is simply not true. This misinformation, conspiracies and lies have been propagated to the people through many books and movies to the point today in this year 2013, that most people equate Lucifer with Satan or evil. Hopefully you have an open mind and will get past this propaganda like I did myself, in order for you to discover the truth. I AM sure this is the case or else most likely you wouldn’t be reading this website.Gnostics consider that the biblical myth of creation can be explained as follows: the creator satan of the world trapped Adam and Eve in his miserable world, and Lucifer, in the form of a serpent, offered them the forbidden fruit of saving Gnosis, and showed them that the creator was deceiving them. In other words, the creator said to man "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." On the other hand, the Serpent said "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The bible continued: "And the eyes of both of them were opened". It doesn't say "they both died", it says "the eyes of both of them were opened", like the Serpent had said. Later, the creator says "And now man has become as one of us, to know good and evil". The creator lied. He said that man would die if he ate the fruit, but man did not die. The Serpent was telling the truth. The creator himself ended up agreeing that the Serpent was right. More precisely, Gnostics called the demiurge a liar as well as a plagiarizer. For them, the entire creation is a failed attempt by the demiurge to imitate the unknowable world. In this way, they think that the bible itself is a complete plagiarism, based principally on pre-biblical Babylonian and Egyptian texts.

If you are asking the question, “Who is Lucifer?,” the answer that you will find often depends on who you ask or where you perform your search. But the facts are that if you were to research the true meaning of Lucifer that is somewhat hidden in secret societies such as Freemasonry, you would find that some of the world’s most prolific 33rd Degree Freemasons have already established the meaning of Lucifer, that they have written about in their books on the occult. Some Christian writers have applied the name "Lucifer" as used in the Book of Isaiah, and the motif of a heavenly being cast down to the earth, to Satan. Sigve K Tonstad argues that the New Testament War in Heaven theme of Revelation 12:7–9, in which the dragon "who is called the devil and Satan … was thrown down to the earth", was derived from the passage about the Babylonian king in Isaiah 14.[61] Origen (184/185 – 253/254) interpreted such Old Testament passages as being about manifestations of the Devil; but writing in Greek, not Latin, he did not identify the devil with the name "Lucifer". Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), who wrote in Latin, also understood Isaiah 14:14 ("I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High") as spoken by the Devil,[666] but "Lucifer" is not among the numerous names and phrases he used to describe the devil.Even at the time of the Latin writer Augustine of Hippo (354–430), "Lucifer" had not yet become a common name for the Devil.

 

Some time later, the metaphor of the morning star that Isaiah 14:12 applied to a king of Babylon gave rise to the general use of the Latin word for "morning star", capitalized, as the original name of the devil before his fall from grace, linking Isaiah 14:12 with Luke 10:18 ("I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven") and interpreting the passage in Isaiah as an allegory of Satan's fall from heaven.

 

As a result, "Lucifer has become a byword for Satan or the Devil in the church and in popular literature", as in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, Joost van den Vondel's Lucifer, and John Milton's Paradise Lost. However, unlike the English word, the Latin word was not used exclusively in this way and was applied to others also, including Jesus.

 

Adherents of the King James Only movement and others who hold that Isaiah 14:12 does indeed refer to the devil have decried the modern translations. Jealousy of humans, created in the divine image and given authority over the world is the motive that a modern writer, who denies that there is any such person as Lucifer, says that Tertullian attributed to the devil, and, while he cited Tertullian and Augustine as giving envy as the motive for the fall, an 18th-century French Capuchin preacher himself described the rebel angel as jealous of Adam's exaltation, which he saw as a diminution of his own status.

 

However, the understanding of the morning star in Isaiah 14:12 as a metaphor referring to a king of Babylon continued also to exist among Christians. Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393 – c. 457) wrote that Isaiah calls the king "morning star", not as being the star, but as having had the illusion of being it. The same understanding is shown in Christian translations of the passage, which in English generally use "morning star" rather than treating the word as a proper name, "Lucifer". So too in other languages, such as French,[79] German,[80] Portuguese,[81] and Spanish.[82] Even the Vulgate text in Latin is printed with lower-case lucifer (morning star), not upper-case Lucifer (proper name).

 

Calvin said: "The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance: for the context plainly shows these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians." Luther also considered it a gross error to refer this verse to the devil.

When Carl Sagan had famously said that “we’re made of star stuff,” he wasn’t joking because the facts are that the cosmos are hidden within all of us humans. We are the SO BELOW here on earth in which the cosmos and heavens are the AS ABOVE.

Albert Pike, 33rd Degree Freemason and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite said; “Lucifer the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendours intolerable blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not! ”

And one of Freemasonry’s greatest philosophers that has ever lived, 33rd Degree Freemason and master Rosicrucian Manly P. Hall said this about Lucifer in his book, All Seeing Eye; “Lucifer represents the individual intellect and will which rebels against the domination of Nature and attempts to maintain itself contrary to natural impulse. Lucifer, in the form of Venus, is the morning star spoken of in Revelation, which is to be given to those who overcome the world.”

Gnostic myths relate that Lucifer is the Messenger of the Unknowable God. We had said that this God, the greatest one, unreachable and unknowable, is unable to penetrate this limited universe of impure and satanic matter. But according to these myths, he can send someone, Lucifer. Only with a supreme sacrifice can an incredibly Spiritual and pure being of antimatter fire break through into the infernal world of this universe. According to Gnostic legends and myths, the great Unknowable God sent Lucifer, angel of indescribable fire and light, to show man the light and to help him wake up and see his true origin, the origin of his Spirit, which has been perversely imprisoned in this impure matter called body-soul. He is an uncreated being, who came to the created world to bring Light: Liberating Gnosis. The saving knowledge which can wake man up and help him free his imprisoned Spirit. The knowledge which allows him to know who he truly is, why he is here in this world and what he has to do to liberate himself and fulfil his Spirit, which belongs to another uncreated and unknowable plane.

 

We have said that Lucifer came to the world to wake man up, to help him remember his divine origin, the divine origin of his Spirit, and to help him free himself from the body-soul in which he is trapped, and from created time and matter.

  

Gnostics believe that this Serpent Lucifer is the liberator of man and the world. It is wisdom, the liberating Gnosis that wakes man up and saves him. Of course, this Messenger of the Unknowable God, Lucifer, is an opponent and an enemy of the creator of the world.

 

Gnosis states that the creator wants to keep man captive in this limited, inferior and impure sphere. He also forbade man contact with the higher world, represented in the biblical myth by the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But Lucifer, the Angel of Light, made a great sacrifice and descended into this satanic hell to give the forbidden fruit of Gnosis to man, and opened his eyes so that he would be able to remember his divine origin and his superiority in relation to the creator. Gnostics consider that before the arrival of the Serpent in paradise, man was in a state of ignorance and was blind to his true situation. They maintain that Adam and Eve were in a state of servitude until the Serpent Lucifer opened their eyes and fed them the fruit of knowledge, which made them remember their divine origin and become aware of the situation in which they found themselves.

 

Of course, the creator threw Adam and Eve out of this paradise in which he had placed them since he wanted them (and still does) to reflect him and be similar to him after his image and resemblance, and to carry out his precepts so as to be like him and not like the Unknowable God. He wants the Spirit to stay asleep so he can take advantage of Its energy, preventing It from manifesting Itself in man and the world.

 

Lucifer, liberator of man and the world, has also been called Abaddon, the Exterminator. But.exterminator of what? Exterminator of matter, because he abhors this created world of matter and time. He would behave like a hostile antimatter force, extremely aggressive, because he hates all that has been created as he also hates the body and soul of man, since he belongs to the uncreated plane of the unknowable. He is an exterminator, but an exterminator of matter, of the impure. Such is the Gnostic legend of Lucifer. In the occult, Lucifer is often referred to as the ‘morning star.’ In the Bible, you will find this same exact reference to Jesus as well who says in Revelation 22:16 – “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

You see, just as Lucifer is known as the morning star, Jesus also calls himself ‘the bright morning star’ and as I stated above, Manly P. Hall had said, “Lucifer, in the form of Venus, is the morning star spoken of in Revelation, which is to be given to those who overcome the world.” Hence, rest assured that Jesus and Lucifer are one and the same which will become clearly evident to those with an eye to see the true light amongst the darkness in which we live.

The reason that both Lucifer and Jesus can be considered one and the same is because of an often little understood chemical compound that is hidden within each of our own DNA called ‘Phosphorus.’ Phosphorus is essential for life and the phosphate is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes.Simply put, without phosphorus, we humans would simply not be human because consciousness and our spiritual energy would not exist. It is through our DNA which contains phosphorus, that we become conscious to the world and who we are in order to live in the light. Hence, Lucifer is really just an allegory to describe ‘Phosphorus’ which resides in our DNA

 

Now we can go on to describe what uncreated entities exist in this created world.

 

Firstly, the Unknowable God, who is not in this world but who can infiltrate it with a tiny particle of Himself, a Messenger. This Messenger is also uncreated, not having been created by the creator.

 

Secondly, the imprisoned Spirits of men, which also belong to the unknowable World of the uncreated and the eternal. According to Gnosis all living beings have an uncreated Spiritual element enchained in their souls: the Spirit. The Spirit locked within man is totally superior to that of animals, plants and other living beings. The difference between man and the other living beings is very great, as is the difference between the Spirits imprisoned inside of them. The Spirits of human beings are in an elevated Spiritual category. The word “occult” simply means hidden, which is the whole point of the misinformation that you will find on the true meaning of Lucifer. In addition, if you know where to look, the true definition of Lucifer along with corresponding information is now common knowledge on Wikipedia. However, due to countless publications of misinformation via articles, books and videos all over Youtube; the truth is still buried beneath a pile of ignorance.

Therefor, for us smart researchers, we have come to understand this simple fact: That in order to find the light, we have to uncover the truth which is buried at the bottom of these lies and hundreds of years of church, government and ignorant human propaganda. The real story of Lucifer is no different. We have to perform some fact checking of our own like you are doing right now, so that we all can get to the bottom of this disinformation in order to get to the light of the truth.

 

The picture of Lucifer inside the Pyramid will do just that for you, by helping clear the lies in order for you to see the light of Lucifer for what he truly represents.

 

Thirdly, another uncreated entity placed on this created plane is the saving and divine knowledge of Gnosis. Knowledge that has come from outside, which has not been produced inside of this world.

 

In Occultism

Anthroposophy

Rudolf Steiner's writings, which formed the basis for Anthroposophy, characterised Lucifer as a spiritual opposite to Ahriman, with Christ between the two forces, mediating a balanced path for humanity. Lucifer represents an intellectual, imaginative, delusional, otherworldly force which might be associated with visions, subjectivity, psychosis and fantasy. He associated Lucifer with the religious/philosophical cultures of Egypt, Rome and Greece. Steiner believed that Lucifer, as a supersensible Being, had incarnated in China about 3000 years before the birth of Christ.

 

Luciferianism

Luciferianism is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition, influenced by Gnosticism, usually reveres Lucifer not as the devil, but as a liberator, a guardian or guiding spirit or even the true god as opposed to Jehovah.

 

In Anton LaVey's The Satanic Bible, Lucifer is one of the four crown princes of hell, particularly that of the East, the 'lord of the air', and is called the bringer of light, the morning star, intellectualism, and enlightenment. The title 'lord of the air' is based upon Ephesians 2:2, which uses the phrase 'prince of the power of the air' to refer to the pagan god Zeus, but that phrase later became conflated with Satan.

 

Author Michael W. Ford has written on Lucifer as a "mask" of the adversary, a motivator and illuminating force of the mind and subconscious.

 

In Freemasonry

Léo Taxil (1854–1907) claimed that Freemasonry is associated with worshipping Lucifer. In what is known as the Taxil hoax, he alleged that leading Freemason Albert Pike had addressed "The 23 Supreme Confederated Councils of the world" (an invention of Taxil), instructing them that Lucifer was God, and was in opposition to the evil god Adonai. Supporters of Freemasonry contend that, when Albert Pike and other Masonic scholars spoke about the "Luciferian path," or the "energies of Lucifer," they were referring to the Morning Star, the light bearer,[104] the search for light; the very antithesis of dark, satanic evil. Taxil promoted a book by Diana Vaughan (actually written by himself, as he later confessed publicly) that purported to reveal a highly secret ruling body called the Palladium, which controlled the organization and had a satanic agenda. As described by Freemasonry Disclosed in 1897:

 

With frightening cynicism, the miserable person we shall not name here [Taxil] declared before an assembly especially convened for him that for twelve years he had prepared and carried out to the end the most sacrilegious of hoaxes. We have always been careful to publish special articles concerning Palladism and Diana Vaughan. We are now giving in this issue a complete list of these articles, which can now be considered as not having existed.

 

Taxil's work and Pike's address continue to be quoted by anti-masonic groups.

 

In Devil-Worship in France, Arthur Edward Waite compared Taxil's work to today's tabloid journalism, replete with logical and factual inconsistencies.

 

In Neopagan Witchcraft

In a collection of folklore and magical practices supposedly collected in Italy by Charles Godfrey Leland and published in his Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, the figure of Lucifer is featured prominently as both the brother and consort of the goddess Diana, and father of Aradia, at the center of an alleged Italian witch-cult. In Leland's mythology, Diana pursued her brother Lucifer across the sky as a cat pursues a mouse. According to Leland, after dividing herself into light and darkness:

 

"...Diana saw that the light was so beautiful, the light which was her other half, her brother Lucifer, she yearned for it with exceeding great desire. Wishing to receive the light again into her darkness, to swallow it up in rapture, in delight, she trembled with desire. This desire was the Dawn. But Lucifer, the light, fled from her, and would not yield to her wishes; he was the light which files into the most distant parts of heaven, the mouse which flies before the cat."

Here, the motions of Diana and Lucifer once again mirror the celestial motions of the moon and Venus, respectively. Though Leland's Lucifer is based on the classical personification of the planet Venus, he also incorporates elements from Christian tradition, as in the following passage:

 

"Diana greatly loved her brother Lucifer, the god of the Sun and of the Moon, the god of Light (Splendor), who was so proud of his beauty, and who for his pride was driven from Paradise."

In the several modern Wiccan traditions based in part on Leland's work, the figure of Lucifer is usually either omitted or replaced as Diana's consort with either the Etruscan god Tagni, or Dianus (Janus, following the work of folklorist James Frazer in The Golden Bough).

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

Spiritual crises as the cause of paranormal phenomena, Paranormal phenomena seen in connection with clairvoyance, and Paranormal phenomena seen in connection with channeling).Symbols from the universal images are of a completely different character. They reproduce a much clearer, more precise and superior astral wholeness. It is from these symbols you can receive direct teachings about your spiritual development process.

 

When you have trained meditation and dream yoga in many years, a so-called divine being can visit you through a symbol from the universal images: Christ, Buddha, masters, teachers, angels. Note that these of course also can from the collective images – the difference is explained below:

 

Such a symbol is, as mentioned, a telescopying, a representing quintessence of the informationquantities, which the wholeness in a universal image contains. The divine being will in that way canalize information to you from the universal image, which, together with the whole of the universal vision, constitutes the dream-tracks and the songlines in the artwork of your life. The divine being (or other symbols from the universal images) will in that way help you to compose, to synthesize and interlock, what your inner thinker in the waking state has divided. But it is very important to understand that this nothing has to do with the channeling phenomenon, which belongs to the collective images. In order to receive help from a divine being you must be very close to enlightenment yourself. Our suffering, our painbody is, through the inner evaluating ego, which the painbody is constructed around, connected with the more dangerous dephts of the astral plane´s collective history, which also are a kind of dark, ancient inertia, which opposes any change of the ego (see my article The emotional painbody and why psychotherapy can´t heal it). That is also the reason why you, through therapy, can´t heal Man from the ground. In order to heal Man from the ground you need to go into a spiritual practice. It is only within the religions and their spiritual traditions they have knowledge and names for the more dark sides of the astral plane´s collective history. The West has very precisely called this factor the original sin. The East has called it negative karma. The concepts indicate, that the inertia projects beyond the personal history (growing up conditions, traumatic bindings, painful experiences etc.) and far down into the collective inherit-backgrounds of history (genes, environment, society-ideals, the archetypes and the primordial images of the dreams, fantasies, fairy-tales, myths, and finally: instincts inherited from the animals). It is a factor, which lies in the evolution itself, in the genes, in the collective subconcious, in the collectice history.

A mystical experience is happening when astral energies and content arrive to the consciousness, either from the collective images, or from the universal images. When energy and content arrive to the consciousness from the collective images, then this energy, and this content, will symbolize itself. This is due to, that the collective images are in a condition of vague, diffuse, astral oneness. What is coming from the collective images therefore contains a much greater width and depth than the limitary, relatively narrow and clear concepts and classes of the ordinary consciousness. The vague, wide contents and energies from the collective images are therefore growing narrower in the meeting with the consciousness. The symbol is this quintessence, this shortened, condensed form of expression of the vague, wide collective material. The other types of symbols are coming from the universal images, and therewith from reality and truth itself. All reality, which shall mirror itself in the superficial mind, will automatically symbolize itself. Again the symbol is a telescopying, a representing quintessence of the informationquantities, and the greater clarity, which are connected with reality. Symbols from the collective images reproduce a more vague, more imprecisely, but richer organic astral oneness. Symbols from the universal images reproduce a clearer, more precise and superior astral oneness. The more vague astral oneness, or the more precise astral oneness, shows itself in symbolic form in the dividing, separating structure of consciousness. This refers to the three forms of states the wholeness can be in: sleep, dream, awake. When the wholeness is sleeping, mountains are mountains and woods are woods. This is the reality of the ordinary consciousness (the Ego-consciousness). The ordinary consciousness can sleep in three ways: 1) the dark sleep, which is the Ego´s deep nightly sleep; 2) the grey sleep, which is the Ego´s nightly dreams and other dreams; 3) the light sleep, where the Ego is awake. The three forms of states the wholeness can be in, can also be described as the personal time, the collective time and the universal time. Furthermore it can be described as the personal history, the collective history and the universal history. Time and history constitute the structure under your thinking. This structure is also called the astral plane, or the astral world. It is a plane of existence postulated both by classical (particular neo-Platonic), medieval, oriental and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. It is the world of the planetary spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body, either through the dream state, or on the way to being born and after death, and generally said to be populated by angels, demons, spirits or other immaterial beings. The astral plane is connected with the so-called Akashic records. The Akashic records are a compendium of mystical knowledge encoded in a non-physical plane of existence: the astral plane. These records are described as containing all knowledge of human experience and the history of the cosmos. They are holding a record of all events, actions, thoughts and feelings that have ever occurred or will ever occur. Since my teenage years, I have had relationships with Beings of Light such as Jeshua, Michael, Sanat Kumara, Lady Portia, Amira, Maitreya, Sananda, the Great Crystal Master, the Dragon and many others. They instructed me in their conceptions that allowed me to prune my beliefs, to experience new knowledge. Thanks to their attention, I was progressing in my inner study. Taking advantage of their advice and encouragement, I went through the adversity I had encountered. During all this time, I carefully integrated their teachings without disclosing them, I applied them consciously in my daily life. Several times they told me, through mediums, that it was time for me to work with my fellow human beings. I would say "I, who have so many obstacles" and I would continue my studies with them. More than twenty years ago, Awakeness told me that I had the opportunity to read Akashic annals, I didn't know what it was. It took me a long time to get acquainted with the library of Nature where everything is recorded in every detail, from Creation to infinity. Today, I confess that I used this database in ignorance. Facts arose without my knowledge, I met more and more people in great difficulty, I offered them, anonymously, what I had received. One day, I was offered a book on Akashic annals. I knew the time had come to expose myself. The opportunity to concretize this new experimentation presented itself to me, through one of my friends who was experiencing an important annoyance. I said to him:"If you want I ask Akasha for teachings to give you solutions to your context". The impact of the explanation and the akashic vibration collected by Martine was immediate and spread throughout her home. His entourage was surprised by this change and asked him what had happened. She received the necessary answers to her family situation and also all the understandings that allowed her to find joy in sincere and harmonious relationships, which are still in force and spread to her household. Everyone watched and looked at the sufferings he was carrying in order to transform them. An information was transmitted to her by her husband, who had crossed the bridge of earthly life for the afterlife, which confirmed her to act on the decisions.

The Sanskrit term akasha was introduced to the language of theosophy through H. P. Blavatsky (1831–1891), who characterized it as a sort of life force; she also referred to "indestructible tablets of the astral light" recording both the past and future of human thought and action, but she did not use the term "akashic". The notion of an akashic record is attributed to Alfred Percy Sinnett, who, in his book Esoteric Buddhism (1883), wrote of a Buddhist belief in "a permanency of records in the Akasa" and "the potential capacity of man to read the same."By C. W. Leadbeater's Clairvoyance (1899) the association of the term with the idea was complete, and he identified the akashic records by name as something a clairvoyant could read. In his 1913 Man: How, Whence, and Whither?, Leadbeater claims to record the history of Atlantis and other civilizations as well as the future society of Earth in the 28th century.The Akasha is an “astral light” containing occult records, which spiritual beings can perceive by their “astral senses” and “astral bodies”. Clairvoyance, spiritual insight, prophecy and many other metaphysical and religious notions are made possible by tapping into the Akashic reacords. They are metaphorically described as a library. They can be accessed through astral projection, meditation, near-death experience, lucid dreaming, or other means. The Akashic records are the wholeness, and as mentioned: the wholeness can be in three states of spiritual awakening - sleep, dream, awake – which again can be described as the personal, collective and universal time (or history).

The reactions to experience of the entire animal kingdom, the aggregation of the thought-forms of a karmic nature (based on desire) of every human unit throughout time. Herein lies the great deception of the records. Only a trained occultist can distinguish between actual experience and those astral pictures created by imagination and keen desire. Since Wilhelm Haidinger discovered the phenomenon of the ‘brush’ which is named after him in 1844, there can be no doubt that human vision comprises an additional sense for the orientation of a so called polarised luminance. In this paper the physical conditions under which Haidinger’s Brush is to be observed in transparent or reflective media are described in detail. Furthermore it will be shown how Goethe’s work on ‘entoptic colour’, Steiner’s concept of the U-Region and modern physiological and natural science touch on a mutual ground that is to be characterised by Haidinger’s Brush appearing.Seen from a spiritual perspective, this instinctive survival strategi (the Ego) appears as a resistance, an invincible inertia: original sin, negative karma. You can´t, by therapeutic strategies, free the consciousness for its attachment to this inertia. You can therefore not dissolve or dilute or convert the original sin through therapy. Only the intervention of the Source (God, Christ, the enlightened consciousness) can basically help Man with a trancendence of the negative karma of the original sin. But in order to, that a human being should be able to receive this help from the Source (gift of grace), then this requires an eminently precise and profound preparation. And as part of this preparation serve the true spiritual practice within the religions

 

mortentolboll.weebly.com/paranormal-phenomena-seen-in-con...

 

The whole extent of circumstances which have its observation in common, distinguish it as a higher phenomenon among others, that it is the primary phenomenon of polarisation.Haidinger-Büschel als Urphänomen der Polarisationserscheinungen Albert Pröbstl.f Goethe’s Urphänomen, the ferreting out of the simplest,

archetypal concept which exhibits the characteristics of the complex whole and proceeding from the simple to the more composite. At this point, the similarity of Hegel’s method to that of Goethe is evident, except of course that the relevant complex whole is not to be understoodas a natural phenomenon but rather manifestations of Spirit, specificallyformations of consciousness. , this stream of impressions has to be surmounted, and grasped as

a whole. This holistic view is not attained by contemplation of the name or the idea of Nature, but on the contrary by contemplation of Nature itself and determination of the archetypal phenomenon, the simplest unit of a complex natural process. This insight is only the outcome of patient, attentive and delicate observation. Likewise, if a citizen of any social formation, recognizes as Absolute the guiding principle of his own activity, Hegel does not suppose that they see in that form of practice a finite manifestation of Absolute Spirit. That is an insight which becomes available only to the philosopher who looks back from the end of the journey of Spirit. Goethe and Hegel shared a common concern, not just for Truth, but for the Spiritual Community. One of the driving forces of Goethe’s science was to work out a practice and concept of science which would be accessible to participation by the entire people,something of which Hegel despaired. But there are obvious differences in the conception of the Deity as well. For Goethe, God is Nature, and insofar as he is engaged with Nature, it is the principle of his relation to Nature. Man is part of Nature, but he cannot understand his literary and social activities Pantheistically. For Hegel on the other hand, Spirit produces Nature and the human world of finite spirit, and out of them produces itself, but it is above all to human affairs that Hegel looks for his glimpse of the Deity. In the human world, Hegel gains insight into the absolute Absolute which manifests in each shape of consciousness. For Goethe we have a reified God/Nature; for Hegel we have Spirit. The crucial innovation made by Hegel is his use of the Triune structure of the concept which transcends the various dichotomies inherited from Kant whilst investing the concept with internal resources for self-mediation

A central element of Hegel’s view of the relation of man

to the Absolute, he appropriated from Goethe’s Romantic

science. Goethe’s Pantheistic conception of Urphänomen

was the single archetypal phenomena exhibiting the

essential features of some natural phenomena.

Recognition of the Urphänomen constituted a glimpse of

the Deity. Although the Urphänomen is specific to some

given complex, Goethe came to see in it a general

principle. Hegel appropriated Goethe’s idea of

Urphänomen, not unlike Herder’s Schwerpunkt, in the

Phenomenology, and transformed the archetypal norm of

a Gestalt des Bewußtseins into the Begriff of the Logic, as

an archetype of the Absolute. Expressed more generally, Goethe’s problem was this: how can we understand a complex process as a whole, as a Gestalt? Goethe rejected a

number of approaches which are characteristic of what he called ‘Newtonian’ natural science. He rejected the method of hypothesising some force or vibration or principle which controlled the complex whole from beyond the horizon of phenomena. Blavatsky said the akasha forms the ANIMA MUNDI and constitutes the soul and astral spirit of man. It produces mesmeric, magnetic, and psychic phenomena and is a component in all magical operations of nature.

Hegel polemicised along the same lines in the Logic. To say that people come to the city because the

city exerts a force of attraction explains nothing. Newton’s idea of acceleration being caused by gravity simply shifts the problem from understanding a form of motion sensuously given to us, to understanding an invisible and baseless force, known only through its expression for which it is supposed to be the explanation.The Urphänomen was Goethe’s solution to the problem of how to conceive of the whole.“... the Divine, which reveals Itself in Urphänomene, physical and moral, behind which it dwells, and which proceed from It” (To Eckermann, February 13 1829, quoted in Heinemann 1934)“This spiritual breath – it is of this that I really wished to

speak and that alone is worth speaking of – is what has

necessarily given me such great delight in Your

Excellency’s exposition of the phenomena surrounding

entopic colours. What is simple and abstract, what you

strikingly call the Urphänomen, you place at the very

beginning. You then show how the intervention of further

spheres of influence and circumstances generates the

concrete phenomena, and you regulate the whole

progression so that the succession proceeds from simple

conditions to the more composite, and so that the

complex now appears in full clarity through this

decomposition. To ferret out the Urphänomen, to free it

from those further environs which are accidental to it, to

apprehend as we say abstractly – this I take to be a matter

of spiritual intelligence for nature, just as I take that

course generally to be the truly scientific knowledge in

this field” (Hegel 1984: 698).New York: akasha (akasa) Im Eastern mysticism and oeculism, the all-pervasive lile principle or all pervasive space of the cosmos. The term akasha is derived from the Sanskrit term for 'sky." The akasha is known by various other names in Western occultism and MAGIC. In Hinduism, the akasha is the substance ether, a fifth element and the subtlest of all elements. The akasha per meates everything in the universe and is the vehicle for all life and sound. In yoga, the akasha is one of three unit versal principles along with prana, the universal life force, and creative mind. These three principles are immanent in all things throughout the universe and are the sources of magical and psychic power. From the akasha comes will, an important component of magic, which enables all man ner of feats to be accomplished. In Buddhism, is not ether but space, ol which there are rwo kinds. One is space that is limited by the material, from which springs the manifestation of the elements of nature. The second is space that is unlimited, unbounded by the material and beyond description. The concept of the akasha was inaroduced to Weslern occultism in the early 20th century by hel ena p blavat sky, founder of the theosophical society. Blavatsky said the akasha forms the ANIMA MUNDI and constitutes the soul and astral spirit of man. It produces mesmerie, magnetic and psychic phenomena and is a component in all magi cal operations of nature. Blavatsky compared the akasha to lhe "sidereal lighi" ol rosic rucianism, he asi ral light of iphas levi, and the odyle or odic lorce of Baron Karl von uivalent of the llebrew ruah, the Reichenbach is th in motion, or moving spirit and is identi- wind, breath, air cal with the spirit of God moving on the tace ol the waters described the akasha as incomprehensible. non-created, and undefinable. Akasha creates everything and keeps everything in bal it is the all in all.

Five arts was Goethe's method of transmuting his observation of human nature into sharable form. Drawing from his novel, Elective Affinities (Wahlverwandschaften), Goethe discerned a geheime Verwandschaft (hidden relationship) of parts that explains how one form can transform into another form whilst being part of an underlying archetypal form (Ur-phänomen). It is this organizing idea or form that guides the consideration of the parts; it is a Bild or virtual image that "emerges and re-emerges from the interaction of experience and ideas"[3] This consideration is a special type of thinking (noetic ideation or denken) carried out with a different organ of cognizance to that of the brain (mentation or sinnen), one that involves an act of creative imagination, what Goethe terms "the living imaginal beholding of Nature" (das lebendige Anschauen der Natur). Goethe's nature (natura naturans, the activity of "nature naturing" – as distinguished from natura naturata, "nature natured", the domain of naturally formed objects) is one in constant flux and flow, but nonetheless governed by law, logic and intelligence above the mind. To approach vital nature requires a different cognitive capacity (denken) and cognitive organ (Gemüt) from that used to perceive inert nature (sinnen based on the Intellect or Sinn).

Hegel goes on to speak of his philosophical appropriation of the Urphänomen: “But may I now still speak to you of the special interest that an Urphänomen, thus cast in relief, has for us philosophers, namely that we can put such a preparation – with Your Excellency’s permission – directly to

philosophical use. But if we have at last worked our

initially oyster-like Absolute – whether it be grey or

entirely black, suit yourself – through towards air and

light to the point that the Absolute has itself come to

desire this air and light, we now need to throw open the

window so as to lead the Absolute fully out into the light

of day” (Hegel 1984: 699).Leaf operculum alone all others as a blessing creativity, vitality, hope and madness and more !!! Akasha is the aura of the Earth. physically. All trace continues to exist in the akasha of the Earth, which made the Egyptians say that we can survive through supports representing us (statuettes, photos, engravings, icons) and that gives the feeling to certain peoples that being photographed traps the soul ... it's partly true but not definitively. At each new galactic hour (every 25 600 years in human years), a reset of the akasha takes place. The next is scheduled for December 21, 2012. Getting back to work can be a good thing. Pilgrims of Heaven, we are! Good day. The Astral is another name to refer to the psyche (radiation of thoughts and human emotions) and the energetic aura (electromagnetic radiation) of the Earth for me. Etheric means spiritual energy of the higher consciousness planes tand qu 'energetic' refers to terrestrial and human radiation. The Paradise are the high parts of the astral, in these circles of purity are the teachings of the Ascended Masters. There are also portals to other dimensions of life here, on Earth in the 3rd dimension we are calibrated by a heart rate, a lunar rhythm, a terrestrial electro magnetic energy and the frequencies of human thoughts and emotions. All these frequencies reduce us condense us, lower us. We live at best on the frequency of our stomach (self-enhancement individualism and competition at worst on the frequency of our gut (withdrawal on the family, devaluation of self for the benefit of the local collective, war to defend its territory against invaders, aliens, energy racism) And when one is underdeveloped socially, one is based on the root chakra, connected to the spirit of survival, leads to mistrust vis-avis humans, with the need to live outside without social constraints like solitary wild animals (sdf and marginality chosen)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science

  

Week 7/52

 

"I didn’t know the sky was made of glass until the day your screams became thunder, and it rained so hard, I bled. I saw the way storms were woven into you, but I didn’t think you were storing up so much wind. It nearly killed me, the way you wiped me out like that. I want you to know that I put myself back together, and I only bled for a little bit. You ripping me apart, it reminded me how well I could put myself back together. I know now that I was born to love, even if it’s not loving you. My chest is far too big to only have room for a boy who kissed me while breaking my heart. There is so much more to love than the type that sleeps in your bed. I am learning that. I am not defined by how well I fit inside of someone else’s pocket. This world is far too vast, and I swear I’ll never fold myself in again. I swear I’ll never break apart my ribs just so someone can fit more comfortably inside. I swear I’ll never tie up my veins like I did with you. I swear I’ll remember the way my mother called me beautiful before I remember the way you said I wasn’t.”

-Y.Z.

  

I found this quote last night and it was something I originally was about to scroll past because of is length. But, for some reason, I decided to take a moment to read it. And it struck home with a lot of aspects in my life, past and present.

 

I picked this portrait for its simplicity and subtle emotion. I realized from the beginning I wasn't going to put out a conceptual image every week (well, when I get around to it now) and some of it was going to be a little more quiet in nature. This is one of them. I have a few of this guy in my stream now, but this is probably my favorite so far from our multiple shoots.

I have almost completed reading Pilgrimage in Exile which is a very moving book....highly recommended.

 

The other book Braiding Sweetgrass, I am reading with my sister. We plan on reading a chapter a week....my review to her on the first chapter:

 

Well...I have read the first chapter...I loved the creation story...it only makes sense that all life proceeds from the feminine. Christianity has always pushed the masculine side of a creator....no wonder that religion is falling out of favor.....

 

But the pure truth is still embedded in myth and Robin beautifully shows us the beauty that is in front of us...and that myth can still add depth, if we take the time to walk in the grass;)

 

Chapter 2-The council of pecans

I loved this essay, where Robin helps us journey into the life of a pecan. I have always sensed that the earth is a gift of herself to us. We call this mother nature. Such a complex and fragile earth that we live on. In this essay, she explains why in some year’s trees produce much and in other years less-the boon or bust of nature. I am awed by the lifecycle of a nut! We are also, whether we accept it or not, part of this delicate process-to give and take, but not to uproot and destroy.

 

I also sense that there is a great awareness growing in humankind…one that is more nurturing to our earth-a gift to be appreciated not trampled on.

 

Chapter 3

Ah yes, the gift of strawberries. Do you remember that I used to pick them, when we lived in Oregon? I was young than. I remember how my hands would be stained in red, but it felt good to be part of the process of bringing berries from the field to the table.

 

I am finding that this chapter “The Gift of Strawberries” has a consistent theme with the first two chapters. The earth is a gift! I sense that is why I was drawn to this book in the first place. In my religious imagination…the sense of the earth as a gift… is paramount in my understanding of my purpose in the world. Could you imagine everyone treating the world as if it were a gift? This idea alone would change the world.

 

Chapter 4, An Offering

I related with this chapter more then the others-so far anyway. I sense that Robin, is yearning to understand her father’s ritual of pouring out the first cup of coffee to the God Tahawus. The important thing she tells us is the attitude of the ones completing the ritual-“Ohh, hear are the ones who know how to say thank you.” It reminds me of why I am attracted to the deep rituals found in my own faith. In the catholic church, these collection of rituals…when carried out would be called the liturgy…our thankful offering…for gifts given…

 

I know that we did not grow up with rituals…but I think in our own way…we have found what speaks to us in a similar way.

 

Chapter 5-Asters and Goldenrod

 

Native scholar Greg Cajete has written that in indigenous ways of knowing, we understand a thing only when we understand it with all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion and spirit. I came to understand quite sharply when I began my training as a scientist that science privileges only one, possibly two of those ways of knowing; mind and body. As a young person wanting to know everything about plants, I did not questions this. But it is a whole human being who finds the beautiful path....

 

This quote from our latest chapter resonates with me the most. I suspect that most individuals in our busy world skip the "spiritual" component of our being. Lower ethics seems to be the result...

 

It is interesting that people know that something is missing...maybe that is why mr Rogers is so popular right now...

/****************************

Chapter 6 – Learning the Grammar of Animacy

Some of my favorite quotes from this chapter:

 

Puhpowee, she explained, translates as “the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight.”…The makers of this word understood a world of being, full of unseen energies that animate everything.

“What lies beyond our grasp remains unnamed.”

 

"Only 30 percent of English words are verbs, but in Potawatomi the proportion is 70 percent"

 

“our language sounds like wind in the pines and water over rocks, sounds our ears may have been more delicately attuned to in the past, but no longer”

 

Dearest sister, this chapter has spoken to me on a much deeper level. I understand what I feel…but I never have the right words to describe what I feel in certain situations. Especially as it relates to nature. I have never really thought that the problem would have been the language that I speak (English) as being the problem. Maybe that is reason alone to learn a different language! They say Spanish is a romantic language…I am starting to feel it as I learn more and more each day.

/*************

 

Hola Sister,

 

Chapter 7-Maple Sugar Moon

 

This is the first chapter I read in the book. I had to re read it last night.

 

As I was reading this chapter, I was thinking about how big business has replaced so many of our food processes. We have benefited from this process in that our grocery shelves are full...and we have so many choices.

 

However, what we have lost is our connection...to these products. Maple syrup production has been mechanized to the point that there is little human involvement.

 

It is a blessing to have a garden and books like this to remind us that there is wonder in nature...the tides flow...the sun sets...the seasons change and Maple trees give us syrup at the right time...

 

Yes, with each breathe we should have deep gratitude for the forces that push life from branch to table...all is a gift regardless of how it is delivered to us.

 

Blessings your way... see

/**********

 

Chapter 8: Witch Hazel

 

Greetings Sister,

 

This was a very beautiful story! I was thinking of our great grandma Lowe as I was reading about Hazel. I can remember the smell of her place...

 

This is what is missing from the world today! People do not know their neighbors! Remember the Stotts! They were good neighbors... I remember them being very old and I can remember the old black falcon station wagon that mr. stott drove.

 

There are good memories back there in our childhood...but there are also some troubling shadows. I suspect that Hazel had a very hard life....we have a tendency to only remember the good times. Robin got to hear about the fond memories of Hazel and we got to hear a beautiful story...but not the whole story.

 

Regardless, it is a reminder that time takes from us...leaving us only memories and the future is beyond our control...we only have now. I do choose to remember the good times from my past...going to Oregon in an orange Volkswagen....;) I remember that Olivia Newton John sang Have You Ever Been Mellow on the tv in our motel room...such a good memory!

 

Have a blessed day!

 

/*******

Chapter 9 - A Mother’s Work

 

Greetings Sister,

 

This chapter now tops the list! It is my favorite from the book!

 

I have always found the ability of mothers to empty themselves for the family as profound and well worth including in my theological view of life. To often this sacrifice has been cheapened or ignored entirely...when it fact should be honored and held as a truthful and beautiful part of our humanity. Our culture seems to be obsessed with power and the glamorization of the individual.

 

Mothering is the opposite of power and self obsession.

 

Robin weaves a beautiful truth in this chapter. Everything she does to revive the pond...is so that her daughters have a place to swim. She never achieves the goal, but learns so much about nature and mothering in her efforts. She never gives up. She learns that mothering like the pond sustains life far beyond her realm of influence. She is truly inspiring!

 

To often God is understood from the position of power and domination... however, this view misses the other half of God that is nurturing and life giving.

 

Have a blessed day!

/******************

Chapter 10-The Consolation of Water Lilies

 

“It is the fundamental unfairness of parenthood that if we do our jobs well, the deepest bond we are given will walk out the door with a wave over the shoulder.”

 

“I remember my babies at the breast, the first feeding, the long deep suck that drew up from my innermost well, which was filled and filled again, by the look that passed between us, the reciprocity of mother and child….I will miss it.”

 

“We spill over into the world and the world spills over into us. The earth, that first among mothers, gives us the gift that we cannot provide ourselves. I hadn’t realized that I had come to the lake and said feed me, but my empty heart was fed. I had a good mother. She gives what we need without being asked. I wonder if she gets tired, old Mother Earth. Or if she too is fed by the giving, “Thanks,” I whispered, “for all of this.””

 

Hello Dear Sister,

 

As, I was reading this chapter, I was overwhelmed by the many quotes that I am certain touched you. What a beautiful chapter on motherhood and change. I am glad that I have the spirituality too relate to the beauty of creation our great provider. Yes, this is very spiritual for me! One does not need a church building to have a deep spiritual experience in nature. Reality is here…in the quiet places of nature…if only we listen…I suspect that you and I listen. Our age, is telling us now to listen…in the silent places we will find a peace…a peace that calms us…when everything around us screams in chaos. We do not react…because we understand the big picture…the life cycle…and it is truly beautiful. We are cradled in the love of Mother Earth.

Blessings,

/**********************

Allegiance to Gratitude

“The Thanksgiving Address is a reminder we cannot hear too often, that we human beings are not in charge of the world, but are subject to the same forces as all of the rest of life.”

 

“What is the duty of humans?”

 

“We now turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings to the Creator. Now our minds are one.”

 

Greetings Sister,

This chapter was another gem. Gratitude for creation is a big part of my spirituality and this tradition from the aboriginal peoples of loving the Great Spirit…and Mother Earth fit well into my belief system. How you may ask? Before there was institutional religion…there were words. These words express something grander than what they can contain. In other words truth has to be lived and experienced before we can relate it to words.

 

Robin, is giving us a glimpse from her ancestral tradition, the collective experience of truth put into words…whether repeated each morning as part of a ritual such as prayer…regardless…our spirits sore with gratitude…and truth is experienced. Our life on earth, is a gift! We should be extremely grateful for this gift. I am and I know that you are.

 

Blessings,

/***************

Chapter: Epiphany in the Beans

 

“I snapped them off where they hung in slender twosomes, bit into one, and tasted nothing but August, distilled into pure crisp beaniness.”

 

“Seeing them plant and harvest makes me feel like a good mother, teaching them how to provide for themselves.”

 

“The land loves us back. She loves us with beans and tomatoes, with roasting ears and blackberries and bird songs. By a shower of gifts and a heavy rain of lessons. She provides for us and teaches us to provide for ourselves. That’s what good mothers do.”

 

“Our appetite for their fruits leads us to till, prune, irrigate, fertilize, and weed on their behalf. Perhaps they have domesticated us. Wild plants have changed to stand in well-behaved rows and wild humans have changed to settle alongside the fields and care for the plants-a kind of mutual taming.”

 

“People often ask me what one thing I would recommend to restore relationships between land and people. My answer is almost always, Plant a garden.”

 

Hello Rhonda,

 

As I read this chapter, I am reflecting on the hints of Spring with which March teases us. Yes, this is in the context of earthquakes and quarantines. I am examining Spring a little bit closer and appreciating the songs of Killdeer in my backyard. Of course my faith provides a purpose, but when reality lays bare…I am humbled and quiet. I don’t have much to say! I just seek peace in the silence and learn to appreciate the very small realities that now have become large…the wind, the rain, each bird song, and the buds on the trees.

 

I have a habit of finding quotes that move in the books I read. So I start this communication with these quotes. May favorite one is how the plants have domesticated us. So true….

 

Love, Your Brother…

/**********

Chapter: The Three Sisters

 

Quotes:

“What if you were a teacher but had no voice to speak your knowledge? What if you had no language at all and yet there was something you needed to say? Wouldn’t you dance it? Wouldn’t you act it out? Wouldn’t your every movement tell the story? In time you would become so eloquent that just to gaze upon you would reveal all.”

 

“I hold in my hand the genius of indigenous agriculture, the Three Sisters. Together those plants-corn, beans, and squash-feed the people, feed the land, and feed our imaginations, telling us how we might live.”

 

“But the beauty of the partnership is that each plant does what it does in order to increase its own growth. But as it happens, when the individuals flourish, so does the whole.”

 

Greetings Sister,

 

Robin goes very deep in this chapter on the Three Sisters; corn, beans and squash. My opening quote from her gives the context in which I read this chapter…no corn, beans and squash do not have voices, but in their existence they do teach us that there is a voice… a rhythm, a vibration. Yes, a very slow dance…nevertheless a dance. Each morning I watch the pear tree out of my home office window…and in this season of Spring, this tree with its white blossoms dances for me. Yes, in the chaos of even daily earthquakes and home confinement…my soul rests for a moment in the beauty of a tree holding blossoms and nests…truly a gift.

 

There is more in this chapter that I am failing to talk about…but it is this opening quote that moves me.

 

Your brother,

/******

Chapter: Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket

 

“Like the rest of the family, John is also a master teacher, committed to sharing what has been passed on by generations who came before. What was given to him, he now gives back to the people”

 

“Trees are affected by their sampling days as much as people are by their childhoods. The history of a tree appears in its growth rings, of course.”

 

“Trees are not taken, but requested.”

 

“Just about everything we use is the result of another’s life, but that simple reality is rarely acknowledged in our Society.”

“You can’t take something without giving back.”

 

“There is one beat, but each dancer has a distinctive step: dipping grass dancers, crouching buffalo dancers, the twirl of fancy shawl dancers, high-stepping jingle-dress girls, the dignified pace of the women’s traditional dancers.”

 

Greetings Sister,

I liked this chapter very much! I related with John the master teacher. I consider myself a teacher, and one of the methods that John used to teach…is creating the space for the individual to create something of their own…to answer their own question. He guided and explained the overall goal in the basket making process, but let the individual learn throughout the process …stressing the sacredness of the Black Ash Tree to the whole process.

 

This is a timely message. I think this virus pandemic is helping to see and appreciate the things we take for granted. Photography has always been the tool that helps me see deeper. Combined with the conditions we find ourselves in…it has only amplified my sensitivity to the simple things in life. I do deeply appreciate the green that surrounds me…and feel it is as a gift from our maker. Yes, this would include each breath I take. I also appreciate you and that you are my sister! You are a tender soul and very selfless!

 

Love, Your Brother

/******************

Chapter: The Teachings of the Grass

“If we use a plant respectfully it will stay with us and flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away. If you don’t give it respect it will leave us.”

 

“Plants answer questions by the way they live, by their responses to change; you just need to learn how to ask.”

 

“Sweet grass is not an experimental unit for me; it’s a gift.”

 

“Getting scientist to consider the validation of indigenous knowledge is like swimming upstream in cold, cold water.”

In a field of tall grass, with only the wind for company, there is a language that transcends the differences between scientific and traditional understandings, the data or the prayer. The wind moves through and carries the grass song. It sounds to me like mishhhhkos, over and over again on the ripples of moving grass. After all it has taught us, I want to say thank you.”

 

Greetings Sister,

 

This chapter, The Teachings of the Grass, is a delightful read. What I find is a voice from another that seems to agree with my own experience. There is something very magical about tall grass swaying in the wind. The Great Salt Lake has a type of grass that can surpass my height. I have taken several pictures of this grass that changes from season to season. It is a place where various wild birds take refuge.

 

It is my understanding that science has done wonderful things for modern life. However, it sometimes, can close it self off from the common sense of those who tend the earth and naturally see everything as a gift from the great Spirit. A scientific view of everything, can be very limiting…bulking at everything that can’t be understood from observation. How, can you measure, the overwhelming gratitude of one…standing in a sea of grass as it dances and sways with the wind?

 

Your Brother,

/*****

Greetings Rhonda,

 

I guess I’m going to take the year reading Braiding Sweetgrass. That is okay with me. It is a nice diversion from the theological studies that I so enjoy reading. The chapter I am currently reading “Maple Nation: A Citizenship Guide” is based on a consistent theme found throughout Robin’s writings.

I have a favorite maple tree in my backyard. I planted it on one of my birthdays…15 or so years ago. I treasure this tree! I know that it plays a vital role in the environment, but it’s contribution to me is its very beauty. One spring, it snowed…and the heavy snow broke my tree in half. I was stunned and heart broken. However, with great care, I nursed the tree back to health. It is now half the size that it was! It’s beauty is balancing out every year…soon it will be the tree that it was.

 

I love trees and they speak to the deepest part of me. Robin obviously feels the same way about her maple trees. Most of her stories, include her deep appreciation for trees, which extends to all of nature.

 

“You take care of trees, and they will take care of you.”

On to the next chapter….

/***********************

The Honorable Harvest

 

“The cultural landscape may have changed, but the conundrum has not-the need to revolve the inescapable tension between honoring life around us and taking it in order to live is part of being human.”

 

“Perhaps this helps to explain why we seem to be caught in a trap of overconsumption, which is as destructive to ourselves as to those who consume.”

 

“Imagination is one of our most powerful tools. What we imagine, we can become.”

 

“When they abandoned gratitude, the gifts abandoned them.”

 

“The Honorable Harvest asks us to give back, in reciprocity for what we have been given”

 

Greetings sister,

Again, I give you my quotes that stood out to me as I read this chapter of Braiding Sweetgrass. This has been, from my perspective, the chapter that resonates with me the most. Being familiar with historical cultures there was a time when societies did celebrate the harvest. Life was less distracting than, now to many false narratives consume us-there is no downtime.

 

But we know, with age, the veneer of what we thought was important becomes fragile or unreal. I live within seasons now! I respect the harvest because I can see it for the gift it is. I see that even my breath is a gift…one for which I am profoundly thankful.

Love your brother!

  

When Carl Sagan had famously said that “we’re made of star stuff,” he wasn’t joking because the facts are that the cosmos are hidden within all of us humans. We are the SO BELOW here on earth in which the cosmos and heavens are the AS ABOVE.

Albert Pike, 33rd Degree Freemason and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite said; “Lucifer the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendours intolerable blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not! ”

And one of Freemasonry’s greatest philosophers that has ever lived, 33rd Degree Freemason and master Rosicrucian Manly P. Hall said this about Lucifer in his book, All Seeing Eye; “Lucifer represents the individual intellect and will which rebels against the domination of Nature and attempts to maintain itself contrary to natural impulse. Lucifer, in the form of Venus, is the morning star spoken of in Revelation, which is to be given to those who overcome the world.”

Many people mistakenly think that Lucifer is Satan and vice versa, but the facts are that is simply not true. This misinformation, conspiracies and lies have been propagated to the people through many books and movies to the point today in this year 2013, that most people equate Lucifer with Satan or evil. Hopefully you have an open mind and will get past this propaganda like I did myself, in order for you to discover the truth. I AM sure this is the case or else most likely you wouldn’t be reading this website.

If you are asking the question, “Who is Lucifer?,” the answer that you will find often depends on who you ask or where you perform your search. But the facts are that if you were to research the true meaning of Lucifer that is somewhat hidden in secret societies such as Freemasonry, you would find that some of the world’s most prolific 33rd Degree Freemasons have already established the meaning of Lucifer, that they have written about in their books on the occult.

The word “occult” simply means hidden, which is the whole point of the misinformation that you will find on the true meaning of Lucifer. In addition, if you know where to look, the true definition of Lucifer along with corresponding information is now common knowledge on Wikipedia. However, due to countless publications of misinformation via articles, books and videos all over Youtube; the truth is still buried beneath a pile of ignorance.

Therefor, for us smart researchers, we have come to understand this simple fact: That in order to find the light, we have to uncover the truth which is buried at the bottom of these lies and hundreds of years of church, government and ignorant human propaganda. The real story of Lucifer is no different. We have to perform some fact checking of our own like you are doing right now, so that we all can get to the bottom of this disinformation in order to get to the light of the truth.

This article will do just that for you, by helping clear the lies in order for you to see the light of Lucifer for what he truly represents.

Jesus morning star

In the occult, Lucifer is often referred to as the ‘morning star.’ In the Bible, you will find this same exact reference to Jesus as well who says in Revelation 22:16 – “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

You see, just as Lucifer is known as the morning star, Jesus also calls himself ‘the bright morning star’ and as I stated above, Manly P. Hall had said, “Lucifer, in the form of Venus, is the morning star spoken of in Revelation, which is to be given to those who overcome the world.” Hence, rest assured that Jesus and Lucifer are one and the same which will become clearly evident to those with an eye to see the true light amongst the darkness in which we live.

The reason that both Lucifer and Jesus can be considered one and the same is because of an often little understood chemical compound that is hidden within each of our own DNA called ‘Phosphorus.’ Phosphorus is essential for life and the phosphate is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes.

Simply put, without phosphorus, we humans would simply not be human because consciousness and our spiritual energy would not exist. It is through our DNA which contains phosphorus, that we become conscious to the world and who we are in order to live in the light. Hence, Lucifer is really just an allegory to describe ‘Phosphorus’ which resides in our DNA.

The literal meaning of phosphorus (Phosp-Horus = Lucifer) is “Light-Bringer.”

Horus winged sun

Here is the definition that you will find on Wikipedia; Phosphorus (Greek Φωσφόρος Phōsphoros), a name meaning “Light-Bringer”, is the Morning Star, the planet Venus in its morning appearance. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is Ἑωσφόρος (Heōsphoros), which means “Dawn-Bringer”.

The Latin word corresponding to Greek Phosphorus is “Lucifer”. It is used in its astronomical sense both in prose and poetry. The Latin word lucifer, corresponding to, was used as a name for the morning star and thus appeared in the Vulgate translation of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל (helel) – meaning Venus as the brilliant, bright or shining one – in Isaiah 14:12, where the Septuagint Greek version uses, not Φωσφόρος, but Ἑωσφόρος.

origins of freemasonry

Venus is the brightest morning “star” and is currently the focal point of the eastern dawn sky. This would be the reason why you will find that all Freemason Lodges face the north and south, but when you walk into the lodge room, you’re symbolically facing the East and all masonic rituals are performed while facing the East in preparation of the son of the morning via the dawn of a new day under the light of the morning star.

Manly P. Hall writes in his book, Initiates of the Flame: “It is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the gateway of the Pyramid, and that there was an underground passage which led from the Sphinx to Cheops (Great Pyramid)” (Initiates of the Flame, p. 68).

The Sphinx symbolizes man. The Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and spirit of the human rising out of the animal desires and emotions. It is the riddle of the ages, and man is once more the answer. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx is a symbol are Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man, or the human head.

So, how can Lucifer be the the prince of darkness, when it has been established that Lucifer is really phosphorus, which a derived from a Greek name meaning “Light-Bringer?”

The facts are that is he is not the prince of darkness or Satan because Lucifer is really phosphorus that resides in our DNA. Once you understand this reality that is science based, you will then have one of the secret keys to the mysteries of the universe.

The light within each one of us humans is where we find Lucifer or Jesus, AKA the morning star.

sphynxeye

Hence, KNOW THYSELF and KNOW GOD. In ancient Egypt is was said; “The body is the house of God,” and one of the many proverbs is “Man, know thyself … and thou shalt know the gods,” and what Manly P. Hall called Aquarius the Man, or the human head represented by the Egyptian Sphinx.

When we KNOW THYSELF, we carry the water of Aquarius the Man and thus become Lion Kings of our own domain which the Egyptians had represented with the figure of a sphinx (Greek: Σφίγξ /sphinx, Bœotian: Φίξ /Phix) which is a mythical creature with, as a minimum, the body of a lion and the head of a human.

Unfortunately, with the advent of certain religions such as Christianity and Islam along with other government controls on the people, these ancient gnostic teachings were corrupted, modified or simply hidden from the multitudes of people because they are or were at one time very dangerous to the church and or government.

These authoritarian institutions operate primarily on the basis of having a master that is outside of you dictating your life, souls and spirit at every step, and they would rather “tell you who you are, where you come from and where you will be going,” rather than us humans being unique individuals who “know thyself … and thou shalt know the gods.”

The facts are that a person who KNOWS THYSELF and KNOWS GOD, is very hard to control by the powers that be because they loose their grip on this persons soul once they figure out “the game” which from day one has been an attempt to trick or steal us all out of our true beings, souls and spirits. Hence, the reason why there are all these lies and propaganda surrounding the name Lucifer.

lucifer 1

Lucifer represents the angel of light with individual intellect who ‘rebels’ against the outside ‘dark authority’. This is why he is called the ‘fallen angel.’ The dark and outside authority can be attributed to our flesh and fleshly desires coupled with the outside material world that attempts to take us away from the true light within each one of us.

This darkness tries to fool us into looking without when we should have always been looking within the whole time. Hence, this is the whole illusion of the matrix in which Satan, the true prince of darkness that represents the flesh and free will is looking to control you, so you do not look within yourself for the “prince of light” or “the morning star.”

The reference to the Venus is the AS ABOVE of which Lucifer, AKA Phosphorus is the AS BELOW.

The facts are that we are made of stardust” or star debris and are therefore “one with the universe.” This is where we get the AS ABOVE, in the SO BELOW and the AS WITHIN , of the AS WITHOUT. It is that star dust hidden inside you in the form of Phosphorus, which I have already stated is essential for life. The phosphate is a component of DNA, RNA, ATP, and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. This is the ‘spark’ in our DNA that makes us human. Lucifer is in all of us in the form of Phosphorus.

This may be where our souls access our divine consciousness and thus we become divine like Saint John or a Christ like Jesus. Or is this what the church calls evil in Lucifer because a conscious soul and spirit is a dangerous one and maybe that is why Jesus was crucified?

What is the fall of Lucifer?

fall of lucifer

It is an allegory of the light that resides in us and the fall is simply the fall away from this light. With the advent of most religions, this caused the fall of mankind. A fall away from the light within us that was then exchanged or forced by a false light that that was to be found outside of ourselves within a book or church.

Hence, the fall of Lucifer is the fall that each one of us takes when we look outside for answers as opposed to looking within for the true light, that which will guide us to the promise land or own own personal heavens.

As I stated above, Lucifer and the Morning Star are references to Phosphorus which is essential for life. Without phosphorus, consciousness, energy and the creation of this article would simply not be happening. When we turn away from this light within, we too fall away from grace. Hence, we fall for lies and truth in which we then become one of Satan’s tools that is represented by the planet Saturn. However, that will be a new article in itself.

Whether you choose to believe what I AM stating here and by confirming what I have written and quoted above, is entirely up to you because this is your path where you have to decide truth from fiction or light from dark on your own. However, if you have not done your own research and you have already reached an ignorant conclusion based on heresay or lies, then you are what Mr. Pike calls intolerable blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls, in which you are one of the billions of Satan’s weak human tools. A soul who chooses darkness rather than light and an unawakened human who worships lies over truth, where ignorance rules your actions over that of true wisdom.

Hence, another brick in the wall…….

Albert Pike’s full quote of Lucifer in his famous book, Morals and Dogma on page 321;

albert-pike on lucifer

albert-pike

“The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth degree, the Apotheosis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. Lucifer. The Light Bearer! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendours intolerable blinds feeble sensual, or selfish souls? Doubt it not! For traditions are full of Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one Creed Plato and Philo also, were also inspired.”

  

Moe

Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. A website dedicated to both the ancient and modern teachings of Gnosticism.

 

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68 Comments

Realist

Realist on January 25, 2019 at 11:24 am

Lucifer is the devil. The same one who was thrown down to earth with the other rebellious angels. Hence: how art thou fallen from heaven, oh lucifer (or horus, wotan, quetzalcoatl, shiva, jahbulon, e.t.c). If there was no devil, there would be no atlantis myth (Ezekiel’s Tyre), from where the so-called “aryans” and their global “all seeing eye” religion originated. And the dragon (reptilian) said to the woman: for if you eat of the fruit, your “eye” will be opened and you will become (equal) like a god, knowing (gnosis) good and evil.

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Thoth Al Khem

Thoth Al Khem on January 24, 2019 at 1:36 pm

The WORD Lucifer is a MISTRANSLATION by St. Jerome in 382 AD ! PERIOD !!!!!! In Hebrew the word is Heylel/Halal…Hey (Yod) Lamed Lamed. Isaiah 14 is about a MAN….READ IT. The ONLY Lucifer was St. Lucifer of Cagliari who died 10 years before St Jerome PURPOSELY Mistranslated Isaiah 14:12. Doesn’t ANYONE ACTUALLY read the Bible? KILL LIST from King James Bible. YHVH 2,476,633 NOT including the Flood or Sodom and Gomorrah…..SATAN? only 10. There is NO Devil………

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Moe

Moe on January 24, 2019 at 3:32 pm

The Hebrew word Hêlêl or Heylel is found just once in the Hebrew Bible. It means to shine or shining one, to flash. The Septuagint renders הֵילֵל in Greek as Ἑωσφόρος (heōsphoros), “bringer of dawn” and Lucifer is Latin for the Greek phosphorus.

The Church had labeled Simon Magus as Satan.

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Realist

Realist on January 21, 2019 at 12:13 pm

How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, the deciever, together with his fellow reptilians. He is the one who will take his followers to the lake of fire. Jesus Christ is God and saviour to all who accept Him.

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Leonard

Leonard on January 18, 2019 at 1:39 am

Therefore, are you saying that Lucifer is Jesus? Most of all this piece of information are craps and they are produced to confuse, brainwash and deviate us from the only true God, Jesus Christ, the one who died on the cross of calvary in order to set us free from the grip of Satan, prince of peace, the only begotten son of God, the bright and morning star, the only way, the truth and life. Nobody cometh to the father except through him. Any book contradicting what is stated in the bible, the word of God is satanic. Satan is evil and what most occult worship is satan the ark enemy of the true living God, the creator of the universe.

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Love2ClearClouds (Cherokee Name)

Love2ClearClouds (Cherokee Name) on December 3, 2018 at 9:22 am

Who is Lucifer?

I was taught in the SDA religion that Lucifer was Satan’s name before he fell from heaven. Felt stupid even when I was 11 years old.

I now understand that the Bible is astrology and physiology, as above so below. “JESUS” was originally IESOUS, the Greek name for the sUn in the sky. Each of the 12 “disciples” are actually symbolic/allegories of the 12 constellations. Those aren’t “halos” around the head of “Jesus” and the disciples, those lit heads are hints to the true identities and the actual truth that they are literally the sUn and the primary stars of the 12 primary constellations.

Every culture and time period gave their own names to the heavenly bodies. The ancients were well aware that everything in our 3D reality is frequency and vibration.

“ if you want to know the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”

-Nikola Tesla

This sUn emits codes through frequencies and scientists have recorded the sounds coming from the sun. The stars and planets are emiting their own frequencies and all frequencies affect us here as we are affecting everything out there.

In the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, there are several references to astrology…Mazzaroth, which is the Hebrew word for the 12 primary constellations/clock in the sky, and Zodiac is the Greek word. In the book of Job you read about the sweet influences of the Pleiades and about the mother bear and her cub/Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

TPTB KNOW and use this knowledge/science to their own benefit and to our detriment. Becoming educated in astrology and it’s effects on our physiology will finally break the chains that have held us in these man-made prisons for millennia.

Ultimately, what we can not live without is the SUN. The eternal SUN gives life, it triggers cell regeneration and can extend life, it heals and restores.

I am a sungazer as was Akhenaton in Egypt before the bloodline, that still rules today, killed him. Because of sungazing, I no longer have the eyeglass restriction on my drivers license. I began my son gazing practice for years ago. Two years ago, I had to go in person for my 20 year drivers license renewal. I passed the eye exam for the first time in my 43 years of driving. I had given up the practice but after passing that eye exam I have been back at it the past couple of months. I am hoping to get to the level of not needing to eat food anymore. No more hunger…isn’t that what “Jesus” promised?

🌞🌟

Reply

Love2ClearClouds

Love2ClearClouds on December 3, 2018 at 8:47 am

I was taught in the SDA religion that Lucifer was Satan’s name before he fell from heaven. Felt stupid even when I was 11 years old.

I now understand that the Bible is astrology and physiology, as above so below. “JESUS” was originally IESOUS, the Greek name for the sUn in the sky. Each of the 12 “disciples” are actually symbolic/allegories of the 12 constellations. Those aren’t “halos” around the head of “Jesus” and the disciples, those lit heads are hints to the true identities and the actual truth that they are literally the sUn and the primary stars of the 12 primary constellations.

Every culture and time period gave their own names to the heavenly bodies. The ancients were well aware that everything in our 3D reality is frequency and vibration.

“ if you want to know the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”

-Nikola Tesla

This sUn emits codes through frequencies and scientists have recorded the sounds coming from the sun. The stars and planets are emiting their own frequencies and all frequencies affect us here as we are affecting everything out there.

In the book of Job, the oldest book in the Bible, there are several references to astrology…Mazzaroth, which is the Hebrew word for the 12 primary constellations/clock in the sky, and Zodiac is the Greek word. In the book of Job you read about the sweet influences of the Pleiades and about the mother bear and her cub/Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

TPTB KNOW and use this knowledge/science to their own benefit and to our detriment. Becoming educated in astrology and it’s effects on our physiology will finally break the chains that have held us in these man-made prisons for millennia.

Reply

Jen

Jen on November 24, 2018 at 6:45 pm

Lovely work, as usual.

Lucifer can also relate to Samael, the Archangel. Fixed Zodiacal signs were Angels (Angels) of the Arch. The most crucial of the four fixed signs were depicted through most variations of the Sphynx, which was usually seen as a half lion and half human. In particular, an upper half woman with one breast exposed. This brings Aquarius and Leo into significance as gaurdians of the gateway of the Archs. (Think Zenith/vernal Equinox and Nadir, it’s opposition). Our most profound (and cataclysmic) events of history tend to happen when the Platonic year hits the 0 degree Pisces mark (beginning of the Age of Aquarius) and 0 degree Virgo (Beginning of the Age of Leo). The light will return during the Great Conjunction of winter 2020, the official beginning of the Age of Aquarius, by the Western systems. Strap on your seatbelts, folks. It’s going to be a wild ride! : )

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Gene

Gene on November 18, 2016 at 5:18 pm

People/ mankind want to see these 2 as a person/s or creatures. Lucifer, some form of being and Jesus the man. When all of this is astrology/ astronomy personified.

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Kirk Nyman

Kirk Nyman on October 21, 2016 at 4:28 am

I was taught in church growing up that Lucifer was Satan before his fall from grace due to his pride so he lost his once great name meaning light bearer to Satan meaning enemy opposer and slanderer. Just a thought, could it be that beings he was no longer the bright and morning star that Jesus came in to claim that title?

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Bhsas

Bhsas on August 31, 2016 at 3:00 pm

then who is it that the occultists are sacrificing animals, babies, and children to in the rituals if Lucifer the angel, the prince of the darkness?

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Lawrence clay rogers

Lawrence clay rogers on October 11, 2016 at 10:00 am

These are all ways they who are trying to prevent what must happen establish confusion for our people, they have failed

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John lester anoya duo

John lester anoya duo on August 25, 2016 at 10:16 pm

I know who is lucifer

Reply

Lawrence clay rogers

Lawrence clay rogers on October 11, 2016 at 10:00 am

Do you?

Reply

ishi

ishi on July 15, 2016 at 10:23 pm

..i love how you write..it is good to see truth being spoken again..i will join as soon as it is financially possible to do so

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angela frost

angela frost on May 31, 2016 at 4:28 pm

fantastic stuff moe,,,its great to see it put in the right context for me ,,something i have felt alone with for so long ,,i am not a scholar or a scientist of the enforced + restricted denied false truth seekers ,,,,,i just saw the real truth at the age of 5 yrs old before adults tricked me into their strange denying deliberately blinkered world of dellusional safety ,,,when my cat died ,,i watched all the elements join together to my cat more alive than his cold empty body lying in front of me ,,,it was normal to me …i knew there was no death ,,but only constant renewal ,,,but its a lonely world when you clearly see what everyone else prefers not to simply through fear of majority brain-washed acceptance

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Joseph

Joseph on February 9, 2016 at 5:35 am

This is an excellent article. However I contend that the ‘fall’ of Lucifer was not a bad thing, but a good thing. The ‘fall’ of Christ and the ‘fall’ we must individually go through to knock us from a sensual/individual type of pride and give us true humility to be able to handle the power of ‘being as a God’ is what the ‘fall’ was really about. The single biggest problem in this material existence is power/control and individuals inability to handle it. The reason this is so is because people see themselves as ‘individuals’ and not part of the One. There is a veil placed in front of their faces. That is the deception Satan/Yaldabaoth placed upon mankind in order to rule them fully. Gnostic teaching states Satan is the God/Creator of this world and the Serpent came to show us ‘the way’. He took a ‘fall’ for that. Lucifer/Prometheus took a ‘fall’ to help us, Jesus took a ‘fall’ to help us…and if you have truly lived in this material existence…it is a requirement to take a ‘fall’ to do truly good.

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Joseph

Joseph on February 8, 2016 at 5:55 am

Very good article. Something you must experience before you read and learn about. I have one comment I’d like to point out however. I believe the ‘fall’ that we take, as did Lucifer is not a bad thing or a falling away, but rather a necessary thing and a falling towards. If we are to follow true Gnostic teaching which basically teaches that Satan/The Demiurge is the God of this creation and material world, then to ‘fall’ away from it would truly be a blessing. It is described as a ‘fall’ in the sense that it is all about humility. Christ himself learned it as we must before we inherit the power of a God. Just look around. Power/Control is the single issue among separated beings. When one ‘falls’ one experiences a sense of powerlessness and helplessness. It is then true unity is infused and the individual, now realizing they are not an ‘individual’, but part of the One…can now rise up, with TRUE power, and go in and out of this material existence with relative ease and comfort. Just a thought.

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KRISTA

KRISTA on January 15, 2016 at 5:43 pm

I am one of the original Starchildren God made in the beginning. I am the Evening Star. No joking whats so ever.

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stacy

stacy on June 4, 2016 at 7:59 pm

me too are you rh neg?

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Jecht

Jecht on December 31, 2015 at 1:42 pm

Good content. Very well laid out.

Wish you would go more deeply into the light. Our stardust deep inside us.

How do you determine your purpose?

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ishi

ishi on July 15, 2016 at 10:32 pm

…sometimes….our ‘purpose’…is late in coming to us…sometimes..it is just one thing, one act….get to Know yourself & do what you are best at..wait patiently..when it is time for you, you will then know what to do

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Jakob Albert

Jakob Albert on November 29, 2015 at 1:01 am

TheCloning of God

Godhad an inner compulsion to externalise himself: to make aconsciousness outside and beyond himself, and through this othernessto come to full consciousness.

Hegel,one of the greatest grandmasters of the Illuminati, said, “Thedivine Idea is just this: to disclose itself, to posit the Otheroutside itself and to take it back again into itself in order to besubjectivity and mind/spirit.”

Consciousness,including that of God, requires interaction with otherness if it isto develop. God is compelled to create otherness – to externalisehimself – and through a study of that otherness we can gain sureknowledge of God.

Hegelcriticised conventional Western religion on the grounds that itseparates God from the universe, and makes all of his attributesindependent of the universe. God, according to the traditional view,would be exactly the same whether or not anything else existed. Hisnature wouldn’t alter in the slightest even if there were no universeand no other creatures. Hegel fiercely attacks this view. If God hadno inner need to create anything else then why did he? Is hecapricious? Was he bored? Curious? None of these make any sense inrelation to a perfect God without deficiency. God is entirelyself-sufficient and needs nothing else according to the tenets ofmainstream Western religion. Hegel said, “If God is allsufficient and lacks nothing, how does he come to release Himselfinto something so clearly unequal to him?”

NoChristian, Jew or Muslim can answer why God creates the world when hehas no need to do so. If he does it for a reason such as wanting tospread his love then it implies that he has a need to do that, yetGod, by definition, needs nothing. If he does it because he wants tobe obeyed and worshipped then that also indicates deficiency on hispart. If God is truly self-sufficient, it is impossible that he wouldever have felt the need to create anything. Therefore God is notself-sufficient. Therefore a God of whom it is claimed that he isself-sufficient cannot exist. God creates otherness because he must.He has no choice. He is compelled. Creation is an act of innernecessity. God needs others as much as they need him. Anyone whodoesn’t understand that single truth can never understand God. Theywill always believe in a fantasy.

Godcreated many things as he evolved – a dazzling realm fashioned fromlight – but none of them gave him what he needed: an othernesscomparable to himself. Eventually, after endless experiments, Godsucceeded in cloning himself. The clone was the being that is nowknown as Lucifer, Son of God, the Angel of Light, the Morning Star,Lux Mundi, the Light of the World.

God,through his interaction with Lucifer, became fully self-conscious, asdid Lucifer. Between them, they created the first language, thedivine language. Then Lucifer wanted a brother as a companion and Godgranted his wish. The second son of God was a fateful being. Hisoriginal name was Paracletus, meaning “the Comforter” or”one called to help” because he was to be Lucifer’s brotherand friend. But religion knows him by his later name of Satanel, thensimply Satan. Satan means “accuser/adversary”. It will beexplained below why Paracletus, second son of God and beloved brotherof Lucifer, became the sworn enemy of his father and brother andacquired his dread new name.

Satan’sfatal flaw was “hyperephania” – extreme pride. Afflicted bydoubts about himself, lacking self-esteem, in awe of his father,envious of his radiant brother, unsure of his identity, Satancompensated by cultivating an exaggerated ego. After an age, hebelieved himself superior to Lucifer and even God. He resented theirrelationship and was jealous of it. He resented being the youngestand least powerful. Resentment became hate. Hate became action. Thataction was rebellion. He stood as the adversary of God and Lucifer.He accused them of plotting against him. He opposed all of theirplans.

Havingcreated Lucifer and Paracletus, God provided his sons with the secretof how to clone themselves. The clones of the two sons were thebeings now known as angels. The realm of light became populated bymany beings of light: God, his two sons and the choirs of angels. Butthe angels were loyal to their respective creators and reflectedtheir natures. Satan’s angels were infected with his discontent.

Satanand his army of angels rebelled against God, Lucifer and their loyalangels. The struggle was long and furious, but Satan and hisfollowers lost and fell. They were banished from God’s realm, beingcast out into darkness where the light of God never penetrated.

Satanwanted his own realm where he was the sole master. He discovered thesecret of matter and fashioned a rival universe of matter rather thanlight. This was the universe of the Big Bang – our universe. “Letthere be light,” Satan announced as he brought this universeinto existence: a mockery of God’s light. Satan is the creator andruler of our universe of the Big Bang, and he’s assisted by his rebelangels – called the archons, groups of whom were given regions of theuniverse to rule on Satan’s behalf. 144 archons are assigned toearth. They are responsible for most of the secret history of earth.They are opposed by two groups within that secret history: theIlluminati (consisting of approximately 6,000 people i.e. a similarnumber to that of the Old World Order), and the small group thatcreated the Illuminati but stands outside of the society, just as thearchons stand outside the Old World Order. That small group consistsof 36 angels of Lucifer.

TheIlluminati and the Old World Order are mirror images. Both groupsknow the secret history of earth, and the strange and fatefulstruggle that takes place behind the scenes and to which the rest ofhumanity is mostly oblivious.

Satanwas almost as bright as Lucifer in his earliest days, but he grewrepelled by light and made himself dark. He became “darknessvisible” to use John Milton’s immortal phrase. He is truly theprince of darkness, yet it must never be forgotten that he is the Sonof God and contains the divine spark.

ThroughSatan, evil entered the universe. The birth of evil is not difficultto understand. It is a product of a damaged self-consciousness, oflow self esteem finding a way to overcompensate. It is exactly thesort of situation with which Freud and Jung would be familiar. Whyshould gods be any different from humans? We are made in their image.

Self-consciousnessis a prerequisite for distinguishing good from evil. Animals cannotcommit acts of evil. Evil can be defined according to three levels:strong, medium and weak. Strong evil is the voluntary commission ofmalicious, harmful and even fatal acts towards others, to suit theselfish desires of the perpetrator. Medium evil is the voluntarycommission of acts to promote a selfish agenda, regardless of theimpact on others. Weak evil is captured by Burke’s famous aphorism:”The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for goodmen to do nothing.”

Goodness,likewise, comes in three strengths. Strong goodness is the voluntarycommission of benevolent, helpful acts towards others to promotecooperative, altruistic ends. Medium goodness is the commission ofacts that are intended not to have any ill impact on others. Weakgoodness is where someone does nothing to stand in the way of goodacts by others.

Only a self-consciousness is capable of making achoice between good and evil acts. The Tree of Knowledge of good andevil is a metaphor for that choice. Knowledge, arising fromself-consciousness, allows the commission of moral or immoral acts.Without knowledge, without choice, without self-consciousness, goodand evil would not exist.

Thereason that evil triumphs is simple: most people are evil.

The meaning of life, by Jakob Albert Boor, Johannesburg SA 2011

This Poem I write to you, are you troubled by silent questions?

Still aware, that spoken questions deserve answers, followed by actions?

The biggest question we have, deserves the world, the worth, to put it in words?

Again some week answer? And hide away, silently remembering historical hurts?

Did life won the feared battle from us individually, and us all?

In the ‘’flock of sheep’’ we feel save, with courage so small.

Standing alone in silence, self decision making seems rough?

Just make the decision, in the end you will feel tough enough.

Visualizing the wall so high, the border so far, even to scared while imagining!

Imagining building inner trust, strength and pride that will be never ending!

Where the trigger does should come from, something needed to start,

Will we be waiting for the bomb, as that power provides, will awaken our hart?

The world showed his errors, examples, way too big or too small.

Everything what states ’too’’ will be a too big responsibility? Again excusing us weakened all?

The mindset we are having, the excuses from weakness we’ll make.

Not teaching us to stand strong while we are forced on steps to take.

Humans think often, the world is too much to take.

Do we use survival instinct, when that world is at stake?

Now with some details, I will show the irony in this.

Walking by, around real essentials, and leave them as it is….

We must look different to needed changes, cultures and mindsets heading for the cliffs and loose.

The roots of the problem measured, we’ll brainstorm for solutions from which together! we will choose.

Troubleshooting, attitude and believes, core reactors make it happen, you’ll see.

Opens different kinds of doors, for the lonely life changer the entrance to be?

As stepping out of the box at first, loneliness is part of the challenge.

Need an example? You will find in the movies, visuals will help with the balance.

As you may choose the right, but difficult path

You‘ll be tested mentally, trust will recognize the value in it, you should now that.

Believing is the keyword; you don’t need a religion for that?

Believing is you! That pure feeling inside! No world war started from that.

Can we stand still, could a simple poem stand a difference..?

No! It will be the reader who breaks down his offence.

Important is that it is able to trigger what’s already there!

It’s already in everybody’s hart; yes, you will get the credits! That would only be fair.

Isaiah: 64…

”Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountain would tremble before you!

As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil,

come down to make your name known to your enemies

and cause the nations to quake before you”

Isaiah 64:7-8

No one calls on your name

or strives to lay hold of you:

For you have hidden your face from us

and makes us waste away because of our sins.

Yet O Lord, You are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the Potter:

We are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah: 63;16-17 !!

BUT YOU ARE OUR FATHER,

THOUGH ABRAHAM DOES NOT KNOW US,

OR ISRAEL ACKNOWLEDGE US:

YOU OUR LORD, ARE OUR FATHER,

OUR REDEEMER FROM OF OLD IS YOUR NAME.

WHY OUR LORD, MAKE US WANDER FROM YOUR WAYS

AND HARDEN OUR HEARTS SO WE DO NOT REFER YOU?

RETURN FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR SERVANTS

THE TRIBES THAT ARE YOUR INHERITANCE…..

ISAIAH 52:6

THEREFORE MY PEOPLE WILL KNOW MY NAME;

THEREFORE IN THAT DAY THEY WILL KNOW

THAT IT IS I WHO FORETOLD IT,

YES, IT IS I…

ISAIAH: 49;5 😉

Reply

James

James on November 9, 2015 at 2:53 pm

This is about having strength within, and showing why strength within is important, because there is always one testing your inner strength. When you try to be strong externally, sometimes in a moment of anger or argument, you’re giving up your inner strength.

Reply

jessu beluang

jessu beluang on October 30, 2015 at 5:52 am

any idea about lucifer?

Reply

farang

farang on October 20, 2015 at 7:51 am

Lucifer is a king. A very real king, not an abstract concept and certainly not Istar/Venus. His son is “Satan.” I suppose one could label me a 34th degree realist, I read and gain knowledge. His name “Lucifer” is the French way of saying his name, much like Lazerus. Hint: Lazerus is “The Blue”…azure…same as the statue of Osiris found in Tut’s tomb. You are welcome…She asked me to spread the truth for those with ears to hear. What I am saying is from mainstream evidence easily found for those that will bother to look. User Fau was his actual name, Moe. User means “crown Prince.”

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Daniel

Daniel on June 27, 2015 at 2:28 am

I believe that all religions were created for balancing purposes and the only true creator is what everyone knows as god in which most pray to as god ,created all so god is the love and sin of all, also it is stated in the bible that we were all made perfect which we were we all chose this life we live now and the reason for this is to learn unique lessons that we have chosen, xenu/Lucifer etc were all real entities brought upon by personal belief produced by the reptilians on to man and other species and in which many beings have conquered this world single headedly, also this world has been inhabited many times over by us and different beings like us which we have ultimately destroyed ourselves in the end thanks to the help of other beings, now a systematic person who has no psychic awareness will disregard this as crap well that is ok your just not evolved enough to realise the truth and most likely have been suppressed by society all your life which is ok you will learn maybe in the next life as you have already started looking into these things in this one, but a true psychic who can communicate with the cross dimensional reptilians like I and see them in there dimension know other whys, now belief creates all and belief comes from the source I have shape shifted into what you could call Lucifer and felt his power I have also been gang stalked for the last five years and live with a spy for the last two who is my girlfriend, I have spotted many military people hiding in close quarters of the house to and get tested daily even by young kids which the government promotes, the truth is we all can be whatever we want to be but because we are evolving to quickly we are suppressed by other beings because we are very dangerous to them also here’s a few things that you should know, if you know the real truth you are a target, the reason why they presented the bali 9 all over tv was for historical purposes, the government will set up something catastrophic to enforce a new law that will take more of our rights away and cause the presentation subliminally of a coming war/ hostility or for the benefit of a new historical purpose, all crime syndicates are run by the government for the preservation of balance now non surpressed people will know this as true but it is harder to find people like I as I are killed of for we are truth

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The Quantumologist

The Quantumologist on June 2, 2015 at 6:21 am

Isaiah Chapter 14 is the ONLY direct reference in the Old Testament to Lucifer, and it’s here: www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Isaiah-Chapter-14/

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lallala

lallala on May 6, 2015 at 5:24 pm

lucifer is the light in darkness. He paves our way towards fully becoming a human being once again.

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jv

jv on May 2, 2015 at 1:19 am

The first references of Lucifer come from the HOLY Word of God. Lucifer was cast out of Heaven for wanting to be above the one true HOLY God. There is NO other place in the entire world that the truth about Lucifer is spoken. Satan means fallen angel and deceiver. The reason why some say Luciferian is because they believe he is like God, whom is actually the roaring lion, seeking to devour and to destroy people, God’s creation. It is truly sad that I come to these sites and find people who seek the easier way, which the Bible clearly calls the wide road, of which many find, but leads to destruction. You cannot take things out of context and pick and choose verses, when the Bible is literally God’s Holy Word spoken spiritually to followers all that time ago. Lucifer and Satan ARE proven the same. The Bible is complete, and cannot be separated. Many new versions have come out with the intention to change or leave out scripture. This is also blasphemy and heresy. Jesus Christ IS God whom came to save the world from being lost and helpless.

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Cruise4

Cruise4 on December 25, 2015 at 6:31 pm

Christ, Christos is the oil produced when the Kundalini hits a gland in the brain. It sits there for 3 days and then flows over the pineal gland. I think this may equate to enlightenment. Jesus is an allegory of the Sun, and also each of us. Whether he actually existed or not is moot. Do what he says or you are no christian, and he taught the above, as is quite clear in various parables such as the Bride and Groom. This is what ‘they’ suppress in us by all means possible.

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Deb

Deb on February 8, 2015 at 4:48 pm

I agree with some of this and much of it makes sense. However, there are, in my opinion, some holes in your logic. For example, intellect is not always contrary to nature, nor is nature evil. Nature is loving and brutal, nurturing and deadly, just as is the human archetype of the divine, in whatever form. I think that you are perhaps equating nature with the feminine and maybe that is where the misogynistic tone of your other articles is coming from if you consider nature evil. Nature itself has a vast intelligence. There would be no intellect without it and certainly no avenue of expression for that intellect. Also, you say that we all have to walk our own paths and not be lead by others, which I absolutely agree with 100%. However, you also take a very condescending tone with those who disagree with you and accuse them of being blind, refusing to see the truth, etc. I would gently remind you that you are human and fallible and therefore you should take care not to sound so much like the very authorities you rightfully accuse of deceiving the people. As for Lucifer, I see him as neither perfect light or perfect darkness. He is, in my opinion, an archetype with strengths and weaknesses. He is the symbol of an truth that, as Cliff pointed out below, must be balanced with love. That love is often expressed in feminine terms as women are the great nurturers. I am reminded of nothing so much as the blind men and the elephant, all accusing each other of lies while simply looking at the same thing in a different way.

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Moe

Moe on February 9, 2015 at 5:27 am

Do you think you know it all? Do you think you are going to insult me on my blog, great work and I’m going to be Mr. Nice to you? It is clear to me you have took the new age information hook line and sinker like 99.9% of the people who have not done their own independent research which is expected so don’t feel bad. Lucifer is simply Latin for the alchemical element known in Greek as phosphorus in which Lucifer is from the morning star known a Jupiter. The feminine aspect is portrayed as the goddess Isis (Cybele, Rhea, the Magna Mater etc) who represents sulfur from the planet Venus. You are making this about men and women or into a gender battle as if Isis was a real and Lucifer was some dude who fell from heaven. They are ancient memes for the profane and ignorant like you who are truly the blind and zombified.

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Francine Stroman

Francine Stroman on April 5, 2015 at 4:02 pm

Moe- I found this article to be very “materialistic” in nature. This experience that you are having right now isn’t actually about anything, in human terms anyway. It’s just hyper intelligent light shining forth and even that is saying too much. On another note it might not be such a bad thing for to learn to acept some constructive critism..

That’s ok I love ya anyway;)

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Guest

Guest on September 28, 2015 at 1:13 pm

I have to say More, I love how you take no crap from people on here. If anyone who did their research would know your right. Opinions are like butt-holes we all have one. This people are profane. And you are sharing very guarded secret s. Which I do not agree with, but that’s out of my control. It was planned long ago, and is designed to happen. Anyways stay strong, stay a warrior

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sinner

sinner on November 15, 2015 at 7:20 pm

Lucifer means The Anti Christ, by the way u idiot Moe why u insist anti christ evil calling Lucifer, ok u have ur belief , don,t u worry ur messiah will not survive except for few years, stop pretending being good guy and inventor of white magic . Have spell on me idiot, if u practice magic I hope u know what does exist to counter magic and ur messiah Lucifer ,

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Cruise4

Cruise4 on December 25, 2015 at 6:09 pm

ISIS can be conversed with, as a feminine aspect/spirit, by taking Ayahuasca. So can Lucifer who apparently comes across as somewhat arrogant. As above so below, As within so without may allow sulpher and phosphorous to be synonomous, same as planets (stars).

I’m seeing an X formation… Lucifer (Red,love of the self), Satan (Blue, love of the mother), as the left and right in this X. Whats on the other ends? We have the woman and the whore in the Bible. Inversion, tops and bottoms. Middles (balance,heart) as green. The whole construction is being prised open, the black and the white of the papersea (papacy) and represents the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This is behaviour of Light, see Goethe. Some of this information is encoded in ‘Jupiter Rising’ and ‘How to train your Dragon 2’.

Very hard to convey in such a short space. ISIS is a real something though. Confirmed and certain, and it’s why they are trying to demonise the name at present with ‘terrorist’ association etc. She is also an illusionist, I’m thinking. Spiders from Ma’s… Ma Sons?

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Cruise4

Cruise4 on December 25, 2015 at 6:16 pm

One other very interesting thing… On one of the Jeff Rense shows dealing with reverse speech (approx. January ish 2015), Obama said ‘There will be no pursuit of the woman’. They had no clue what it meant but it was one of the clearest reverses I’ve ever heard.

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Cliff

Cliff on February 6, 2015 at 9:26 am

Lucifer does indeed represent the light, that is to say the pure light of the rational intellect, and just the intellect. It is the cold light of pure reason unmitigated by the warm light of the heart and thus unbalanced. It is the light that allows the means to justify the end, as pure reason would demand it do so. The Christ you quote also said that ‘by their works you shall know them’ . Your Albert Pike stated that three world wars would be required to bring in the Masonic Age, The Masons have been major players in creating two of them and are on the cusp of igniting the third, so please do not equate your luciferian objectives with that of the light of the Gnostic Christ self. Notwithstanding this, there are many truths still contained in your article, however it seems that these are very cleverly placed to capture those who seek for the light within, an imitation of the path of the seeker after truth, two paths that appear to be subtlely similar and yet ultimately lead to devastating different results. ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ , Albert Pike’s and the Mason’s very definately is.

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Larry

Larry on March 12, 2016 at 10:16 pm

Quite an interesting point: ‘those who seek for the light within, an imitation of the path of the seeker after truth, two paths that appear to be subtlely similar and yet ultimately lead to devastating different results.’

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THE ALL

THE ALL on December 4, 2014 at 5:14 pm

there are several important points which need to be understood…Christianity does not have a monopoly on the term “Lucifer” nor on its definition. The Christian concept and definition of the term “Lucifer” is merely the latest in a long line of definitions and interpretations of this pre-Christian term.

The word “Lucifer” occurs only once in the entire Bible. This is in Isaiah 14:12, which says: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Those who read this verse in its actual context will clearly see that the sentence is applied specifically to a certain Babylonian king who was an enemy in war of the Israelites. The original Hebrew text uses the word הֵילֵל which literally means “bright star” or “shining one,” a term applied sarcastically or mockingly by the Israelites to this particular enemy of theirs. The translators of the King James Version of the Bible – one of the chief of whom was the well known Rosicrucian initiate Dr Robert Fludd, a fact which will no doubt shock and horrify many Christians – chose to translate this word with the Latin word “Lucifer.” .“Lucifer” literally means Lightbringer, Lightbearer, Bringer of Dawn, Shining One, or Morning Star. The word has no other meaning. Historically and astronomically, the term “Morning Star” has always been applied to the planet Venus. Since the only occurrence of the word “Lucifer” in the Bible is that one verse in Isaiah, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible which says that Lucifer is Satan or the devil. It was Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) who was the first person to apply that passage of scripture to Satan and thus to equate Lucifer with Satan. But even then this notion didn’t catch on in a big way until the much more recent popularisation of John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in which Lucifer is used as another name for Satan, the evil adversary of God. Also, such luminaries of the Christian world as Martin Luther and John Calvin considered it “a gross error” to apply Isaiah 14:12 to the devil, “for the context plainly shows these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians.”

Thus the Christians who claim that Lucifer is the devil actually have no Biblical basis or authority for such a belief. Though they may claim to be “Bible believing Christians” whose faith is built solely on “the Word of God” they are actually followers – in this and many other respects – of Christian religious tradition and not of the Christian Bible. Or have they quietly conferred divine infallibility upon the Pope and Milton without informing the rest of the world?

H.P. Blavatsky was never at any point in her life a Christian, gave no credence to Christian theology and did not believe in any type of personal or anthropomorphic God nor in any type of personal or anthropomorphic devil. She believed and taught that there is but ONE Infinite Divine Life which is everything and in everything and that It has no adversary or enemy, since there is nothing but That – the boundless, impersonal, omnipresent Principle of Absolute Existence Itself. She was against the notion of worshipping or praying to anyone or anything. She taught that evil is really imperfection, which is the automatic and inevitable byproduct of the existence of matter.

Now let us take a look at some of the statements HPB made about Lucifer in “The Secret Doctrine”…

* “Esoteric philosophy admits neither good nor evil per se, as existing independently in nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos, in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There is no devil or the utterly depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be spirits of Light and of Darkness; thus LUCIFER – the spirit of Intellectual Enlightenment and Freedom of Thought – is metaphorically the guiding beacon, which helps man to find his way through the rocks and sandbanks of Life, for Lucifer is the LOGOS in his highest, and the “Adversary” in his lowest aspect – both of which are reflected in our Ego.” (Vol. 2, p. 162)

* “In antiquity and reality, Lucifer, or Luciferus, is the name of the angelic Entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of the day. In the great Valentinian gospel Pistis Sophia it is taught that of the three Powers emanating from the Holy names of the Three Tριδυνάμεις, that of Sophia (the Holy Ghost according to these gnostics – the most cultured of all) resides in the planet Venus or Lucifer.” (Vol. 2, p. 512)

* “It is but natural – even from the dead letter standpoint – to view Satan, the Serpent of Genesis, as the real creator and benefactor, the Father of Spiritual mankind. For it is he who was the “Harbinger of Light,” bright radiant Lucifer, who opened the eyes of the automaton created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was the first to whisper: “in the day ye eat thereof ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil” – can only be regarded in the light of a Saviour. An “adversary” to Jehovah the “personating spirit,” he still remains in esoteric truth the ever-loving “Messenger” (the angel), the Seraphim and Cherubim who both knew well, and loved still more, and who conferred on us spiritual, instead of physical immortality – the latter a kind of static immortality that would have transformed man into an undying “Wandering Jew”.” (Vol. 2, p. 243)

* “The Fall was the result of man’s knowledge, for his “eyes were opened.” Indeed, he was taught Wisdom and the hidden knowledge by the “Fallen Angel,” for the latter had become from that day his Manas, Mind and Self-consciousness. In each of us that golden thread of continuous life – periodically broken into active and passive cycles of sensuous existence on Earth, and super-sensuous in Devachan – is from the beginning of our appearance upon this earth. It is the Sutratma, the luminous thread of immortal impersonal monadship, on which our earthly lives or evanescent Egos are strung as so many beads – according to the beautiful expression of Vedantic philosophy.

“And now it stands proven that Satan, or the Red Fiery Dragon, the “Lord of Phosphorus” (brimstone was a theological improvement), and Lucifer, or “Light-Bearer,” is in us: it is our Mind – our tempter and Redeemer, our intelligent liberator and Saviour from pure animalism. Without this principle – the emanation of the very essence of the pure divine principle Mahat (Intelligence), which radiates direct from the Divine mind – we would be surely no better than animals.” (Vol. 2, p. 513)

So we see that in the teachings of Theosophy – which are at times deliberately symbolical, allegorical, and esoteric – the Lightbringer or Bringer of Dawn (Lucifer in Latin) is our Mind Principle, our individual self-consciousness and spark of intelligence, which was awakened in mankind around the middle period of the Third Root Race, also known as the Lemurian Epoch. Our mind can either be our adversary (which is what the word “satan” literally means) or it can be the lightbearer (the Lucifer) of spiritual Truth to us, the knowledge of which brings about our liberation from ignorance, including spiritual self-ignorance. Jose M. Herrou Aragon, in his book “Primordial Gnosis: The Forbidden Religion,” writes…“According to Gnostic legends and myths, the great Unknowable God sent Lucifer, angel of indescribable fire and light, to show man the light and to help him wake up and see his true origin, the origin of his Spirit, which has been perversely imprisoned in this impure matter called body-soul. He is an uncreated being, who came to the created world to bring Light: Liberating Gnosis. The saving knowledge which can wake man up and help him free his imprisoned Spirit. The knowledge which allows him to know who he truly is, why he is here in this world and what he has to do to liberate himself and fulfil his Spirit, which belongs to another uncreated and unknowable plane. “We have said that Lucifer came to the world to wake man up, to help him remember his divine origin, the divine origin of his Spirit, and to help him free himself from the body-soul in which he is trapped, and from created time and matter.” Theosophy interprets all these allegorical Gnostic teachings as referring to “the lighting up of Manas” (Manas is the Sanskrit word for Mind) which we mentioned above. When we bear in mind that “The Secret Doctrine” teaches that the Lemurian Root Race was born under the influence of Venus and received its “light and life” from the Planetary Spirit of Venus, it all becomes clearer, since Lucifer has been an accepted synonym for Venus – the bright and morning star – since long before the days of Christian theology and millennia before Lucifer was first ignorantly equated with the devil. In “The Secret Doctrine” we read that “Venus, or Lucifer (also Sukra and Usanas) the planet, is the Light-Bearer of our Earth, in both its physical and mystic sense.” Venus is said to be the “spiritual prototype” of Earth and “the Guardian Spirit of the Earth and Men.” It is “the most occult, powerful, and mysterious of all the planets; the one whose influence upon, and relation to the Earth is most prominent” and every change that takes place on Venus “is felt on, and reflected by, the Earth.” Since it would take too long and also be out of place here to try to explain all of this to the reader unfamiliar with Theosophy, we can sum up by saying that what H.P. Blavatsky has to say about Lucifer is entirely esoteric, symbolical, and philosophical. Those four excerpts quoted above are virtually the only specific statements and explanations she ever made about Lucifer, although fanatical Christians and half-crazed conspiracy theorists like to give the impression that she spent almost all her time ranting and raving about Lucifer, which is simply not true. As for the reason her magazine was named “Lucifer,” she wrote in its very first article – titled “What’s in a Name?” – that “the first and most important, if not the sole object of the magazine, is expressed in the line from the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, on its title page. It is to bring light to “the hidden things of darkness,” (iv. 5); to show in their true aspect and their original real meaning things and names, men and their doings and customs; it is finally to fight prejudice, hypocrisy and shams in every nation, in every class of Society, as in every department of life. The task is a laborious one but it is neither impracticable nor useless, if even as an experiment. Thus, for an attempt of such nature, no better title could ever be found than the one chosen. … No fitter symbol exists for the proposed work – that of throwing a ray of truth on everything hidden by the darkness of prejudice, by social or religious misconceptions; especially by that idiotic routine in life, which, once that a certain action, a thing, a name, has been branded by slanderous inventions, however unjust, makes respectable people, so called, turn away shiveringly, refusing to even look at it from any other aspect than the one sanctioned by public opinion. Such an endeavour then, to force the weak-hearted to look truth straight in the face, is helped most efficaciously by a title belonging to the category of branded names.” But as she was later to remark, the ignorant and erroneous belief that Lucifer = Satan “has struck its roots too deep in the soil of blind faith” to allow many people to bravely, boldly, and unashamedly reveal the true origins and true nature of what the so-called Lucifer actually is. Those who attempt to do so are always bound to be immediately labelled as “satanists” and “devil worshippers” by a certain class of Christian, those whose trademark characteristics invariably tend to be wilful ignorance and mental laziness. It has indeed become a “branded name,” one which still automatically conjures up the image of an anthropomorphic devil even in the minds of the most hardened atheists. Yet who can deny that even Jesus is portrayed as boldly proclaiming his identity with Venus the Lightbringer in Revelation 22:16, where he says “I, Jesus, am the bright and morning star.” If the translators had chosen to translate this verse using Latin just as they did with Isaiah 14:12, it would read “I, Jesus, am Lucifer.” Theosophists are not afraid of public opinion or misguided prejudice, nor of the claims and threats of Christianity, that most arrogant, ignorant, and impudent of all the world’s religions. “There is no religion higher than Truth” – and eventually, as always, the Truth will prevail.

 

Phosphorus? How did the ancients know about, and zero in on this single element? Also, what was the mystery secret that was imparted to Alexander the great by his Greek mentor that enabled him to defeat a million man Persian army with only 35.000 of his men?

 

Before it was known by the word Phosphorus which is a word given to us by the Greeks, and the Latin Lucifer, it was simply known as the Elixir of Life or the Flower of Life. Often it was called by the plant names they used for the Elixir of Life or the Flower of Life that were high in Phosphorus such as Mandrake, the Lotus and Red Barley of the Gods.

 

Our thoughts are words,words are sounds,sounds vibrates,vibration is energy, energy glows and that glowing is LIGHT.Everything is Light.Even our thoughts.>> “It is through our DNA which contains phosphorus, that we become conscious to the world and who we are in order to live in the light.” Wrong. “live in the light” suggests you and I are separate from this universe of light ,that there is a “we” somehow not attached .EVERYTHING IS LIGHT.You and me and everything inbetween all made up of the same light energy . Light is a LIE ,there is nothing there. 99.9999999 EMPTY SPACE (potential).Lucifer =Bringer of LIGHT.

 

It is not correct that Lucifer equals Jesus, as Yourself also quote.

“Lucifer represents the individual intellect and will which rebels against the domination of Nature and attempts to maintain itself contrary to natural impulse. Lucifer, in the form of Venus, is the morning star spoken of in Revelation, which is to be given to those who overcome the world.”

Lucifer from Madam Blavatsky and Freemasonry has highjacked Jesus’ title, for evil, not for good.

The Christian mystic Rudolf Steiner says Lucifer and Satan (The Devil) is two different spiritual entities, but to compare ANY of the two as Jesus is way off target.

“Rudolf Steiner taught that the two great demons, Lucifer and Ahriman, offer mankind gifts — from Lucifer, we receive the gift of intellectual thought; from Ahriman, mastery of the physical realm. These gifts are beneficial and even necessary at our current stage of evolution, but they also entail great risks, temptations that can lead us badly astray. According to Steiner, Christ — the Intelligence of the Sun — needs to interpose between Lucifer and Ahriman, balancing them so that we may receive their influences in the proper, beneficial proportions”.

 

gnosticwarrior.com/lucifer.html

A 20 year line-up of ASIMO humanoids... The early models look like a variety of Star Wars droids.

 

In this video clip video from the Honda labs, ASIMO looks like a child reaching out for a toy.

 

From Cognitive Computing ’07 in Berkeley today:

 

“Cognitive Computing is about engineering the mind by reverse engineering the brain.”

 

I ended my talk with a quote from Danny Hillis in The Pattern on the Stone:

“We will not engineer an artificial intelligence; rather we will set up the right conditions under which an intelligence can emerge. The greatest achievement of our technology may well be creation of tools that allow us to go beyond engineering – that allow us to create more than we can understand.”

 

Quotes from the Honda Research Institute talk, my favorite of the morning:

• for Honda, intelligence is a technology

• the essence of brain-like intelligence lies in the global organisation and self-referential control of processing

• following the analysis by synthesis principle, we verify our large scale hypotheses on our demonstrators in direct interaction with their environment

• in our strategy we approach the problem on several different levels of system organisation: macroscopic, mesoscopic, microscopic, microscopic & developmental

• first results confirm our approach to brain-like intelligent systems

• Open question: what is the role of the substrate? How close must a successful interpretation of the brain (in a technical sense) be to its underlying bio-chemical processes

 

Intelligence is a technology and a strategy for

• robust and flexible problem solving

• under resource limitations (time, energy)

• in complex environments (natural and artificial)

 

• the brain is the only intelligent system that we know of

• robots with rich environmental interaction provide us for the 1st time with the

means to study and verify large-scale hypotheses on brain-like intelligence

• our approach is to build the brain to understand the brain – the analysis by synthesis principle

• the brain is the most complex structure ever investigated by science

• it is not suitable to the most successful scientific analysis by decomposition

• the brain exhibits structural, chemical, plastic and dynamical complexity all intertwinned on different levels

• all processes in the brain are a result of information processing in a bio-chemical environment

• understanding the brain means unravelling the meaning of ourselves(related to cosmology)

 

brain = control system for organizing behavior

 

1) animals without cortex: autonomous systems (reflex automatons)

• genetically encoded reflex hierarchy with the limbic system at the top

• value system = genetically encoded mapping of sensory trigger features to behavioral prototypes

 

2) animals with cortex: flexible autonomous systems (learning systems)

reflex automaton +

• general memory architecture for storing experience

• genetically encoded self-referential control architecture

 

The stack [like OSI stack]:

 

A)Evo/Devo

Function:

• task embedded controlled cellular growth

• evolvable structures of spiking neural systems

• evolution of learning

• extract principles of simple brain evolution

 

Principles:

• co-evolution of genetic control and information expression

• evolutionary situated design

• selection driven interaction between evolution and learning

• major structural transitions of the co-evolution of early nervous systems and morphology

 

B) Microscopic Control Level

Function:

• elementary cortical processor

• rapid forward processing

• mixing prediction into afferent stream

• epochs of clocked, within asynchronous processing

 

Principles:

• spiking neurons

• cortical columnar architecture

• relative latency encoding

• rhythmic control of spike processing

 

Cortical development

• System architecture develops top-down.

• The basic control structure of the final system is present from the beginning.

• Development is marked by increasing sensory resolution and specialization of analysis, representation and control.

 

Self-referential Control Architecture

Minicolumn as elementary cortical processor

• mediates mixing of experience into afferent stream

• generates and synchronises rhythmic control for self-referential decomposition and learning

• relative spike latency encoding to control association width

 

The interplay between cortex and hippocampus increases memory capacity.

How does the cortex learn with:

• high memory capacity,

• fast retrieval speed, and

• high noise tolerance?

1. Store association A→B with HC (low memory capacity)

2. HC replays A→B to induce structural plasticity in cortex

3. Association A→B is stored in high-capacity cortical connections.

⇒ Structural plasticity leads to

- 10-20x memory capacity

- faster recall

- sparse connectivity

Short term memory is photographic — limited and inefficient — for a limited number of objects. Transferred to long term with more efficient and robust encoding.

  

C) Mesoscopic Control Level

Exploring, Learning and Understanding Visual Scenes

Function:

• active vision: fixation, saccading, tracking

• robust recognition and autonomous learning

• working memory and internal simulation

• self-organization of knowledge representation

 

Principles:

• columnar organization of multi-layered networks

• integration of different sensory analysis pathways

• stacked associative memories

• flexible selection of best-performing modular processing architecture (prediction, system monitoring)

• knowledge representation in task-related metric

 

Active Vision

• Decompose the sensory input into features & objects

• Use motion to distinguish foreground and background

• Compose a description of a scene

• Fixation by bottom-up & top-down attention

• Scan path & tracking

• Segmentation & prediction from movement

• Dynamic scene memory

 

D) Macroscopic Control Level

Function:

• self-development of practical intelligence

• autonomous interaction with environment

• a system that evolves itself from few innate abilities towards an autonomous and socially compliant partner

 

Principles:

• macroscopic architecture of the human brain

• child-like developmental strategy of learning

• integration of system components in a growing architecture

• self-referential control of learning

• a priori value system shaped by experience

 

Developing Intelligence

• Child-like Acquisition of Representation and Language

 

Crossing the Levels

A-B) evolution of spiking neural systems

B-C) mixing of top-down prediction into afferent signal stream and active sensing and

online learning

A-D) evolutionary optimisation of functional modules

 

This research team in Frankfurt: 36 full time scientists + 52 students and interns

 

Q&A:

Q: How about building in a heart, or the machines will destroy us?

A: With emotion: we show our internal state

Value system. Map unknown input to output. Interaction with environment

 

Q from Stanford Prof. about vision:

A: We take several views of a 2D representation instead of building a 3D model

 

Q from Lloyd Watts: Do you use a spiking neuron model?

A: No. Open question: spiking neuron model, is it important? We are limited by computational resources.

 

Q from IBM Almaden: Can’t Asimo can use better arithmetic engines than the human brain

A: Hmmm…. We have not thought about teaching Asimo arithmetic. Good question. I will keep it in mind and pose the question to the robot.

 

Honda’s History of Humanoids provides a slider linking to great photos of their 20 year developmental effort.

"There is something predatory in the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have. It turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed." Susan Sontag / "On Photography" .

 

I'm currently reading this book and was fascinated with this quote... I think the concept of seeing in others what they don't see applies for the good and the bad type of people pictures an our approach. When we, street photographers, capture the reality of people around us in our cities, we can picture their best sides or their worst... And the true nature of souls comes in the image...

 

And makes me wonder... What does what we show, which side WE decide to capture and show and share, tell about US photographers and our own souls? I think we may be portraying ourselves quite often in every photo of others we take...

 

In my case, by my own policy, I never tend to show people in "low" moments or unflattering angles, and instead like to show my subjects in a respectful / regal light, but I thought this old picture from my archives, never used, helped illustrate Susan's point... If only this couple could see this moment and what it would mean....

 

Taken at a train station in New York.

Summer 2010.

 

© Sion Fullana

All RIghts Reserved

Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork

   

Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries.

 

In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films.

   

Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration are first and foremost life events intertwined in Jewish and Israeli locality as well as influences and quotes from art history (David Hockney, Matisse). This uniqueness has crossed international borders and has succeeded in moving the LGBT and art communities around the world.

   

This is the first time we meet an Israeli artist who expresses all of his emotions in a previously unknown strength. The subjects of the paintings are the everyday life of couples in everyday places and situations, along with the aspiration to a homosexual relationship and family, equality and public recognition. Perez's works bring forward to the cultural space and to the public discourse the truth about living as LGBT and about relationships, with all of their aspects – casual relationships and sex, the yearning for love, the everyday life and the mundane activities that exist in every romantic relationship – whether by describing two men in an intimate scene in the bathroom, the bedroom or the toilet, a male couple raising a baby or the homosexual version of the Garden of Eden, family dinners, relationship ups and downs, the complexity in sharing a life as well as mundane, everyday life competing with the aspiration to self realization – through Perez's life.

     

Perez's first artworks are personal diaries, which he creates at 14 years of age. He makes sure to hide these diaries, as in them he keeps a personal journal describing his life events in the most genuine way. In these journals he draws thousands of drawings and sketches, next to which he alternately writes and erases his so-called "problematic texts", texts describing his struggle with his sexual orientation. His diaries are filled with obsessive cataloging of details, daily actions, friends and work, as well as repeating themes, such as thoughts, exhibits he has seen, movies, television, books and review of his work.

   

When he is done writing, Perez draws on his diaries. Each layer is done from beginning to end all along the journal. In fact, the work on the diaries never ends.

 

This struggle never ends, and when the emotion is passed on to paper, and it ends its role and becomes meaningless in a way, the visual-graphic side becomes dominant, due to the need to hide the written text, according to Perez. In books and diaries this stands out even more – when he chooses to draw in a style influenced by children's drawings, the characters are cheerful, happy, naïve and do not portray any sexuality, and when he tries drawing as an adult the sketches became more depressed and somber. During these years Perez works with preschool children, teaching them drawing and movement games. Perez says that during this period he completely abandoned the search for a relationship, either with a woman or a man, and working with children has given him existential meaning. This creation continues over 10 years, and Perez creates about 60 books-personal journals in various sizes (notepads, old notebooks, atlases and even old art books).

   

In his early paintings (1998-1999) the transition from relationships with women to relationships with men can be seen, from restraint to emotional outburst in color, lines and composition. Some characters display strong emotional expression. The women are usually drawn in restraint and passiveness, while a happy and loving emotional outburst is expressed in the colors and style of the male paintings.

   

"I fantasized that in a relationship with a woman I could fly in the sky, love, fly. However, I felt I was hiding something; I was choked up, hidden behind a mask, as if there was an internal scream wanting to come out. I was frustrated, I felt threatened…"

   

His first romance with a man in 1999 has drawn out a series of naïve paintings dealing with love and the excitement of performing everyday actions together in the intimate domestic environment.

   

"The excitement from each everyday experience of doing things together and the togetherness was great, so I painted every possible thing I liked doing with him."

   

From the moment the self-oppression and repression stopped, Perez started the process of healing, which was expressed in a burst of artworks, enormous in their size, amount, content and vivid colors – red, pink and white.

   

In 2000 Perez starts painting the huge artworks describing the hangouts of the LGBT community (The Lake, The Pool) and the Tel Avivian balcony paintings describing the masculine world, which, according to him, becomes existent thanks to the painting. Perez has dedicated this year to many series of drawings and paintings of the experience of love, in which he describes his first love for his new partner, and during these months he paints from morning to night. These paintings are the fruit of a long dialogue with David Hockney, and the similarity can be seen both in subjects and in different gestures.

   

In 2001 Perez creates a series of artworks, "Portraits from The Community". Perez describes in large, photorealistic paintings over 20 portraits of active and well-known members of the LGBT community. The emphasis is on the achievements that reflect the community's strong standing in Tel Aviv.

 

As a Tel-Avivian painter, in the past two years Perez has been painting urban landscapes of central locations in his city. Perez wanders around the city and chooses familiar architectural and geographical landmarks, commerce and recreation, and historical sites, and paints them from a homosexual point of view, decorated with the rainbow flag, which provide a sense of belonging to the place. His artworks are characterized by a cheerful joie de vivre and colors, and they also describe encounters and meetings. The touristic nature of his paintings makes them a declaration of Tel Aviv's image as a place where cultural freedom prevails.

 

Perez's Tel Aviv is a city where young families and couples live and fill the streets, the parks, the beach, the houses and the balconies – all the city's spaces. The characters in his paintings are similar, which helps reinforcing the belonging to the LGBT community in Tel Aviv. The collective theme in Perez's artwork interacts with the work of the Israeli artist Yohanan Simon, who dealt with the social aspects of the Kibbutz. Simon, who lived and worked in a Kibbutz, expressed the human model of the Kibbutznik (member of a Kibbutz) and the uniqueness of the Kibbutz members as part of a group where all are equal. Simon's works, and now Perez's, have contributed to the Israeli society what is has been looking for endlessly, which is a sense of identity and belonging.

 

Perez maps his territory and marks his boundaries, and does not forget the historical sites. Unlike other Tel Avivian artists, Perez wishes to present the lives of the residents of the city and the great love in their hearts. By choosing the historical sites in Tel Aviv, he also pays tribute to the artist Nachum Gutman, who loved the city and lived in it his whole life. In his childhood Gutman experienced historical moments (lighting the first oil lamp, first concert, first pavement), and as an adult he recreated the uniqueness of those events while keeping the city's magic.

 

Like Gutman, Perez has also turned the city into an object of love, and it has started adorning itself in rich colors and supplying the energy of a city that wishes to be "the city that never sleeps", combining old and new. Perez meticulously describes the uniqueness and style of the Bauhaus houses and balconies along the modern glass and steel buildings, all from unusual angles in a rectangular format that wishes to imitate the panorama of a diverse city in its centennial celebrations.

   

Daniel Cahana-Levensohn, curator.

       

Interview with the painter Raphael Perez about his family artist book

 

An interview with the painter Raphael Perez about an artist's book he created about his family, the Peretz family from 6 Nissan St. Kiryat Yuval Jerusalem

     

Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about the family artist book you created

 

Answer: I created close to 40 artist books, notebooks, diaries, sketch books and huge books. I dedicated one of the books to my dear family, a book in which I took a childhood photograph of my family, my parents and brothers and sisters.. I pasted the photographs inside a book (the photograph is 10 percent of the total painting) and I drew with acrylic paints, markers and ink on the book and the photograph, so that the image of the photograph was an inspiration to me Build the story that includes page by page..

     

Question: Tell me when you were born, where, and a little about your family

 

Answer: I was born on March 4, 1965 in the Kiryat Yuval neighborhood in Jerusalem

 

I have a twin brother named Miki Peretz and we are seven brothers and sisters, five boys and two girls

   

Question: Tell us a little about your parents

 

Answer: My parents were new immigrants from Morocco, both immigrated young.

 

My mother's name before the wedding was Alice - Aliza ben Yair and my father's name was Shimon Peretz,

 

My mother was born in the Atlas Mountains and was orphaned at a young age and was later adopted by my father's family at the age of 10, so that my mother and father spent childhood and adolescence together....

 

They had a beautiful and happy relationship but sometimes when they argued my mother would say "even when she was a child she was like that..." This means that their acquaintance and relationship dates back to childhood..

     

Question: What did your parents Shimon and Aliza Peretz work for?

 

Answer: My father, Shimon Perez, born in 1928 - worked in a building in his youth and then for thirty years worked as a receptionist at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem... My father's great love was actually art, he loved to draw as a hobby, write, read, solve crossword puzzles and research Regarding the issue of medicinal plants, as a breadwinner he could not fulfill his dream of becoming an artist, in order to support and feed seven children. But we are the next generation, his children are engaged in the world of creativity and education, a field in which both of my parents were engaged during their lives. My father died at the age of 69

   

My mother, Alice Aliza Perez, born in 1934, worked as an assistant to a kindergarten teacher, and later took care of a baby at home. She is a woman of wholehearted giving and caring for children and people, a warm, generous and humble woman.. and took care of us in our childhood for every emotional and physical deficiency.. My mother is right For the year 2023, the 89-year-old is partly happy and happy despite the difficulties of age.. May you have a long life..

   

My mother really loved gardening and nature and both of them together created a magnificent garden, my parents have a relatively large garden so they could grow many types of special and rare medicinal plants and my father even wrote a catalog (unpublished) of medicinal plants and we even had botany students come to us who were interested in the field... today they They also grow ornamental plants, and fruit trees...

   

Question: A book about the brothers and sisters

 

Answer: My elder brother David Perez repented in his mid-twenties.. He was a very sharp, opinionated, curious and very charismatic guy who brought many people back to repentance, and also helped people with problems through the yeshiva and the synagogue to return to the normal path of life, he died young at the age of 56

   

Hana Peretz: My lovely sister, raised eight children, worked in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher, and child care.

 

She has a very large extended family of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren...

   

My brother Avi (Abraham) Peretz studied in Israel at the University of Philosophy and Judaism, he married a wonderful woman named Mira Drumi, a nurse by profession, and together they had three wonderful children, when they moved to the United States in their mid-twenties, where my brother Avi Peretz completed his master's degree in education, worked in the field Education and for the last twenty years is A conservative rabbi

   

The fourth brother is Asher Peretz - a great man of the world, very fond of traveling and has been to magical places all over the world, engaged in the creation of jewelry with two children.

   

I am Rafi Peretz english raphael perez the fifth and after fifteen minutes my twin brother was born

 

My mother still gets confused and can't remember who was born first :-)

   

My twin brother Miki micky - Michael Peretz, a beloved brother (everyone is beloved), a talented industrial designer, he has three children, his wife Revital Peretz Ben, who is a well-known art curator, active and responsible for the art field in Tel Aviv, they are a dynamic and talented couple, full of talents and action

   

The lovely little sister Shlomit Peretz - has been involved in the Bezeq telephone company for almost three decades, and is there in management positions, raising her lovely and beloved child.

     

The art book I dedicated to my family is colorful, rich in details, shows a very intense childhood, happy, cheerful, colorful, ... We were taught to be diligent and to be happy in our part and to see the glass half full in life, to have emotional intelligence and to put the relationship and love at the center with self-fulfillment in work that will interest you us and you will give us satisfaction.

   

Each of us is different in our life decisions and my family is actually a mosaic of the State of Israel that includes both religious and secular people from the entire political spectrum who understand that the secret to unity is mutual respect for each other... when my mother these days is also the family glue in everyone's gatherings on Shabbat and holidays..

   

The personification of the flower couple paintings by the Israeli painter Raphael Perez

 

Raphael Perez, also known as Rafi Peretz, is an Israeli painter who

 

explores his personal and sexual identity through his flower paintings. He created a series of flower paintings from 1995 to 1998, when he was in his early thirties and still in relationships with women, despite feeling gay. His flower paintings reflect his emotional turmoil and his struggle with his sexual orientation. He painted two flowers, one blooming and one wilting, to represent the contrast and conflict between his heterosexual relationships and his true self. He also painted single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to express his longing for a harmonious relationship that matches his nature. He chose sunflowers, white lilies, and red lilies as symbols of expression, purity, and joy, respectively. He painted from real flowers, using different styles and light to create drama and mood. Perez’s paintings of the flower couples are minimalist and focused on the theme of the complex relationship. He omitted any background or context, leaving only the canvas and the drawing of the flower couples. In some of the paintings, he added a very airy abstract surface with thin oil paints that give an atmosphere of watercolors. He also made drawings of flowers in ink, markers and gouache on paper. Later on, he created large acrylic paintings of flowers and still life. Perez’s flower paintings are not mere illustrations or decorations. They are autobiographical and psychological expressions of his inner state and his struggle with his sexuality. He wanted to reveal his loneliness, distress and concealment through these paintings, and to connect with people who are in a similar situation. He deliberately chose only two flowers and no more to intensify the engagement in the charged and complex relationship. Perez also painted and drew couples of men and women with charged psychological states, as well as states of desire for connection and realization of a heterosexual relationship that did not succeed. He used hyperrealism and expressive styles to convey his frozen and calculated state, as well as his mental stress. He used harsh lighting to create contrast and drama, with one side very bright and the other side darker. Perez was influenced by some of the famous artists who painted flowers, such as Van Gogh, who also used sunflowers as a symbol of expression. He also used white lilies and red lilies to convey freshness, cleanliness, purity, color, joy, movement, eruption, and splendor. Perez also painted some single flowers or two flowers in their prime, to show his aspiration for a future where he will have a harmonious relationship. Today, he is 58 years old and in a happy relationship for 10 years with his partner Assaf Henigsberg. He is surrounded by female friends and soulmates and not conflicted with heterosexual relationships as he used to be. He occasionally paints flowers in pots to symbolize home, stability, and peace. Sometimes I paint flowers in pots, which represent home, stability, and solid ground for me. I don’t paint just a couple of flowers, but pots full of flowers that overflow with life. This means that we also have a supportive network of family, friends, and peers around us. We live in a rich, supportive, and protective world. These paintings are a personification of my psychological state, when I had no words to express my feelings to myself. The painting began In 35 years of my creation (starting in 1998), you can read more about how my art and style evolved over time. Perez’s flower paintings are a unique and extraordinary artistic creation that reveals his personal journey and his sexual identity. His work is honest, expressive, and emotional, as well as beautiful and vibrant.

   

The characteristics of the naive painting of the painter Raphael Perez

 

A full interview with the Israeli painter Raphael Perez (Hebrew name: Rafi Peretz) about the ideas behind the naive painting, resume, personal biography and curriculum vitae Question: Raphael Perez Tell us about your work process as a naive painter? Answer: I choose the most iconic and famous buildings in every city and town that are architecturally interesting and have a special shape and place the iconic buildings on boulevards full of trees, bushes, vegetation, flowers. Question: How do you give depth in your naive paintings? Answer: To give depth to the painting, I build the painting with layers of vegetation, after those low famous buildings, followed by a tall avenue of trees, and behind them towers and skyscrapers, in the sky I sometimes put innocent signs of balloons, kites. A recurring motif in some of my paintings is the figure of the painter who is in the center of the boulevard and paints the entire scene unfolding in front of him, also there are two kindergarten teachers who are walking with the kindergarten children with the state flags that I paint, and loving couples hugging and kissing and family paintings of mother, father and child walking in harmony on the boulevard. Question: Raphael Perez, what characterizes your naive painting? Answer: Most naive paintings have the same characteristics (Definition as it appears in Wikipedia) • Tells a simple story to absorb from everyday life, usually with humans. • The representation of the painter's idealization to reality - the mapping of reality. • Failure to maintain perspective - especially details even in distant details. • Extensive use of repeating patterns - many details. • Warm and bright colors. • Sometimes the emphasis is on outlines. • Most of the characters are flat, lack volume • No interest in texture, expression, correct proportions • No interest in anatomy. • There is not much use of light and shade, the colors create a three-dimensional effect. I find these definitions to be valid for all my naive paintings Question: Raphael Perez, why do you choose the city of Tel Aviv? Answer: I was born in Jerusalem, the capital city which I love very much and also paint, I love the special Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv, the ornamental buildings that were built a century ago in the 1920s and 1930s, the beautiful boulevards, towers and modern skyscrapers give you the feeling of the hustle and bustle of a large metropolis and there are quite a few low and tall buildings that are architecturally fascinating in their form the special one Also, the move to Tel Aviv, which is the capital of culture, freedom, and secularism, allowed me to live my life as I chose, to live in a relationship with a man, Jerusalem, which is a traditional city, it is more complicated to live a homosexual life, also, the art world takes place mainly in the city of Tel Aviv, and it is possible that from a professional point of view, this allows I can support myself better in Tel Aviv than in any other city in Israel. Question: Raphael Perez, are the paintings of the city of Tel Aviv different from the paintings of the city of Jerusalem? Answer: Most of the paintings of Jerusalem have an emphasis on the color yellow, gold, the color of the old city walls, the subjects I painted in Jerusalem are mainly a type of idealization of a peaceful life between Jews and Arabs and paintings that deal with the Jewish religious world, a number of paintings depict all shades of the currents of Judaism today In contrast, the Tel Aviv paintings are more colorful, with skyscrapers, the sea, balloons and more secular motifs Question: Raphael Perez, tell me about which buildings and their architects you usually choose in your drawings of cities Answer: My favorite buildings are those that have a special shape that anyone can recognize and are the symbols of the city and you will give several examples: In the city of Tel Aviv, my favorite buildings are: the opera building with its unusual geometric shape, the Yisrotel tower with its special head, the Hail Bo Shalom tower that for years was the symbol of the tallest building in Tel Aviv, the Levin house that looks like a Japanese pagoda, the burgundy-colored Nordeau hotel with the special dome at the end of the building, A pair of Alon towers with the special structure of the sea, Bauhaus buildings typical of Tel Aviv with the special balconies and the special staircase, the Yaakov Agam fountain in Dizengoff square appears in a large part of the paintings, many towers that are in the stock exchange complex, the Aviv towers and other tall buildings on Ayalon, in some of the paintings I took plans An outline of future buildings that need to be built in the city and I drew them even before they were built in reality, In the paintings of Jerusalem, I mainly chose the area of the Old City and East Jerusalem, a painting of the walls of the Old City, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the El Akchea Mosque, the Tower of David, most of the famous churches in the city, the right hand of Moses, in most of the paintings the Jew is wearing a blue shirt with a red male cord I was in the youth movement and the Arab with a galabia, and in the paintings of the religious public then, Jews with black suits and white shirts, tallitas, kippahs, special hats, synagogues and more I also created three paintings of the city of Haifa and one painting of Safed In the Haifa paintings I drew the university, the Technion, the famous Egged Tower, the Sail Tower, well-known hotels, of course the Baha'i Gardens and the Baha'i Temple, Haifa Port and the boats and other famous buildings in the city Question: Raphael Perez, have you created series of other cities from around the world? Answer: I created series of New York City with all the iconic and famous buildings such as: the Guggenheim Museum, the famous skyscrapers - the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Lincoln Center, the famous synagogue in the city, the Statue of Liberty, the flags of the United States and other famous buildings Two paintings of London and all its famous sites, Big Ben, famous monuments, the Ferris wheel, Queen Elizabeth and her family, the double bus, the famous public telephone, palaces, famous churches, well-known monuments I created 4 naive paintings of cities in China, a painting of Shanghai, two paintings of the city of Suzhou and a painting of the World Park in the city of Beijing... I chose the famous skyline of Shanghai with all the famous towers, the famous promenade, temples and old buildings, two Paintings of the city of Suzhou with the famous canals, bridges, special gardens, towers and skyscrapers of the city Question: Raphael Perez What is the general idea that accompanies your paintings Answer: To create a good, beautiful, naive, innocent world in which we will see the innovation of the modern city through the skyscrapers in front of small and low buildings that bring the history and past of each country, all with an abundance of vegetation, boulevards, trees Resume, biography, CV of the painter Rafi Peretz and his family Question: When was Raphael Perez born in hebrew his name rafi peretz? Answer: Raphael Perez in Hebrew his name Rafi Peretz was born on March 4, 1965 Question: Where was Raphael Perez born? Answer: Raphael Perez was born in Jerusalem, Israel Question: What is the full name of Raphael Perez? Answer: His full name is Raphael Perez Question: Which art institution did Raphael Perez graduate from? Answer: Raphael Perez graduated from the Visual Arts Center in Be'er Sheva Question: When did Raphael Perez start painting? Answer: Raphael Perez started painting in 1989 Question: When did you start making a living selling art? Answer: Raphael Perez started making a living selling art in 1999 Question: Where does Raphael Perez live and work? Answer: Since 1995, Raphael Perez has been living and working from his studio in Tel Aviv Question: In which military framework did Raphael Perez serve in the IDF? Answer: Raphael Perez served in the artillery corps Question: Raphael Perez, what jobs did he work after his military service? Answer: Raphael Perez worked for 15 years in education in therapeutic settings for children and taught arts and movement Question: How many brothers and sisters does Raphael Perez, the Israeli painter, have? Answer: There are seven children in total, with the painter 5 sons and two daughters, that means the painter Raphael Perez has 4 more brothers and two sisters Question: What do the brothers and sisters of the painter Raphael Perez do? Answer: The elder brother David Peretz Perez was involved in the field of religious studies, the sister Hana Peretz Perez is involved in the field of education, a kindergarten teacher and child care, the brother Avi Peretz Perez who is in the United States today is a conservative rabbi but in the past was involved in education and therapy, the brother Asher Peretz Perez is involved in the fields of creativity and jewelry The twin brother Mickey Peretz Perez is a well-known industrial designer and seller. The younger sister Shlomit Peretz Perez works in a managerial position at Bezeq. Question: Tell me about the parents of the painter Raphael PerezAnswer: The painter Raphael Perez's parents are Shimon Perez Peretz and Eliza Alice Ben Yair, they were married in 1950 in Jerusalem, both were born in Morocco and immigrated to Israel in 1949, Shimon Peretz worked in a building in his youth and later as a receptionist at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, Eliza Alice Peretz dealt in child care Kindergarten, working in kindergartens and of course taking care of and raising her seven children

 

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רפי פרץ צייר אמן ישראלי עכשווי מודרני אמנים ישראלים אומנים

ישראליים עכשוויים מודרניים האמנים הישראלים העכשוויים המודרניים האומנים הישראליים העכשוויים המודרניים יוצר הומו הומוסקסואל קווירי הומוסקסואליות באמנות הישראלית מגדר אומנות ומגדר אמנות ישראלית עכשווית מודרנית האמנות הישראלית העכשווית המודרנית

 

erotic gay art painting artist raphael perez pintura homossexual da arte de gomoseksual badiiy rasm гомосексуальний художній живопис pittura di arte omosessuale lukisan seni homoseksual listmálun samkynhneigðra péintéireacht ealaíne homaighnéasach pikturë arti homoseksual homoseksuaalne kunstimaal хомосексуална художествена живопис homoseksualno likovno slikarstvo жывапіс гомасэксуальнага мастацтва সমকামী আর্ট পেইন্টিং homoseksuel kunstmaleri homoszexuális művészeti festmény рассоми санъати гомосексуалӣ gomoseksual sungat suratkeşligi homoseksuālas mākslas glezniecība homoseksualaus meno tapyba homoseksuell kunstmaleri homoseksualno likovno slikarstvo

 

queer artworks paintings homoerotic painter lgbt artwork glbt artworks homo erotica man nude male naked men image images picture pictures homosexual homosexualiy artists painters artist body realism realistic famous

 

مثلي الجنس الفن الغريبة الأعمال الفنية معرض معرض رجل عارية لوحة رجال عراة صورة الجسم الإسرائيلي فنان رسام مثلى الفنانين الرسامين لوحات واقعية مثلي الجنس الشهير صورة كبيرة

 

arte homosexual queer obras de arte galería exposición hombre desnudo pintura hombres desnudos retrato cuerpo artista israelí pintor artistas gay pintores pinturas realistas homoerótico famoso imagen grande

 

гомосексуальное искусство квир произведения искусства галерея выставка мужчина ню живопись голые мужчины портрет тело израильский художник художник геи художники художники реалистичные картины гомоэротика знаменитый большое изображение

 

ομοφυλοφιλική τέχνη queer artworks γκαλερί έκθεση άντρας γυμνή ζωγραφική γυμνοί άντρες πορτραίτο ισραήλ καλλιτέχνης ζωγράφος γκέι καλλιτέχνες ζωγράφοι ρεαλιστικοί πίνακες ομοιορωτική διάσημη μεγάλη εικόνα

 

homosexuelle kunst queer kunstwerke galerie ausstellung mann nackt malerei nackte männer porträtkörper israelischer künstler maler schwule künstler maler realistische gemälde homoerotisch berühmtes großes bild

 

homoseksuele kunst queer kunstwerken galerie tentoonstelling man naakt schilderij naakte mannen portret lichaam Israëlische kunstenaar schilder homo kunstenaars schilders realistische schilderijen homo-erotisch beroemd groot beeld

 

art homosexuel queer oeuvres d'art galerie exposition homme peinture nue hommes nus portrait corps artiste israélien peintre artistes gais peintres peintures réalistes homoérotique célèbre grande image

 

homoseksualna sztuka queer dzieła galeria wystawa mężczyzna nago malarstwo nagi mężczyzna portret ciało izraelski artysta malarz homoseksualiści malarze realistyczni obrazy homoerotyk sławny duży obraz

 

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समलैंगिक कला क्वीर कलाकृतियों गैलरी प्रदर्शनी आदमी नग्न पेंटिंग नग्न पुरुषों चित्र शरीर इजरायल कलाकार चित्रकार समलैंगिक कलाकारों चित्रकारों यथार्थवादी चित्रों समलैंगिक प्रसिद्ध बड़ी छवि

 

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“We were telling stories, trying to guess if the tale told was fact or fiction. M… came up with this story, chilling in the way it was so wretchedly confessed to us. Most of us thought it was fact, but didn’t really want to believe it.

 

(read fact or fiction? At the end of the background section)

 

BACKGROUND

  

“Algonquin Round Table writers, a group of town wits who had converged on New York in the late 1910s. From their positions as columnists, essayists, and drama critics, this "all-star literary vaudeville," as Edmund Wilson called them, nourished a light, sharp, mocking tone aimed at well-known personalities, among whom they counted themselves. Wartime friends Franklin P. Adams, Harold Ross, Heywood Broun, and Alexander Woollcott were among the bantering quipsters who began meeting for daily lunches at the Algonquin Hotel. With so many clever wordsmiths, this self-named "vicious circle" soon became famous for its ingenious puns, quips, and insults appearing immediately in print in someone's column.”

 

The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.

 

"Their form of social media was just that: social. Imagine having the time every day to break for a couple hours to have lunch with your funny, intelligent friends? They didn’t post witty replies on Facebook. They said them face-to-face, such as the time Dorothy Parker was asked to use the word “horticulture” in a sentence: “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.” Was her quick response.

  

Daily association with each other, both at the luncheons and outside of them, inspired members of the Circle to collaborate creatively. The entire group worked together successfully only once, however, to create a revue called No Sirree! which helped launch a Hollywood career for Round Tabler Robert Benchley.

  

In its ten years of association, the Round Table and a number of its members acquired national reputations both for their contributions to literature and for their sparkling wit. Although some of their contemporaries, and later in life even some of its members, disparaged the group, its reputation has endured long after its dissolution.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

An elderly lady known to one of us was from the States, was visited with quite often before she passed on. She was a school chum of Tallulah and related this Roundtable tale told to her.

 

We would be quite interested to learn more of the story and possibly about the incident retold below. If anyone is aware of an occurrence similar to this one in or even outside of Pennsylvania please feel free to tell us about it.

 

Fact or Fiction?

 

As Related to Emily over afternoon Tea one spring day……..

 

“We were playing a game, telling each other stories, and then trying to guess if the story was fact or fiction. Darling Harpo had suggested playing it after the reaction he had received for mischievously calling out a distraught Bea on the facts for a bit of society gossip she had been relating….”

  

“ We gone midway round the circle, and When challenged, M… came up with this story, chilling in the way it was so wretchedly confessed to us. Most of us thought it was fact, but didn’t really want to believe it had occurred. “

  

“I give the story as best I can through memory, only ever hearing it the one time years ago now. I believe I have captured its’ essence, but I could never in words captured the tortured look, or trembling manner that was shown when it was told before the group. All I can say is, either way; it was a masterful performance….”

 

The Confession ( story):

 

M lit a cigarette, and after sending a few wisps of smoke up to dance upon the ceiling, began the tale…

 

“I have done may things in my life I have later regretted, but this one, in particular, I have never told a living soul until now….” Drawing a deep breath, the story was continued.

  

“I have always had a curious streak to observe people’s reactions when in various situations. To get a better grasp of how my characters should act. It greatly piqued me to watch, without being seen, a person’s true emotions coming into play. Ralph Waldo Emerson once famously quoted that “ People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character” ... and that intriguing thought was what originally sent me on my quest..

  

Sometimes I was the protagonist behind the scenes whom, unbeknownst to the victims, had set them up. Sometimes I just followed and watched their behavior. I never intended for anyone to get hurt, emotionally or physically. But sometimes they did! Then I would solace my conscience by telling it that I was only doing it to improve upon my craft. But, then this one time, I probably did go a little bit too far….”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Sends a few more puffs of his cigarette wafting in smoky curls upwards as if in thought on how to actually begin…

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“As a young man I would attend all different sorts of functions from all different levels of society to come up with ideas. I ran the gauntlet, from cock fights, hobo’s gathering around a campfire, to a wedding reception worthy of the Rockefellers. I noticed that I felt more at home with the hobos, than the fat cats. A condition, I am sure, caused by some flaw in my character. “

  

“But this instance, the function I encountered definitely belonged to the latter, Rockefeller fat cat , set.

  

The event, I soon learned, was the Homecoming of a small private College in a wealthy Pennsylvania community. Not my Alma Mater, but just a place I happened to be passing through which I had stopped whilst traveling home. “

  

“That there was a function going on in that little place was not hard to miss; the attendees were pouring out onto the streets from all sorts of establishments, and into others, including the bar I was holed up in. After a while I noticed a change in dress of the revelers costumes. School blazers and sensible dresses began to be replaced by tuxes and swishing satin gowns and colourful frocks. Their adornments also changed, from school ties to bow ties, Boaters (straw hats) to top hats for the men: Gold jewelry was replaced by sparkling necklaces and rings upon gloved hands for the ladies.”

  

“Another change was, that by then, the lot of them was pretty much plastered, but then, so was I!”

  

“ Finally I was flushed out of my hiding spot , and went for a walk outside to escape the noisy crowd.

  

I started to circle the upper portion of a large rural park that ran next to my late hiding spot. As I strolled, I noticed a man with a heavy coat and cap, rather sinisterly watching the crowd, standing against a tree just up ahead of me. When he saw me coming towards him, he turned down a path leading into the shadowy depths of the woods. I watched him go down for a minute, and observed that it led down to a small valley, where in the middle, surrounded by trees, stood a quite deserted football field. The path less traveled tonight, I thought to myself.

  

I kept to the path well-travelled however, and soon after turning a corner, came upon a young couple snogging on a bench. I stopped to watch, my mind racing with a mixture of drink inspired contemplations upon the little scene before me! “

  

“She was dolled up like a picture actress. Wearing a slithery glossy red gown that shined in the gas lamps pooling light, with matching gloves and a shimmering gold purse, she was a breathing Pygmalion . The jewels she was adorned with, rhinestones, I assumed, glittered happily as she moved. He was in a tux, an Errol Flynn moustache and gold watch chain and fob at his waist. They had no idea anyone was near them! Of course, Then, my cursed foot gave me away all too soon, as it stepped upon a twig, snapping it loudly, calling the couples attention to my peeping. Seeing me they got up and walked past me, snooty noses up in the air. She made a rude noise that would have better fitted an old mare in a barn. Well pardon my eyes I though, stinging from the obvious smite upon my character, which I always had held in high regard. Why dress in that manner and think no one deserves to take notice unless they meet with your approval? The princess was obviously not amused…”

  

“ I watched with disdain, and then , still transfixed, followed at a discreet distance as they walked back the way I had come. For some reason I was mesmerized by the pair of snobs, watching as they moved, her red gown swishing and swirling like a red waterfall upon the paved stones. They were holding closely onto one another, once again totally oblivious to their surroundings. There was a story there, if only…. “

  

“They stopped, and I went into the shadow of a tree. Looking back up the path they had come, I thought they may have seen my shadow. For they then looking again to each other, she murmured something and they turned down the very path, the path less travelled, that the heavy coated man had slinked away down. I felt maybe I should have run up and cautioned them against taking that path, but I was still stung by their rude reaction… Besides, I was rather curious to see if anything would happen.

  

In for pence, in for a pound I remember repeating to myself, as I discreetly continued my stalk.”

  

“I went into the shadows, seeing a large set of rocks beside the path I climbed up, getting a view of the path winding down into the small valley. I was just above a gas lamp that lit the path as it reached the valley floor below. The lamps lite effectively shadowed the rock whence I was perched. I could see the pair walking in and out of the shadows of the trees. Just as they reached the circle of light below me they stopped and embraced. I watched, totally unabashed.

  

Then, as I grew bored, or maybe my drink induced fog was started to clear my mind back to reality, I slowly started to make an exit stage right , when a shadow detached itself from a tree directly below me. I stayed mute and froze in my tracks, watching the event I knew was going to occur, began to unfold. The man’s shadowy figure approached the oblivious couple carefully, I could see his head jerking about making sure that the couple was alone, and unprotected. Picking up a chunk of wood he entered the circle of light, which now formed a small stage where a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare was most likely about to unfold!”

  

“I watched as the startled lovers became aware and tried to stare down the newcomer.

  

Now in the light, I could see He had shed his coat and gained a mask, but it was definitely the same sinister man I had seen earlier, obviously up to no good. The Errol Flynn wannabe put the girl behind him in defense, the masked man merely raised branch and whacked him on the side of his head, it broke with a sickening crunch, and her gallant defender went down like a sack of cement.

  

The sinister figure then turned his attention to the now helpless damsel in distress. Raising a cupped hand up he said something in a raspy voice that startled her. Apparently he was asking for her jewels, and the horror struck damsel had arrogantly not yet realized she was being mugged. The ladies long earrings shimmering as she shook her head no in response. The rings on her gloved fingers flashed as her hand went to her throat as she clearly cried out,” not my necklace”, in a hapless act of defiance. In my mind came a picture of a small kitten trying to defy a snarling wolf. She threw the gold purse at him, but he merely caught it, and placed it in his pocket. I remember feeling strangely detached, It may have been shock, but I found myself watching without one ounce of regret. The only thought I could remember was her glittering necklace, maybe they had not been rhinestones, which meant that she actually was wealthy and probably had been looking down her snooty nose upon me, like she probably did her own servants !!.

  

Well than she obviously did not desire my help, I decided, like she had quite rudely not desired my looking at her earlier… and after all , in her world, servants should be standing quietly in the background, seen but not heard. So, I decided that I wasn’t going to help unless absolutely life or death. Let the little lamb be trimmed of her rich wool I said to myself. She did show spunk, I will admit, but that’s all it was, a show. She went limp as he reached up, grabbing her hand away, than began pulling of the rings as she stood mute with disbelief. The diamond bracelet was wrenched unceremoniously from her wrist. Dropping her hand, he pocketed her rings and bracelet. Than he once again went for her necklace, and she backed up, shaking her head, earrings again shimmering as the pair innocently bounced away from her long hair. Then I saw a flash of silver in his hand, and she fainted dead away at the sight of his ugly blade…”.

  

“The masked man knelt over to her fallen body. The shiny red gown had spilled around her on the ground, Laying about her inert svelte figure like a pool of red lava. Reaching down and in he claimed her necklace, grasping it up and away from her throat. He looked at it for a few seconds, letting it sparkle in the moon’s light like slivery falling rain.

  

Then squatting beside her, he pulled away her hair, and yanked her taunting earrings free. He methodically felt along her figure, missing nothing. Then he again produced the knife, slicing off the brooch from her gown’s sash.

  

He pulled off her red high heels and threw tem deep into the woods.

  

Then he left her and went over to the unconscious escort, the bloody limb next to him” in quick, precise fashion, ‘Errol’s’, watch chain and fob were pulled free and pocketed. Then he reached in and pulled out the unlucky devils pocket book. Then pulling off ‘Errol’s’ shoes they soon joined the ladies high heels.

  

Arising calmly, he slowly looked around as he stowed the stolen articles and his knife away. He spent a split second longer on the area I was hidden, causing a shiver to make itself felt! Then, removing the mask he walked to where his long coat lay, and reclaiming it, he continued serenely on his way down the path. I watched in heavy silence as he disappeared in the woods, only to reappear by the football field. It was then that I stole away back up the path, careful not to be seen.”

  

“And no, I did not give any cry of alarm, did not involve myself by seeking or giving the hapless couple aid. I simply turned and left. I came away with nothing, no ideas, no new feelings for a character, just a sour taste in my mouth and an upset stomach, which I soon tried to relieve by stopping in at the next drinking establishment I came across. Beer didn’t help, so I switched to Scotch…!”

  

“ About an hour later I heard a siren and sensed commotion outside the confides of my prison. I did not go out to investigate.”

  

“After a fit less night of unrestful sleep, I left the next morning, daring not to read a paper, or stop there for breakfast ( having a late tea later a few hours away , I put the place and its memories to my back. “

  

“Ashamedly I did not render any assistance those poor souls, and I admit what I what I did was criminal.. But then in my defense , they ………………….., ”

 

“Yes?”

  

“It was at this point that the confession was interrupted by the appearance of a messenger boy sent for M….. Who took his leave, with a wicked smile that seemed to convey relief that an outcome of the story would not have to be faced?

  

Obliviously loving the mystery it created by the timely appearance of the messenger.” He never could be persuaded to return to his story only smiling that wicked little smile.

  

So, the worse of it was we never knew… because of the messenger boy’s interruption, never to learn to our satisfaction if the story was true or not..”

  

“How we all did hate that!”

****************************************************

 

There is some question as to the identity of M…. There are six members with M in their initial. It could have been a non-regular or even a nickname. If anyone else has heard of this tale, or could place a finger for us as to who M… may have been, we would welcome the enlightenment.

 

Charter members of the Round Table included:

Franklin Pierce Adams, columnist

Robert Benchley, humorist and actor

Heywood Broun, columnist and sportswriter (married to Ruth Hale)

Marc Connelly, playwright

Ruth Hale, freelance writer who worked for women's rights

George S. Kaufman, playwright and director

Dorothy Parker

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”

“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”

“What fresh hell is this?”

Robert E. Sherwood, author and playwright

John Peter Toohey, publicist

Alexander Woollcott, critic and journalist

"The English have an extraordinary ability for flying into a great calm."

 

Membership was not official or fixed for so many others who moved in and out of the Circle. Some of these included:

Tallulah Bankhead, actress

Edna Ferber, author and playwright

Margalo Gillmore, actress

Jane Grant, journalist and feminist (married to Ross)

Beatrice Kaufman, editor and playwright (married to George S. Kaufman)

Margaret Leech, writer and historian

Neysa McMein, magazine illustrator

Harpo Marx, comedian and film star

Alice Duer Miller, writer

Donald Ogden Stewart, playwright and screenwriter

Frank Sullivan, journalist and humorist

Deems Taylor, composer

Estelle Winwood, actress

Peggy Wood, actress

 

Courtesy of Chatwick University Archives

  

I get a lot of people asking me about rebuilding streaks, what are my thought's, opinion's, etc..so I thought I'd copy and paste a recent answer I gave to such a question. It is something that is better left undone I think. It's a much debated subject. Some would choose to rebuild the moniker and extend it's life another 10-15 years, while others would rather leave them alone to preserve their authenticity. One of the big problems is that most people are not skilled enough to do such a thing, nor are they priveleged enough to have that honor. I feel I have earned that through many years of devotion, dedication, and a vast knowledge and love of the artform. I have rebuilt a few, while others I have left alone. It's not something that one can say"' oh look an old faded Herby, let me restore that'' Problem is, if the person CAN NOT restore the sketch 100%, without error in every stroke, then the moniker becomes damaged, and disrespected. Thats my opinion, as well as the opinion of some of my comrades. I'll give you an example. I was walking an active mainline with Stackabones, Nova, and Southern Belle one day down in Virginia. We were sketching coal cars that were sitting their awaiting clearance. Now they can sit there for 5 min, and as long as most of the day. I've seen both scenarios. Anyway, on our return back down the line to exit, they saw an old faded Herby. It was actually quite rare to see on a coal car, not to mention the sketch was a lilttle different, I forget how, I'd have to look at the pic again. Anyway they yelled down the line to come quick ( we were between 2 lines of coal cars) As I got closer they told me it was an old Herby, I forget the date, I think mid 80's. They were anxious for me to restore it, and suggested so. I declined, and explained why. Reason: Quote '' It's extremely faded in some spots, and I am not sure I can accurately restore it. Plus, if this line pulls, and I'm not finished with it, it will be ruined and disgraced'' I kid you not 5 seconds after I said that, the line pulled, and off it went! THATS why some things are better left undone, they all agreed. I've restored some Colossus of Roads, The Woodman, Rum Runner, The Solo Artist, The Artful Dodger, and some tohers, BUT, I could easily see them, it was daytime, I knew the sketches well, and could accurately trace them, and I knew the cars weren't going anywhere, otherwords, they were at a siding or layup somewhere. But yeah I have mixed emotions about restoring monikers, and I try not to make a habit out of it, but I did it out of respect to the artist, and I did them flawlessly! Hope that answers your question, and gives you some insight.

Salutations~ The Kodak Kidd

Challenge #3: Social Media Cleanup

 

Social media is an amazing tool for connecting with friends old and new. I have made some amazing lifelong friends through Facebook groups and flickr groups too. But unfortunately there are a lot of people who use social media maliciously and for the sole purpose of hurting and exploiting others. I have shared a lot of my life and even my son's first year through different forms of social media. I have always loved to share in hopes it can help or inspire others, but lately a few different things have made me realize its time for me to start locking things down a bit. It was a hard decision, I don't want to live my life in fear, but I also can't be ignorant to the dangers that are out there.

 

How did I decide on this challenge? Well the social media lock down has been in my thoughts for quite some time. Facebook is pretty locked down, its my flickr that is open to the world. I decided it was time for some clean up and lock down. I scrolled to the bottom of my albums and the last one was Hazen 365 Project. The 365 we planned on doing for our first year of wedded bliss /note sarcastic tone. Here are some thoughts and emotions and realizations I had while deleting the failed project.

 

It is so sad seeing how lonely I was in most of the photos and how dark he seemed in most of his. All the love and hope and dreams that I had and he didn't. I think for him our marriage was over before it even started. After day 143 of married life I gave up on our 365 project and knew deep down that our marriage was over for me too.

  

Going through the photos, deleting them one by one; our wedding day, honeymoon, friend's weddings, good times with friends and family, doing all the work on the new house, the day I found out I was pregnant, quickly followed by finding out that his promise and commitment to our marriage had already been broken. I felt sad looking at the pictures of myself in what seems like a lifetime ago. All the heartache and pain and downward spiraling that happened after that and allowing him to break my heart over and over again. Thinking we would beat the odds, that we were in this for life, we had true love.

 

Well here I am 4 short years later deleting them all and happy to end my heart break and know I am strong and worth far more than that.

 

I was sad to delete photos where I know I was glowing with love and happiness and was in great shape and proud of it. But if he is in it it's time for it to go. Good bye.

 

I thought I was doing good deleting the photos and not even crying, then my friend AK walked in and said omg what's wrong and I started to bawl. She walked in right after I deleted the photo from the day I found out I was pregnant. It's hard to delete the "memories" but they aren't my memories they are just photos that it was time I let go of. She gave me the biggest and best hug ever exactly when I needed it (thinking about how tightly she hugged/held me is making me cry all over again as I type this).

 

So here we have challenge #3. Clean up, lock down and in some cases account deletions. I'm unsure about some things like linkedin but that's all part of the challenge.

 

Photo: I took this nice little selfie in the bathroom before leaving work to see how obvious it was I had been crying.

 

Quotes for today:

 

*"This is my fight song

Take back my life song

Prove I'm alright song

My power's turned on

Starting right now I'll be strong

I'll play my fight song

And I don't really care if nobody else believes

'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me" - Rachel Platten Fight Song

 

*She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the universe on her shoulders and made it look like wings. -Honey Child

 

*You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power" - Wizard of Oz

 

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I had a quote associated with this, waiting for over 2 weeks:

 

"Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can; all of them make me laugh." - W. H. Auden

 

It didn't seem to fit very well. It should have some kind of sappy quote about love, which will make the lovers swoon, and make everyone else's eyes roll back into their heads.

 

But it's not about division. It's about bringing people together.

 

The circumstances around this photo drastically changed in a short period of time. It's amazing how emotions can cloud judgement. Time is the ultimate healer, however, and whether it's a few hours, a few weeks or a few years, clarity usually comes to knock you back to your senses. It's important to have that little check-list handy of what really connects you to the people around you. It could just save your ass from yourself.

 

And so, the quote became strangely appropriate. Whether it's laughter or some other trait - I suspect there's really only one or two things that you share with those closest to you.

 

Yep - it's special. Celebrate it.

  

-----

ISO400, 200mm, ƒ2.8, 1/640sec

Behind every beautiful thing, there's always a story of pain. - Cristina Valladares

 

I spent some time thinking about the term "tortured artist" this morning. Whether you're talking about photographers, painters, musicians, or writers, it does seem like some of the most breathtakingly beautiful work stems from a dark place full of pain, heartache or uncertainty. That's not to say there isn't beautiful art inspired by happiness as well, but I think that perhaps we are more drawn to the painfully inspired pieces because the artists are giving us the means of expressing our own pain.

 

Not everybody knows how to deal with pain. Actually, I think most of us are stumbling blindly in the dark when we're hurt. But for whatever reason, as artists, we are compelled to pour that emotion into our chosen creative outlet. It's healthy, really, if you ask me. (You didn't, but I'm sharing anyway.)

 

I know that for me, when I compose a photograph during my darkest hours, it feels like I'm freeing a bit of that pain and letting it fly away from me. I'm lightening my load by releasing it through photography or writing. I don't think that artists feel more deeply than others, I just think that there's something unique in us that compells us to release our emotions in a more tangible form. And I think the reason that these pain-inspired masterpieces are typically more universally appealing is that by releasing our own pain, we are giving others the means of releasing theirs as well.

 

Never underestimate that feeling you get when you read a chapter in a book, look at a photograph or a painting, hear the lyrics of a song and think "Yes. That, exactly. That is how I feel."

 

The beauty of art is that it captures universal emotions and makes us feel a bit less alone.

 

100 Quotes Project

MADE EXPLORE!!!! WOOOHOOOO ;o)

 

MUST View On Black

 

Now.....if you have tuned in lately to the world of Jessy. You might be thinking...wow...she is a mess.

 

You know what?.....I am. And I am okay with that. Because I am aware of my mess.....I'm aware of my feelings and where I am at right now in my life.

 

All of a sudden.....I'm fully thrown in front of mirror...and looking at myself like I have never before.

 

I want to get some things off my chest..some of the following that you will read will seem silly or mute point...but these are things I have often left out of "me"....meaning I would often never let people know all about me....afraid of what they would think....you can see my photo with a quote about this very thing.

 

So here are some truths about me...TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT....but this is me!

  

* I love dancing....I don't dance cause I seriously have no rhythm..but I have always wanted to learn to dance hip hop..to dance "street". I love watching people break...to dance like they do in those dance movies like "step up".

Whenever I watch those movies I just can't help but start trying to dance right in my chair (LOL)....and when the credits are playing...I get up and just start "TRYING" to dance like them. If someone could see me they would die in hysterics laughing.....BUT I HAVE NEVER LET ANYONE SEE ME DO THIS.....maybe I should. (video??? LOL)

 

*I love corny......cheesy...and cliche things. THe more corny, cheesy, or cliche it is.....THE BETTER!!!!!!

 

*I truly am a control freak..I see it more and more everyday. I am so aware of myself now....that its almost freaky. But I differ from most control freaks you know..which is why I NEVER considered myself one. But after some reading....and a long talk with my mother......and all this self reflection. I See it....I SEE IT LOUD AND CLEAR...and it's not pretty.

 

* I've realized I am scared to find someone new for me romance wise. I hide behind being a single mom, I hide behind my feelings for my ex, I hide behind my anxiety. I am not sure I am ready to let someone new in my life....to let someone new in my heart. It seems I would rather be heartbroken and stuck in a vicious cyle then risk new happiness? I haven't quite figured it all out....but I do realize that I am not ready to let someone in. BUt I am ready to make new friends though....I am ready to start healing.

 

*I do like some of that totally idealistic, superficial, crazy and Mainstream rap music...and even some country. A lot of times I will refuse to buy music that isn't rock.....because that isn't my "image". I really don't think I have a true "image"....but I have often hid that I like certain music....WHO THE HELL CARES WHAT MUSIC I WANT TO LISTEN TO....ITS MY EARS DARNIT!!

 

* I DO BELIEVE IN JESUS, I BELIEVE IN MY LORD & SAVIOR. I DO BELIEVE HE DIED FOR MY SINS. I AM NOT ASHAMED TO BELIEVE IN HIM....but yet I do not spread the good word.....I have a hard time to share my testimony for fear of being made fun of...to be berated. It is so controversial..and I don't want to stir the pot...BUT I DO NOT want to fear that anymore.

 

* I'm an emotional eater. Sometimes when I am truly upset I will starve myself and then once I calm down I binge. This has been the bain of my existence for many years.....and until I found out I have a sensitivity to dairy....it ruled my world. NOw that I Have had to pretty much cut out dairy....it has helped, but I still fight urges with the ups and downs of my emotions.

 

*I have lost about 30 lbs in the last 4 months...and though I am happy and more healthy..I still see myself as if I didn't lose any weight......I hate self image. I don't walk around moping about how I look..but I wish I could see myself as others seem to see me.

 

* I have decided that I will go see a doctor about my anxiety. The anxiety is starting to get out of hand....and often strikes me unexpectedly as well. I am calling counselors/therapists...and hopefully I can find the way to afford these things without health insurance.

 

* At the core of my being, I am a total goofball......I love to laugh and make others laugh.......but I just don't seem to let that side show very often. I can remember a time when I was always goofin' off. Maybe it isn't always mature......but sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself....to just be yourself and enjoy a good romp of fun.

 

* I do not like roller coasters or anything of the like. I do not like the heart in your throat feeling.....I do not favor the fear that you are losing control (hello-i'm a control freak remember lol)....I do not like feeling ill....all the things that go along with those kinds of rides........BUT I really do like watching other people on them. hehe

 

* I am no good at taking constructive critism...or any critism for that matter...and to top it off, I find that I'm not really good at taking compliments either.

 

* It's horribly easy for me to start new projects but it's also horribly hard for to finish of them.

 

I'm sure there are more things.....that I don't normally share.....and I think as more time goes on....I will be able to "release" them. But these ones popped out in my mind right away.

 

So with that being said, I release parts of me today...to my flickr friends and the whole flickrite nation. Not that everyone will care or even understand....but it isn't about them....it's about me

   

On portraiture.

For an amateur, and even for some professionals, what you photograph is who you are. There is a booming community of self-portraitists out there in the world, some very talented, filling the pages of flickr's explore with their faces, poses, composite images etc. I've never gotten into this kind of photography, chiefly because I think all images are self-portraits. That is to say - all earnest photographs made for photography's sake are self portraits. They are portraits of my reaction, emotion and thought. Why would I need to put myself in this frame when the frame tells you more than my face could? You can learn a lot about what someone values by the photographs he or she makes. There's a reason I don't post photographs of Disneyworld or box stores here. The world has enough of that and photography is my way of understanding the world and sharing the images projected on the back of my mind. It's the great privilege of an amateur to photograph, say and publish as he or she pleases.

It is not my intent to diminish self-portraits or -portraitists (in fact, some have elevated this to levels I couldn't possibly), but to explain why, though the photographs are clearly well made, they don't move me to do the same. Or is it that because I'm no good at self-portraiture that I don't care for it? If all images are self-portraits, then putting myself in the frame seems a little, well, obvious. Well that and you don't want to see my mug grinning back at you from the warm confines of the Harper Memorial Library Reading Room.

Closing up the library.

If all images are self-portraits, then where am I in this photograph? Well, it depends when you look.

 

Before the Mansueto Library, before the Pink Line, before the wheel (to quote Dylan Thomas), when there were still books in the Harper Reading Room, I worked behind the circulation desk in one of the narrow, stone-capped corridors on the way to this magnificent space. There I go as a sophomore, weaving between the labyrinthine bookshelves that once populated the floor of this vault, on my way to flip a switch (conveniently located on the opposite side of the library from the exit) that will dim the amber chandeliers for the night. The embedded fluorescent lamps off, the room's immense size renders the feeble glimmer of orange emanating from the hanging lamps useless to penetrate the darkness. Back I'm walking now, the gales of a cold December buffeting the sagging, leaded glass panes and BOO! my then girlfriend, now wife, jumps out from behind a bookshelf to scare me half to death. Down, down, down the Escheresque stairs and out into the cold, into the gray Gothic winter wonderland and homeward bound now, blazing a path through the stones and snow.

 

Fast-forward a few years and and I'm back in the vault again with my new camera and a new-found love of this thing called HDR photography - snapping away. I didn't know what I was doing, but I was excited to try to grow photographically. I'd gotten a taste for the beauty of the reading room again and wanted to return shortly after that last linked photograph was made. I found the place boarded up. The reading room was undergoing its most recent transformation and it would be years before I made my return to the vault.

By early last year, my time at the University of Chicago was quickly drawing to a close. I started putting together a series of images to remember the place by and I couldn't leave the Harper Reading Room alone. I dropped by to make a few images and fell in love all over again and decided to write my thesis from glowing stone confines of Harper Memorial. This time, I would close the library as a user, working along one of the long tables that stood against the wall where my path to the light switch once ran; working quietly next to the heating vent into the night. I brought my camera with and made a few shots with a tripod and a few by dragging a chair out to the aisle and propping my camera up on my sweatshirt. At the time, I kept wondering to myself how one might gain the Mezzanine and the balcony seen in the photographs linked above. The reading room looks great from the floor, but I wondered how it might look from a vantage point hung in the lofty spaces even with the great chandeliers. My attempts to open the various doors along the stairwells were unsuccessful.

Finding myself back in the City Gray late last month, I couldn't help myself when I walked by the doors to the reading room and I mounted the worn marble to the third floor. I stopped by the small booth that now stands in place of what was once a lengthy circulation deck and asked the attendant about the balcony. These conversations typically start with me saying, "This may seem like a strange question ...," followed by my explaining why I want to get somewhere unusual with my camera. The girl behind the desk pointed me in the right direction and I soon found myself high above the floor, camera, tripod and panoramic tripod head. I framed the library in some 60-or so images taken at 70mm, f/8 with my D700 and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. Normally I would bracket to capture five frames each spaced by one stop, but I worried that the cacophony I had already made in getting setup, etc would disturb the studious horde below. Late twilight was settling in outside and I waited for the perfect mix of a deep blue exterior peering through the windows and the bright tungsten glow of the lights within. As before, I was able to capture individuals and motion in the frame by carefully pre-visualizing and timing my captures. I wanted to get the ghost of a student walking into the library, down the center aisle, to do a little studying. If you link through to the full-resolution version on flickr, you'll be able to see at least one student who must have been pre-visualizing what I was doing as well and decided to mug for the camera. After I'd finished capturing this beast of an image (over 250 megapixels) I packed up and, carrying I care not to admit how much camera equipment, followed that same foot-worn path northward to home I'd first blazed so many years before.

My father, a long-time fan of Capra's often overly-dramatic It's a Wonderful Life, loved that I was often responsible for shuttering Harper's great reading room. When I was a student working at the circulation desk, he would enthusiastically imitate Clarence by shouting "He's cloooosing up the liiiiibrary!" into the receiver when we spoke on the phone. In some ways this last trip to the reading room and this photograph was me closing up the library more or less for good. It's unlikely that I'll ever be more than a tourist here from now on. I couldn't help but hear Dad's words ringing in my ears on the walk to my car; Mary Bailey, old maid or no, would have been so lucky as to close up a library as beautiful as Harper.

A comparison.

If you're wondering why I would bother to make an image so large and laboriously, then I offer the following analysis. Here is an image of roughly the same angle of view (horizontal angle of view that is) taken with the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 at 14mm. I processed it as a single HDR and gave it many of the same modifications. I hope it is as instantly obvious to you as it is to me what a difference in tonality and quality there is between the first image and this.

If you'd like another reference point for comparison, I submit a 100% crop of the chandelier in both images for your consideration:

  

The other clear advantage of these kind of captures is the little architectural details it reveals. Rockefeller and company put an incredible investment of time, money and energy into this building and you just can't appreciate that from a single photograph. Every corner is unique and beautiful. They literally don't build them like this anymore. Check out the gargoyles and keystones on the ceiling, each it's own work of art.

         

I think every Marvel fan remembers where they were when Marvel had that iconic presentation at the El Capitan Theater when they announced their entire Phase 3 slate. They tricked us at first announcing Captain America: Serpent Society, but then at the end of the presentation, we got the double whammy of the Chadwick Boseman Black Panther casting and that Captain America 3 would be Civil War. The internet exploded and so did my excitement. That meant we were getting an Avengers 2.5 literally the next year! Not to mention that this film would introduce Black Panther into the MCU, he was always one of my favorite heroes. Flash forward a couple months later and we get another bomb that SPIDER-MAN would be joining the MCU and making his debut in Civil War. Expectations were at an all time high for this film, and thank god this film succeeded all of them for me. Anyways, this film was sortta one of my least anticipated to rewatch in the marathon, but purely because I’ve seen it so many damn times that I was more excited to revisit films that I’ve watched less. I believe Captain America Civil War is a perfect film, so like my review for Ant-Man, this will be more of an exploration of why this film works so well. Let’s check it out!

 

Good: Alright the first thing that I want to address is a common complaint I’ve heard about this film, and that’s the sense of stakes. I believe some people have don’t quite understand the meaning of “stakes” in storytelling, where stakes always have to be a characters death. People were very but hurt that nobody died in this film, but if you really think about it, why would anybody die in this film? The airport sequence in this film is about Tony his squad trying to arrest Captain America and his team, they don’t want to fucking slaughter them! I think it’s perfectly summed up in the quote from Tony, “Sometimes I want to punch you and your perfect teeth, but I don’t want to see you gone.” It’s also clear that those critiquing the stakes of this film have never read the original Civil War comic either. The only death of an Avenger in the actual fight between Cap and Tony is Goliath, who is killed by a psycho robot Thor. So yeah, the stakes in this film are more social and emotional than physical. We see these relationships built up over the last few films absolutely torn apart in this film, Cap and Tony will never be the same with each other after this film, which I think believe is even more tragic than a death of an Avenger. I guess to fully judge if the fallout was as grand as it was presented in this film is as big as it claims to be, we’re going to have to watch Infinity War and see how Cap and Tony are going to deal with one another, but from how it’s established it this movie, I think it’s going to succeed. Anyways, just wanted to clear up that common complaint, let’s talk about the best part of Civil War, which is the airport fight. Damn, I still get goosebumps watching the shot of the two teams standing off. Watching it in the theater was one of the best theatrical experiences I’ve ever had and the hype still hasn’t worn off. Seeing Ant-Man turn into Giant Man was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, period. But enough about the airport fight, because all the action in this film is stellar! The Russo brothers are absolutely masters and comicbook action because every action sequence is shot so tight and real, yet so fantastical at the same time. I mean, the Cap vs Tony fight at the end is absolutely crazy, it’s smaller scale than the airport fight, yet it has so much of a greater impact, because of how it’s just and the emotion put into those punches. Okay, I want to now go into the new characters that were introduced in this film. Now when I watched Civil War for the first time, I was too keen on the villain because he wasn’t even close to being the Zemo from the comics. But as the more I watch this film, the more I start to empathise with him, I mean that seen between him and T’Challa in Siberia was pretty emotional, and it works for building both the characters of Zemo and T’Challa. Speaking of T’Challa, what a fucking introduction to Black Panther, he was so badass in this film. This may seem a little controversial, but I think I liked how the Russo Bros handled Black Panther Coolger did in his own film! I liked the suit more in this film and the character just had a *bit* more intensity than he did in his own film. That’s by no mean a critique on Black Panther because I love that film, I just think Black Panther in this film is closer to the character that I’ve grown to know in the comics and cartoons when I was a kid. Alright, let’s talk Spidey, I knew right when I saw him on screen that he’d be my favorite Spider-Man, and now after seeing more of him in Homecoming, it’s further cemented. Lastly, I’d like to touch a bit on the soundtrack. I was a little disappointed at first that Henry Jackman didn’t use a lot of his work from Winter Soldier, but I’ve grown to adore this score. The music when they’re standing off is chilling, and the music that plays during the ending/credits is incredible. Anyways, I’m going to cut off the good here because what hasn’t been said about Captain America: Civil War!

 

Bad: Man I really hate to beat a dead horse with these last few MCU movies, but again, perfect movie… though I have two minor minor MINOR nitpicks. First off, the CGI right before the airport fight is a little iffy, Tony suit just looks so fake when his helmet was off. Also, I’m not a fan of the sound mixing when it came to Ant-Man’s voice, sometimes they made it sound like he was wearing a helmet, but then other times when he has the helmet on, there’s no filter and it just bothers me, but not enough to detract my enjoyment of the fight.

 

Overall, Captain America: Civil War was a bomb-drop of a movie to start of Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was the perfect progression from Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron and a brilliant way to let loose the films of Phase 3. People consider this an Avengers 2.5, but I still consider this a Captain America film just with other Avengers in it. If this is the last Captain America solo film we get with Chris Evans, it’ll be such a great run. Each Captain America film got better from the last and I think this Captain America trilogy is my favorite right behind the original Star Wars trilogy of course. So yeah, I’m giving this Big Boy a 10/10. Let me know your thoughts on the film in the comments below! I know a certain one of you will have a few things to say… Anyways, make sure to look out for my re-review of Doctor Strange next week! Guys, we’re in Phase 3, only a few more films until INFINITY WAR!! That’s crazy!!!

This is not the best picture (was having issues with lighting and overwhelmed with emotions). Nonetheless I still want to share it. I was in Jamaica not too long ago- my second trip this year as I was bringing back some donation items to communities in Trench Town (a ghetto in Kingston)- of which the Old Age Home. It was my first time at this home and what I saw had an impact on me...

 

The Old Age Home hosts seniors who have been abandoned by family/friends. Some are blind, some are sick, some have mental conditions. The home is in a scrappy state... but has become a 'refuge' for the residents - who are in a critical, helpless state. The home is not run by any formal organization and receives little support.

 

With that said, I started a crowdfunding initiative hoping to raise some funds. I will be back in Jamaica later this year to ensure that all money raised is used in an optimal manner. You can see more about my project here www.gofundme.com/3l1134

 

This picture is my encounter with Carvet. Carvet is lying on his bed with a fan placed facing him, to cool him off from the scorching Kingston heat. Carvet sees us enter and starts telling us stories about his life, what he’s seen, why he’s here… he mentions something about food poisoning and getting an organ replacement from a man who he suspects was murdered…he quotes the bible over and over again… he then says something about not being able to pass stools…he’s quite the talkative type to say the least I know he is not well… but he enjoys making conversation, he comes off as the social type. Despite whatever he may be suffering from, he gives off a genuinely friendly vibe. I hope, like the other residents, he continues to be taken care of and receives as much help as possible!

Quote by Oscar Wilde

 

More outtakes to go through even though this was grainy and I loved it. It speaks to me, feels like me, my emotions. Ah therapeutic :)

 

My illustrations on Instagram and twitter

By way of immediate action, a stand must first be made against thought, against mental processes. "I do not know" - it is said - "anything which, when unbridled, uncontrolled, unwatched, untamed, brings such ruin as thought, and I do not know anything which, when bridled, controlled, watched, tamed, brings such benefits as thought."

 

Thought, which everyone lightly says is "mine," is, in reality, only to a very small degree in our power. In the majority of cases, instead of "to think" it would be correct to say "we are thought" or "thought takes place in me." In the normal way, the characteristic of thought is its instability. "Incorporeal" - it is said - "it walks by itself": it "runs hither and thither like an untamed bull." Hard to check, unstable, it runs where it pleases. In general, it is said that, while this body may persist one year, two years, three years or even up to a hundred years and more in its present form, "what we call thought, what we call mind, what we call consciousness arises in one manner, ceases in another; incessantly, night and day"; "it is like a monkey who goes through the forest, and who progresses by seizing one branch, letting go of it, taking hold of another, and so on."

 

The task is to "arrest" thought: to master it and to strengthen the attention; to be able then to say: "Once this thought wandered at its fancy, at its pleasure, as it liked: I today shall hold it completely bridled, as a mahout holds a rut-elephant with his goad."

 

A few explanations.

 

If one day normal conditions were to return, few civilizations would seem as odd as the present one, in which every form of power and dominion over material things is sought, while mastery over one's own mind, one's own emotions and psychic life in general is entirely overlooked. For this reason, many of our contemporaries - particularly our so-called "men of action" - really resemble those crustaceans that are as hard-shelled outside with scabrous incrustations as they are soft and spineless within. It is true that many achievements of modern civilization have been made possible by methodically applied and rigorously controlled thought. This, however, does not alter the fact that most of the "private" mental life of every average and more-than-average man develops today in that passive manner of thought that, as the Buddhist text we have just quoted strikingly puts it, "walks by itself," while, half-unconscious, we look on. Anyone can convince himself of this by trying to observe what goes on in his mind, for example, when leaving his house: he thinks of why he is going out but, at the door, his thoughts turn to the postman and thence to a certain friend from whom news is awaited, to the news itself, to the foreign country where his friend lives and which, in turn, makes him remember that he must do something about his own passport: but his eye notices a passing woman and starts a fresh train of thought, which again changes when he sees an advertisement, and these thoughts are replaced by the various feelings and associations that chase each other during a ride through the town. His thought has moved exactly like a monkey that jumps from branch to branch, without even keep-ing a fixed direction. Let us try, after a quarter of an hour, to remember what we have thought - or, rather, what has been thought in us - and we shall see how diffi¬cult it is. This means that in all these processes and disordered associations our consciousness has been dazed or "absent." Having seen this, let us undertake to follow, without disturbing them, the various mental associations. After only a minute or two we shall find ourselves distracted by a flood of thoughts that have invaded us and that are quite out of control. Thought does not like being watched, does not like being seen. Now this irrational and parasitical development of thought takes up a large part of our normal psychic life, and produces corresponding areas of reduced activity and of reduced self-presence. The state of passivity is accentuated when our thought is no longer merely "spontaneous" and when the mind is agitated by some emotion, some worry, hope, or fear. The degree of consciousness is certainly greater in these cases - but so, at the same time, is that of our passivity.

These considerations may throw some light on the task that is set when one "ceases to go"; one reacts, one aims at being the master in the world of one's own mind. It now seems quite incomprehensible that nearly all men have long since been accustomed to consider as normal and natural this state of irrationality and passivity, where thought goes where it will - instead of being an instrument that enters into action only when necessary and in the required direction, just as we can speak when we wish to, and with a purpose, and otherwise remain silent. In comprehending this "according to reality," we must each decide whether we will continue to put up with this state of affairs.

 

In its fluid, changeable and inconsistent character, normal thought reflects, moreover, the general law of samsāric consciousness. This is why mental control is consid¬ered as the first urgent measure to be taken by one who opposes the "current." In un¬dertaking this task, however, we must not be under any illusions. The dynamis, the subtle force that determines and carries our trains of thought, works from the subconscious. For this reason, to attempt to dominate the thought completely by means of the will, which is bound to thought itself, would almost be like trying to cut air with a sword or to drown an echo by raising the voice. The doctrine, which declares that thought is located in the "cavern of the heart," refers, among other things, to thought considered "organically" and not to its mental and psychological offshoots. Mastery of thought cannot, therefore, be merely the object of a form of mental gymnastics: rather, one must, simultaneously, proceed to an act of conversion of the will and of the spirit; inte¬rior calm must be created, and one must be pervaded by intimate, sincere earnestness.

 

The "fluttering" of thought mentioned in our text is more than a mere simile: it is related to the primordial anguish, to the dark substratum of samsāric life that comes out and reacts since, as soon as it feels that it is seen, it becomes aware of the danger; the condition of passivity and unconsciousness is essential for the development of samsāric being and for the establishment of its existence. This simile illustrates an experience that, in one form or another, is even encountered on the ascetic path.

 

The discipline of constant control of the thought, with the elimination of its automatic forms, gradually achieves what in the texts is called appamada, a term variously translated as "attention," "earnestness," "vigilance," "diligence," or "reflection." It is, in point of fact, the opposite state to that of "letting oneself think," it is the first form of entry into oneself, of an earnestness and of a fervid, austere concentration. When it is understood in this sense, appamāda constitutes the base of every virtue. It is also said: "This intensive earnestness is the path that leads toward the deathless, in the same way that unreflective thought leads, instead, to death. He who possesses that earnestness does not die, while those who have unstable thought are as if already dead." An ascetic "who delights in appamāda - in this austere concentration - and who guards against mental laxity, will advance like a fire, burning every bond, both great and small." He "cannot err." And when, thanks to this energy, all negligence is gone and he is calm, from his heights of wisdom he will look down on vain and agitated beings, "as one who lives on a mountaintop looks down on those who live in the plains."

 

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excerpt from The Doctrine of Awakening by Julius Evola