Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project Part II

 

(c) 2021 Wesley A. Morgan  - The Covid-19 Mosaic Art Project started in March 2020 with heightened awareness of the global pandemic. A variety of content/subjects composed with recycled consumer packaging, reclaimed cardboard, scissors, Elmer's glue. I am grateful to a small group of patrons who have given mosaics a place to be seen in 12 states. 

Lindsey Morgfan Dewey:
That's my dad...all purchasing inquiries can be directed my way. You can also check more out on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/wamosaic/

Turrell's Orca (Blue + Red)

 

Barrett Barrera Projects announced the installation of James Turrell’s Orca (Blue and Red) at projects+exhibitions at 4568 Manchester Avenue in St. Louis, MO opened to the public on March 13, 2021. Turell (b. 1943 in LA) is quoted on his website: “My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity — that physical feeling and power that space can give.” The promotional material for this exhibition includes the following observation and quote: Turrell’s medium is pure light. He says, “My work has no object, no image and no focus. With no object, no image and no focus, what are you looking at? You are looking at you looking. What is important to me is to create an experience of wordless thought.”

Wordless thought - I love that. It seems the artist is not about to tell the audience how to think or feel about his work any more that is he willing to articulate an answer to pedantic questions like “What is it?” One could wager that the artist was a thoughtful student at Pasadena High School (Graduated 1961) and became a more profound thinker studying Psychology at Pomona College (BA 1965). Furthermore, he refined his sense of self as a student of Art Graduate Studies at University of California, Irvine (1965-1966) and Claremont Graduate School (MA Art, 1973).

Beginning his art career in the 1960s, Turrell’s work is primarily an exploration of light and space. By making light the subject of the revelation, his work challenges the very nature of how and what is perceived and, in particular, how what is perceived affects and forms the reality lived. One part meditative and another confounding, Turrell’s works heighten the viewer’s very sense of seeing and places the viewer in a realm of experience.

I first experienced Turrell via his skyspace structure at Crystal Bridges in 2012. I encountered him again in an installation in a museum space that astounded me as a I walked into a gallery space that at first appeared to have a large flat composition on a wall. (As it turned out it wasn’t a 2-D composition or a flat wall at all.) The skyspace at Crystal Bridges was a happening for me with a group of fellow docents from the Saint Louis’ Laumeier Sculpture Park. It was pure mindfulness to sit gazing at the sky as the dawn’s light evolved at morning. Turrell is the perfect antidote for those who want to be present and live in the moment.

Meanwhile, a monumental project at Roden Crater, an extinct volcano in Northern Arizona is an unprecedented large-scale artwork created by Turrell that seems a worthy addition to my art bucket list.

Movies in March 2021

The Jazz Singer 1927 The son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.  Director: Alan Crossland Writers: Samson Raphaelson (play), Alfred A Cohn (adaptation), Al Jolson, May McAvoy. Cantor Rabinowitz is concerned and upset because his son Jakie shows so little interest in carrying on the traditions (five generations in the family have been cantors in the synagogue). Jackie finds that in order to balance his career, his relationship with Mary, and his memories of his family, he will be forced to make some difficult choices.Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye!) - (1922) Written by Gus Kahn, Dan Russo, Ernie Erdman, Ted Fio Rito and Robert A King  and sung by Al Jolson. 

Gone with the Wind 1939 A manipulative woman (Vivien Leigh) and a roguish man (Clark Gable) conduct a turbulent romance during the American Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cokor (uncredited), Margaret Mitchell (story of teh Old South "Gone with the Wind") Sidney Howard (screen play). 

I’ll See You in My Dreams 1951 Danny Thomas and Doris Day.The success and decline of songwriter Gus Kahn  is portrayed, with his wife, Grace Kahn, sticking by him the whole time. This musical bio of Gus Kahn, the "Corn Belt Bard," Doris Day sings one great song after another, while Kahn, the author of countless tunes from the title number to "Ain't We Got Fun" and "Makin' Whoopee," is portrayed by Danny Thomas. American popular music from the days of Tin Pan Alley, vaudeville, Broadway and early sound movies, the story is swept along by the expert direction of Michael Curtiz.

Inherit the Wind 1960 (Directed by Stanley Kramer) – Spencer Tracy and Frederic March. Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution. Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account based on the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" which took place in Tennessee in 1925. (The teacher arrested for teaching evolution was John Scopes (1900-1970), the prosecuting attorney was William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), and the defense attorney was Clarence Darrow (1857-1938). The names were all changed for the play and the film, but the basic incidents were true.). 

Judas and the Black Messiah 2021 The film is directed and produced by Shaka King, who wrote the screenplay with Will Berson, based on a story by the pair and Kenny and Keith Lucas.  Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panther Party per FBI Agent (played by Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant. As Party Chairman Fred Hampton ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary en route, a battle wages for O'Neal's soul. American biographical drama film about the betrayal of Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago.

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies and more recently AMC Theaters (allowing me to actually sit in a movie house – Creve Coeur Cinema). Needless to say, in light of heightened dialogue around equity, justice and politics, and during a global pandemic each of these films contribute as meaningful thought starters. I love that movies have that power.