Lives in a Shoe

Model And Mannequin

Model And Mannequin
Giovanni Boldini

The Gods of the Copybook Headings -- Rudyard Kipling

Orwell knew it too --

AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.

Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn

That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,

So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,

But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come

That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.

They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.

But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Architectural Illusions

French street artist Patrick Commecy and his team create hyper-realistic murals that bring to life otherwise blank facades. Each of these frescoes depicts the identity, history, characteristics of the place they are located and quickly become objects of pride for locals while attracting tourists.

More pictures, before and after, videos at his site.

Dances With Noxious Weeds -- Grandeur

 

Dancing With Dandelions, Wire Fairy Sculpture by Robin Wright

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

- William Butler Yeats

Faeries march to the Pixie Dust Tree.

 

Mac Conner, At 103

Mac Conner is not a household name like Norman Rockwell or N.C. Wyeth, but he should be.  Retrospectve at Delaware Art Museum. 

 

North Korean Posters

Real Clear Life refers to them as "creepy" but I see in them a reminder of the clumsy ham-handed illustrations in the LA Freep during the late 60s going on about imperialist AmeriKKa and FascistPigsRunningDogs.

North Korea may not have much of an art scene, but their propaganda is striking if not subtle.

“The US Will Be Crushed First if They Invade Us,” one poster reads as it shows the Capitol destroyed by missiles in the sight of a rifle.

This baker’s dozen of posters were made by artists from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and sold by an Italian company who regularly imports them from North Korea at Koreanposters.com.

Here's one:

Let’s Play Wildly the Drum of Attack! (koreanposters.com)

(Mickey Rooney: "Hey Kids -- let's put on a show!")

One And Same

Old Man and the Mermaid

Puts me in mind of a drawing my brother Keith did.

Tom Climent, Irish Artist

https://tomcliment.com

Irish painter Tom Climent produces paintings of figurative, urban and landscape subjects. His most recent work tends to focus on the creation of a structured space, while investigating the boundaries between abstraction and representation.intings of figurative, urban and rish painter Tom Climent produces paintings of figurative, urban and landscape subjects. His most recent work tends to focus on the creation of a structured space, while investigating the boundaries between abstraction and representation.landscape subjects. His most recent work tends to focus on the creation of a structured space, while investigating the boundaries between abstraction and representation.

R. Crumb