A Luminous Halo

"Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end." --Virginia Woolf

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Location: Springfield, Massachusetts, United States

Smith ’69, Purdue ’75. Anarchist; agnostic. Writer. Steward of the Pascal Emory house, an 1871 Second-Empire Victorian; of Sylvie, a 1974 Mercedes-Benz 450SL; and of Taz, a purebred Cockador who sets the standard for her breed. Happy enough for the present in Massachusetts, but always looking East.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See



A visit to Real Art Ways packs a double whammy. It's a cinema (with reasonably-priced indie movies you frequently won't find anywhere else besides NYC and SF) and an art gallery. Once you've paid for your movie ticket, the gallery is free. And they have wine!

I saw several exhibits there this weekend. In the main gallery, Olu Oguibe has built a beautiful, traditional New England stone wall. Does putting it inside an artspace, as opposed to a field, make it art? Well, it begins a dialog at least. Oguibe fantasizes about people heatedly discusses this question while viewing his piece.

In the Real Room is an exhibit by Ryan V. Brennan called "Close Your Eyes and Look As Far As You Can See." It consists of four pieces of "cinemallage"--elaborate, colorful sets which look like pop-up books. Each piece has a tiny screen on which plays part of a stop-motion animation fantasy. The animations were filmed using the sets. Cinema + collage = cinemallage. Get it? It's accessible and cool.

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