#sketching him is like drawing from an ancient Roman bust

[audreyestok]

[rippergiles]

Our Time, Part III: London

      Ethan grunted as he lifted the heavy box and slid it onto the counter. He could have levitated it, but he’d managed to keep this job for a while, and didn’t want suspicions cast on him for the convenience of using magic at work.       He grabbed scissors and used one of the blades to cut open the box. On top of the contents was a single sheet of paper, with a short typewritten message.       To the curators at Foster Books,       Please find enclosed donated texts from the eclectic collection of Diana Marsden, who passed away earlier this month. We hope you will be able to find appropriate homes for them.       Clive Birtwistle, Estate Manager        As he began unloading the volumes, Ethan grabbed a notepad to scrawl titles on, to add to the store’s inventory list. Expecting a few classics, maybe a valuable early edition, the Kama Sutra if he was lucky, Ethan was surprised by the first book he inspected: The Ritual Magic Workbook. His intrigue deepened when it was followed by A Witch's Grimoire of Ancient Omens. Portents, Talismans, Amulets, & Charms. This was a peculiar collection- Ethan wasn’t even sure where they would shelve these, since as far as he’d seen, they didn’t have an occult section. He supposed he could always place them in the religion section and enjoy watching prudish Sunday school teachers clutch their pearls at the sight of the word witch. He carefully pulled out a small battered book, so old the cover had disconnected from the binding, and the yellowed pages seemed in danger of crumbling to dust in his hands. He squinted, trying to read the faded title: Gods & Goddesses for Prayer & Prosperity by Persephone McElmore. Gingerly, Ethan paged through entries for deities from a variety of ancient and modern cultures, with descriptions of their domains and suggestions of offerings to please them.

Bacchus: God of wine, parties, madness and merriment. Sounds like a fun chap, Ethan thought. Cupid: God of love. Does it mean the creepy little cherub? he wondered. Fortuna: Goddess of luck. Wouldn’t say no to some of that... Janus: God of gates and doors.        Ethan looked at the corresponding illustration, a human-looking bust with two faces facing in opposite directions. One face was bearded and rugged-looking, the other softer, more feminine.  He continued reading the passage below it. The god of beginnings and ends, and so of gates, doors, doorways and passages. The Romans named the month of January in his honor, when we look back on the last year and forward to the next. Janus presides over the beginnings and ends of conflict and war, drawing out the energy of chaos and returning to peace.         Brows knitted, Ethan found a scrap of paper to mark his place before turning back to the remaining books. He picked up Legends of Incense, Herb, and Oil Magic, a thin volume that smelled as if it had absorbed the scents of every herb and incense it listed. Ethan sat it on the far side of the counter, giving himself a reprieve from the overpowering aromas. He reached to the bottom of the box, using both hands to pull up the remaining hefty tome. Bound in worn leather and sealed together by a large brass clasp, there was no title, only an unusual symbol raised on the front. Ethan thought it looked somewhat like an ornate pitchfork, three-pronged with extra curls on one side. He unhinged the clasp and opened the cover. The text was not in English, nor any language Ethan could quite recognise. It was similar to the ancient Latin he had a passing knowledge of from spellwork, but if anything, these block letters seemed even more archaic, leaving Ethan to question how old this book may actually be. As he perused the pages, he began to see occasional sketched illustrations amidst the text. They ranged from innocuous depictions of sleeping humans, to a sinister rendition of a rather horrifying creature, with jagged teeth and claws and covered in what appeared to be rotting, scaly flesh.

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[blue-opossum]

Emergence Autosymbolism April 9, set 1, 1 of 2

Saturday, 26 October 2019.

Reading time: 3 min 32 sec.

I selected April 9 for this set of autosymbolism. My marriage to Zsuzsanna was on this date in 1994. I will eventually list all forms of autosymbolism throughout my dreaming history, which includes tens of thousands of features and events. This set contains 54 examples of emergence autosymbolism in two parts (27 in each) in descending order. This entry is part 1 of 2.

Emergence autosymbolism is the result of the process that creates imaginary content that compensates for the mind coming out of either slow-wave sleep or REM sleep (where each has specific dynamics), the opposite of autosymbolism at the beginning of the sleep cycle and distinctly different from other induction, dreaming, and waking process autosymbolism. Although there are similar themes and occurrences of this form of dream content, it is never identical. It has extraordinarily unique variations from sleep cycle to sleep cycle. In some cases, emergence autosymbolism forms the entire dream narrative until exit autosymbolism occurs.

Entries like this could be useful to instinctual dreamers who could use the content for their own dreaming practices (and validation) to develop an exponentially better understanding of the processes involved and of dreams in general (not to mention a better understanding of how their mind works during sleep). Most of the details in these kinds of entries have been experienced thousands of times since early childhood.

2019. A model of a human heart is in a block of ice, but beginning to melt. (Exhibits emerging awareness of physicality. Your temperature starts to rise toward morning, preparing your body for wakefulness.)

2018. Tibetan protector statue. (Exhibits how the body does not walk around while sleeping.)

2017. I see an amateurish sketch of a horse that seems to have recently thrown its rider. (Exhibits the precursory lack of conscious control of the body in emerging from slow-wave sleep.)

2016. I float past an elaborate statue of a person lying in bed (see 2018), another of a man on a horse (anticipated proprioception), and the third statue of the Roman god Mercury (flight-related; drop anticipation).

2015. I see an amateurish sketch of a man standing at the side of a horse and a statue of a running bull (two forms of anticipated proprioception, though inactive).

2014. I see an amateurish sketch of a man in bed (exhibits waking contemplation, though static), a statue of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet (anticipated proprioception in liminal space), another of a standing man (see 2018).

2013. I see a cartoonish sketch of young girls on a balcony (vague drop contemplation) waving at a man riding a horse (inactive proprioception).

2012. I see a painting of a man leading a horse, the animal carrying a lot of unknown items wrapped in bed sheets (inactive proprioception with subliminal awareness of being in bed).

2011. I see a drawing of an empty chariot in a field (inactive proprioception, though see 2017).

2010. There are hardcover books strewn all over the floor, some open. (Exhibits lack of cognitive arousal in coming out of slow-wave sleep.) I notice one page that has detailed and labeled but distorted anatomical sketches. (Exhibits emerging awareness of physicality.)

2009. I see a piano keyboard with a few keys missing, covered with dust and spiderweb. (Exhibits slow cortical arousal in coming out of slow-wave sleep. It also implies emerging proprioception as arms and hands are needed to play the piano.)

2008. I see a scarecrow in a field (exhibits how the body does not walk around while sleeping) that later seems to be one of the Three Musketeers (coalescence factor).

2007. John F. Kennedy bust (see 2018).

2006. An unknown girl looks at an Egyptian sarcophagus (on its back) in a museum (dream state indicator, coming out of slow-wave sleep).

2005. In a park, I see a statue of a man holding a book (see 2018).

2004. I see a turquoise statue of a female angel with wings in or on the border of an unknown cemetery (flight-related; drop anticipation, though a cemetery often implies slow-wave sleep associations).

2003. Similar content as 2009 but including leaves and rose petals.

2002. Statue of Buddha in a rock (foot of a mountain) recess (see 2018).

2001. Empty shopping trolley in the snow (La Crosse assumed). (Exhibits inactive proprioception.)

2000. I see a labeled diagram of the heart and lungs, though the printed text is gibberish. (Exhibits emerging awareness of physicality and lesser cognitive arousal.)

1999. I see the Statue of Liberty, but it is erroneously holding a baby instead of the tabula ansata (see 2018).

1998. Statue of Mary Magdelene (see 2018).

1997. In a park, I see a life-size statue of my father standing and rendered as if playing his guitar (see 2018). (Its essence correlates with the large photograph of him at a park and playing guitar. It was on the wall of the southwest bedroom of the Cubitis house.)

1996. Kore (ancient Greek sculpture), standing (see 2018).

1995. Bison skull on the grass in a field. (Exhibits emergence from slow-wave sleep.)

1994. The Talos statue as in "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963) in his first scene begins. There is a puzzlement, nostalgia, and slight wariness (see 2018).

1993. I see a still photograph of a horse with a rider in mid-leap over an oxer. (Exhibits vague drop anticipation though with inactive proprioception.)

[nofomoartworld]

Epic Ink Drawings Marry Ancient Sculpture and Modern Dance

Since being immortalized in ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, the human body has undergone changes—less in structure than in how we use them. These changes are on creative display in Belgian illustrator Peter Depelchin's first solo U.S. show, Canticle, now on at Brilliant Champions Gallery in New York City. Like Quayola's modern renderings of ancient sculptural works or Jon Rafman's 3D classical busts, Depelchin started with the Roman sculpture of the myth of Pan attempting to rape gender-bending god Hermaphroditus, then had modern dancers assume various poses. This allowed him to reimagine the ancient scene with four Chinese ink illustrations and four collage works. Like much of Depelchin's work, Canticle is a highly multicultural conceptual series, with another big influence being the The Canticle of the Birds, a book written by 12th century Persian poet Farîd-ud-Dîn Attar.

Pan & Hermaphrodites I study.

Depelchin tells Creators that the works in Canticle, like much of his other illustrations, are akin to sampled images. They include the historical archetypes, but are also influenced by his interest in Persian miniatures, Indian Rajput paintings, and Uzbek architecture.

The Canticle of the Birds attracted Depelchin's attention mostly because its magnificent Persian and Islamic illustrations. While it is a source of inspiration for artists for many different reasons, Depelchin saw it is as a metaphoric song that could be symbolically used for the Canticle exhibition.

Pan & Hermaphrodites I

"The most recent drawings are a melting pot of cultural influences," says Depelchin. "At the origin of this fusion lies my need to discover multiple cultures and the underlying interest to get to know their cultural heritage.... The Mediterranean is my most explored zone so far. Its visual cultural language is the most visible one in my drawings."

Pan & Hermaphrodites II study

When Depelchin looked at the Roman sculpture of Hermaphroditus refusing Pan's sexual violence by turning away, he was struck by the god's unnatural posture. As Depelchin tells it, he had to do something with this movement.

Once home, he searched for other sculptures depicting the two Greek gods, finding about ten examples, all of them Roman copies of Hellenistic originals. Curious as to the origin of this strange and violent sculpted encounter, Depelchin discovered—through a classical language researcher—that one small paragraph exists referring to Pan meeting Hermaphroditus, in which Pan bluffs having made love to Hermaphroditus three times. With the subject matter set, Depelchin began recreating the scene for his drawings and collages.

Pan & Hermaphrodites II

"A contemporary human body isn't exactly what a classical body in Ancient Greece or Renaissance Italy was," he adds. "I asked [contemporary dancers] to move from one posture to another while I was taking pictures. As a result I had hundreds of pictures and I made a selection of four of them."

Using only a copy machine, scissors, his personal library, and the four photographs, Depelchin worked on a small series of collages, four of which are now on view at Brilliant Champions Gallery. Preliminary sketches followed, which resulted in the life-sized brush, ink, and acrylic paint drawings that are also on view at the gallery.

Pan & Hermaphrodites III study

"The process is a bit different as I never really used the technique of collage in the research phase," Depelchin notes. "Before, collage was always the result, never part of the process. It turned out very useful to exactly construct the universe I had in mind. The literal presence of life models is also emerging more and more."

Depelchin says the collages and drawings are about the same song—love. But, since the song is also about the power of dominance in each human relation, there is no equality between the characters.

Pan & Hermaphrodites III

The Canticle drawings, according to Depelchin, show four stages of physical approach: the conversation, the seduction, the transformation (struggle), and the subjection. Transformation is everywhere in the drawings. The principle characters, Pan and Hermaphroditus, undergo metamorphosis towards the final drawing, with every small floral or animal addition and every physical adaptation having its own meaning.

"[Hermaphroditus] is an intriguing character that transcends one specific culture—he/she is a universal symbol, mentioned by Plato, worshipped by the Indian people, valued in contemporary metrosexual and transsexual culture," says Depelchin. "Perhaps it is the symbol of the most complete human being, in a direct or an indirect way referred to by Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde and David Bowie."

Pan & Hermaphrodites IV study

"There's also the presence of the vulture hat in the first drawing, referring to the evolution of the character, becoming a prey," he adds. "There are the flowers, as for example the Marguerite, referring to love and innocence. But let's not give away all the archetypes for free: people should go and have a look, and try to discover hidden meanings."

Pan & Hermaphrodites IV

Peter Depelchin at Brilliant Champions Gallery

Click here to see more of Peter Depelchin's work.

Related:

Quayola's Glitchy Reimaginings of Broken Ancient Greek Artifacts

Classical Greek Busts Inspire These Stunning Digital Sculptures

Mind-Boggling Anatomical Illustrations of Steampunk Crab Machines

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