*+.The Art that Made the Art.+*
Media I consumed while painting
Music
Bell Song - Maple Bee - With a spooky folk sound, haunting percussion and genius field recording samples (such as a cat’s purr and a drop of water) it is a vivid and crooked song that conjures a long, dark, rural road with an enigmatic destination. There’s something almost spinal about it but, perhaps, that’s just my own interpretation. Nevertheless, bone swords emerged from me partly due to the presence of this song on my playlist.
Title and Registration - Death Cab for a Cutie - A quintessential song from the late 2000s and early 2010s era of a particular indie pop with the slightest grit. The lyrics, simple acoustic melody, intentionally almost low res drum line, and the occasional metallophone conjure a contrast between innocence and the quiet violence of adult mundanity and pain. The lyrics place the listener in a very specific moment in time and employ an almost teenage sarcasm. A tone of moments where we are so frustrated that we revert into a thirteen-year-old sense of detachment. Yet, through this tone, the lyrics slowly unravel a story that encompasses a range of themes from lost love, to depression, acceptance, and living alongside pain. Overall, the song is a testament to the layers of human complexity that lie beneath an apparently mundane comment of frustration like “the glove compartment is inaccurately named.” I think the idea of a song that becomes more meaningful the more you listen to it definitely inspired my bones swords. I wanted a simple concept that could enfold if the viewer desired into a multitude of meanings. Whether or not that was achieved is certainly up for interpretation but it was a part of the intention behind those pieces.
I Wanna Be Adored - Stone Roses - A classic of 90s British guitar pop, this song has remained on my playlist for a long time. Despite its limited lyricism, I have the most vivid images and sensations emerge in my mind every time I hear it. To me it is a medieval battle song. I have no defense for this other than the immensity of my feeling that it is. I can almost smell the metal of a sword and feel the ache in my legs when I hear it. It greatly influenced my more green sword pieces as the song felt like the story of a sword that had fallen in battle.
Road Kill - Lalleshwari (Katie Jane Garside) - Road Kill is a stunning piece that has recently resurfaced like a vestige of a younger and weirder internet. It utilizes what might have the limited resources of a 2006 laptop, to create a haunting song from the perspective of an animal recently hit by a car. The churning digital percussion, the vintage synths, and the whispered high pitch voice, all give the song a distinctly metallic feeling. Metallic in the sense of a machine and metallic in the sense of blood. To me, the song encapsulates the harrowing confrontation between nature and technology in a moment of contact between a creature and a car. It is innocent, writhing, and raw from lyrics to production.
Videos
The Persistence of Decay - Sarah Davis Baker - One of the most beautiful explorations of decay from the natural to the literary to the technological. It explores entropy and time from a multitude of angles and leaves one with a haunting sense of the single certainty of constant change.
The Anatomy of a Lobotomy - Institute of Human Anatomy - A short and interesting insight into the physical process of a lobotomy. A disturbing yet enlightening video that covers a rarely shared aspect of this quintessential intersection between oppression and medical practice. This entire channel is also a great resource for art references for human anatomy.
A Stranger Helps Me Stop Feeling Like a Constant Failure - Tilek All Better - A witty and self aware video that considers wisdom from strangers on the topic of failure. It’s bizarre and ultimately solution-less nature make it feel like a more honest exploration of experience rather than over-simplified self-help content. Would highly recommend for creative people or anyone who struggles with feelings of failure.
Further Links:
