Gallery Parts:

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Picture Gallery Part VII

„6. Hymne (ohne Zigarette)“ [“6^th Hymn (without cigarette)”], made 10.2.2001, 21 x 11 cm.

The sixth Hymn by Homer tells the story how Aphrodite was born and left the water; this was used by Poliziano in Stanze per la Giostra, which was used by Botticelli for his image of the birth of Venus, which inspired some of my images. The “without cigarette” alludes to those earlier attempts.

Technically, the image consists of 4 pieces of decalcomanie, 4 pencil colors and black and white ink.

„Die Göttin in einem späteren Zustand der Bekleidung“ [“The Goddess in a later State of Dressing”], made 11.2.2001, 21 x 29 cm.

„Da nahmen die Horen mit goldenem Stirnreif grüßend sie auf und hüllten sie ein in unsterbliche Kleider, krönten ihr dann mit dem goldnen, herrlichen, trefflich gewundnen Kranz das unsterbliche Haupt.“

        
„4 Frauen am Strand“ [“4 Women at the Beach”], made 12.2.2001, 6 + 29 + 6 x 29 cm.

A collage of prints and drawings.

„Meditation über meine Eingeweide“ [“Meditation about my Guts”], made 11.3.2001, 21 x 29 cm.

„Die Göttin der Melancholie“ [“The Goddess of Melancholy”], made 11.3.2001, 15 x 29 cm.

A collage of decalcomanie-papers, ink, a little bit of pencil, and aquarell color. The aquarell color is, as the name indicates, water soluble, while the decalcomanie consists of paper soaked with terpentine and oil color. That is the reason why the grey in the face is partly speckled.

Detail of „Die Göttin der Melancholie“ shown above.

„Detail (Die Göttin der Melancholie)“ [“Detail (The Goddess of Melancholy)”], made 18./23.3.2001, 21 x 29 cm.

„Abstrakte Fassung des Details aus der Göttin der Melancholie“ [“Abstract Version of the Detail of the Goddess of Melancholy”], made 23.3.2001, 21 x 29 cm.

The first image shows a close-up. I used this for a second version, again a collage. Everything is done with decalcomanie-papers, black and white ink. The image consists of some dozen different papers. After making two images with black as such a prominent color, I took some holidays and made a third version, with white as the main color, an abstract version with meaningless signs (although, with some imagination, one could see a face being formed).

„4 persönliche Symbole“ [“4 personal Symbols”], made 23.3.2001, 17 x 21 cm.

A collection of some of the signs I use frequently. Clockwise, starting in the upper left corner: a bird animal with big beak; an alien-spacecraft-like sign I often use for patterns filling large areas; something like a simplified flower I use for the same purpose; a flourish, one of a large collection of similar-looking but distinguished flourishs.

„Das große Fragezeichen (für de Chirico und Magritte)“ [“The Big Questionmark (for de Chirico and Magritte)”], made 24.3.2001.

This image was nearly entirely done inside the computer (with the aid of the GIMP). It shows a “mysterious bath”, something de Chirico liked to paint in his late, floating in the air. The zig-zag is taken from de Chirico’s “Return of Hebdomeros”. The sky is taken from Magritte’s “The Infinite Inspection”. The figure in white is taken from de Chirico’s “Orestes and Electra”. The figure in black is taken from Magritte’s “The Homesickness”. The edge of the bath is my own drawing.

„Übertriebende Trilogie, Urfassung“ [“Exagerated Trilogy, First Version”]:

Left: „Übertriebendes Strahlen“ [“Exagerated Shining”], made 1.5.2001 Middle: „Grinsende Frau, grinsendes Froschgesicht und ernste Frau“ [“Grining Woman, Grining Frogface and Ernest Woman”], made 1.5.2001 Right: „Übertriebendes Grinsen“ [“Exagerated Grin”], made 1.5.2001

„Übertriebende Trilogie, Übertriebene Fassung“ [“Exagerated Trilogy, Exagerated Version”]:

Left: „Übertriebendes Strahlen, Euklid-Fassung“ [“Exagerated Shining, Euclid-Version”], made 5/6.5.2001 Middle: „Grinsende Frau, grinsendes Froschgesicht und ernste Frau, übertriebene Fassung/ Liebst du um Schönheit, o nicht mich liebe, liebe die Sonne, sie trägt ein goldenes Haar/ Versteinerte Sonne“ [“Grining Woman, Grining Frogface and Ernest Woman, Exagerated Version/ If you love for beauty, do not love me, love the sun with her golden hair/ Petrified Sun”], made 11.5.2001 Right: „Grinsen“ [“Grin”], made 8/9.5.2001, all 21 x 29 cm.

There are also some depricated versions between the first and the latest version. The main point was to confront an ernest face with a grining face: maybe it’s the same person on different occasions. Or, the image shows how a face changes when starting to smile, starting to shine. And also the moment a face stopps smiling, petrifying. The left and right panel explore the subjects of shining and smiling a bit further. Or something like that, or I don’t know. I assume my visitors to be educated enough to recognize the quotation of a verse of a poem of Friedrich Rückert. Basically, the images are about the melancholy of beauty, I guess.

I used one of these images for a JavaLavaLamp.

Gallery Parts:

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Jan Thor
www.janthor.com
jan@janthor.de