Review of ‘Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles’ from Barany Books

Themed art books can be a tough sell: where do they fit on the bookshelf? When more than one artist is represented, it gets hard to determine the best way to market such an animal: exploit the better known names? play up the variety? promise a new and unexpected treatment of a certain aspect of art? provide a unique insight into the ‘post-romodern’ life that we all inhabit?

‘Carnivora: The Dark Art of Automobiles‘ on the new imprint Barany Books, does a very fine job of covering all the bases. The layout and design are flawless, and decidedly clever; it will appeal to the aesthetics of the visually inclined, as well as to the gearheads out there (which, apparently, has a great deal of cross-pollination). The look of the book is impressive: the cover is eye-catching and has a list of all contributors printed on the back. The sheer scope of the tome- stated purpose of which is to explore our societal obsessive love and loathing with the modern chariot on a variety of fronts – is incredible, featuring not just masters of the recent past, such as H.R. Giger and Robert Williams, but also an amazing list of other established – as well as up and coming – artists between pieces of prose ruminating on the way cars have impacted everyday life.

Some of those ways, as the title implies, are not for the faint of heart…

Les Barany (the editor, and Giger’s agent for some time now) has done a fine job in bringing together over 100 different artists and writers (and their perspectives) and creating a coherent, cohesive whole. A wide swath of different styles and techniques are represented: a cursory flip through the tome reveals cartoon, literature, photo-montage, sculpture, mixed-media, acrylic and oil painting and digital imaging, to name just a few. While some pieces work better than others, there is more than enough material to satisfy even the most discerning palette, be it a preference for modern, edgy, surreal imagery, dark landscapes or bizarre machine/human juxtapositions. There is a smattering of eroticism, but only a few true nudes; the sexual elements (perhaps wisely) are left more to the imagination – in the guise of some very good written memoirs – rather than presented in purely graphic terms.

Exceptional written works abound, and will ultimately change from person to person (or, for some folk, moment to moment), but a few are worth pointing out. Notable remembrances are on display from William Levy (intense and poignant), William F. Nolan (historical and wide-ranging), Steven Cerio (concise and quirky; he also contributed an interesting illustration), Rick Manore (thought-provoking), Carlo McCormick (pensive and introspective) and Daphne Graham (grueling and sad). Harlan Ellison is also accounted for, with his excellent short classic Along the Scenic Route.

The imagery, though, is where this volume shines, and there is no disappointing; it delivers on the questions postulated in the first paragraph of this review, and then some. Standouts include, in random order: Gregory Brotherton, Marshall Arisman, Zdzislaw Beksinski, D. Hwang, H.R. Giger, Jason D’Aquino, Coop, Andre Lassen, Tanino Liberatore, Stanley Mouse, Robert Williams, J.K.Potter, Winston Smith, J.U. Abrahamson, Tomi Ungerer, Vincent Castiglia, Demetrios Vakras, Hugo Schuhmacher and Chet Zar. Remember, this is just the tip of a very large iceberg, but a helpful mini-biography section in the back places the contributors in good context, as well as offering the casual reader insight into their personalities, via the inclusion of their personal vehicles (or lack thereof!).

Overall, Carnivora has tremendous impact: whether the interest is cars, modern life, sexuality, death, consumerism, anecdotes about personal experiences or just awesome art, it’s hard to put down, and impossible to go wrong.

The book (available from Amazon.com) is an excellent companion piece to the traveling Carnivora exhibition - which premiered at Detroit’s C-Pop Gallery in January and ran through March, followed by a Los Angeles exhibit at L’Imagerie Gallery in May, and a scaled down showing in New York’s Fuse Gallery that began July 10th. Catch this one before it gets away…

Fitting tribute…

To the memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Posted on Discovery Science):

“March 21, 2008 — NASA has detected the brightest cosmic explosion ever recorded — a massive burst of energy 7.5 billion light years away that could be seen with the naked eye from Earth, the space agency said.

The explosion, a gamma ray burst older than Earth itself, was monitored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Swift satellite and shattered the record for the most distant object seen without visual aid.

“No other known object or type of explosion could be seen by the naked eye at such an immense distance,” said Swift team member Stephen Holland of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

“If someone just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time, they saw the most distant object ever seen by human eyes without optical aid.”

Gamma ray bursts are among the most violent phenomenon produced in the universe. NASA described them as the most luminous explosions since the “Big Bang.”

The satellite’s burst alert telescope discovered the explosion on Wednesday and located it in the Bootes constellation, with telescopes on Earth adjusting to witness the afterglow.

NASA measured the explosion as having occured 7.5 billion years ago, before Earth was formed and more than halfway across the visible universe.

Until now the most luminous object visible with the naked eye was galaxy M33, a “relatively short” 2.9 million lightyears from Earth.

The explosion seen Wednesday “blows away every gamma ray burst we’ve seen so far,” said Neil Gehrels of Goddard Space Flight Center.

Gamma ray bursts occur when huge stars use up all their fuel and their core collapses, forming black holes or neutron stars that release bursts of gamma rays, ejecting particles into space at nearly the speed of light and generating afterglows.

The burst, named GRB 080319B, was among a record four bursts detected by Swift on Wednesday, the same day of the death of prolific science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke who wrote “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“Coincidentally, the passing of Arthur C. Clarke seems to have set the universe ablaze with gamma ray bursts,” said Swift team member Judith Racusin of Penn State University.”

We’ll miss him!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

“There is a tenth dimension…”

Awesome vid!

http://revver.com/video/99898/imagining-the-tenth-dimension/

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Science

Writing Analysis Tips

Here are some things that I feel are important for writers (filmmakers, musicians and artists, as well) to grasp, pro and con: a lot of this is based on various writing books I’ve read, and some is personal observation. This will be updated at intervals.

Here goes:

Stories – regardless of length or medium – should always…

1. engage all of the senses (touch, smell, sight, sound, hearing)
2. involve the reader with the protagonist, mentally
3. leave room for the reader to inject some details into the narrative (not so much superfluous/cluttered/banal info that it “strangles” the reader)
4. illuminate some aspect of human nature, whether good or bad
5. have realistically believable characters (especially their reactions), even if their situation is bizarre, mundane or high-tension
6. have characters with at least some suggestion of a backstory, even if it is not developed fully
7. have fully dimensional characters, even the villains
8. adhere to these principles: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
9. make the reader care about the circumstance/character(s)
10. grab the reader and pique their curiosity
11. follow principles laid out in Aristotle’s Poetics
12. have triumph and tragedy in relatively equal measure, though one should predominate in the end
13. avoid neat resolutions
14. be different from one to the next
15. force the author to “murder darlings”
16. surprise and satisfy (emotionally) the reader
17. invite criticism (albeit about the impact/mechanics – how did it affect the reader? how was the plot/characterization/pacing/style and so on – only, not the author personally)
18. have an overall arc and sub-arcs for the characters
19. have exterior and interior plot threads
20. have an internal logic which is never violated

Stories – regardless of length or medium – should never…

1. be “donut” stories – all the trappings, but no “heart”
2. be too genre-bound (such as the trite aspects of genre pertaining to the evocation of institutional association – Stoker-esque vampires, Universal Studios Frankenstein laboratories, et cetera – unless that’s the purpose, or it’s a period piece)
3. be too time-bound (via pop-culture references, slang and so on)
4. call attention to the writer’s writing
5. be “cutesy” or pedantic
6. get too “geeky”: preoccupied with minutia that only shows off the writer’s knowledge or research
7. condescend to the reader
8. have what I call “mind shoes” (long story): intractable or rote ways of conveying plot (there is more than one way to tell a story: keep it fresh)
9. favor plot/action over characterization/substance (there should be a balance, ideally)
10. divulge or communicate the outcome (unless this is on purpose, or cryptic) in advance: this is not the same as foreshadowing (in which the key elements are realized only in retrospect)
11. allow the author to avoid tough questions, even if they express no ready answer
12. preach to the reader
13. cater to well-worn cliches
14. cater to the author’s personal cliches: this is not the same as “style”; this is an affectation that the author cannot seem to shake (a “darling”) that does not add to the story
15. be monotonous, even in the guise of “story type” or “genre”: in other words, tell the same story over and over without any insight or interesting POV
16. trick the reader, or resort to gimcrackery
17. rely too much on first person
18. waste the readers time
19. fail to engage in the first paragraph (even novels)
20. take too long to get to the point; exposition can come after the reader is interested

Other Thoughts/Observations:

1. Do at least six TOTAL re-writes (more than a line here or there). (Preferably more.)
2. WRITING IS RE-WRITING.
3. Put the first draft down quickly, then leave it be; come back after an interval (at least a week, preferably more) and be scathing in your critique (others will, trust me).
4. Do not read out loud as a primary form of revision: only do this with VERY late drafts to catch run-ons and inconsistencies.
5. Don’t try to do something: DO IT, or don’t bother.
6. Get out of your own way. (Think about it.)
7. Avoid being too literal.
8. Open the story up; make it universal. Too limited a scope is worthless.
9. Think unconventionally: is this the correct POV? Is the character’s gender correct? Is the story mired in obscure, distracting detail? Is the plot easy to follow, even if the construction is unorthodox? Are there in-jokes that are weighing the story down?
10.  All considerations should serve the story.
11. The best never rest. (Think about it.)
12. Avoid slavish imitation. Be the best you, not a second-rate (or worse) bestseller-type. Write for yourself, not the “market”.
13. There are no original ideas/premises for the most part, but there are unique slants and perspectives. Combine multiple things to get fresh(er) ideas.
14. If one has an impulse to do something, question it; if it is obviously an overused personal trope, do the opposite.
15. Read a lot, and read widely (non-fiction, magazines, classics, poetry, textbooks, manuals, criticism, et cetera).
16. Talk to people, and listen.
17. Stop reacting.  Observe the world and how things interact to it. Be open-minded.
18. Make up characters, make up stories: CAREFULLY RESEARCH supporting details from a variety of perspectives.
19. Realize that writers such as King, Koontz and Barker need good editors that are not afraid of their wrath, just like the rest of us do: when this source of blunt feedback (though it should be gentle) is lost, writers suffer (as in the names above).
20. Editors are looking for reasons to hate your work and put their friends or a well-known author’s work into their mag/anthology/fill-in-the-blank. Don’t hand them reasons to do so: have the manuscript and formatting perfect, use good grammar/punctuation and have something to say, or do everyone a favor AND QUIT BORING US ALL WITH YOU WORK (applies to the “Old Pros” equally).

More later…

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Writing, Art, Philosophy

Happy Birthday Jason

Happy Birthday Jason!

Happy Birthday Jason!!
For 5 months we get to be the same age… then I can go back to being the older woman.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: jasunni, Jason Brock, pisces, sunni, birthday

Tags: jasunni, Jason Brock, Sunni, March 1, Pisces