cultofpersonality

Water is life! Up to 60% of the human body is water, while up to 70% of the brain is water and up to 90% of the lungs is comprised of water. Many organisms can even have 90% of their body weight come from water! Water is quintessential for stabilizing and maintaining life on Earth. The bottom hand here may be located in a plane of light, but it comes from a very dark pool of water. This very dark body of water can have properties opposite those of regular water. These properties can include sustaining destructive beings or even bringing death to all life forms, regardless of their natures. This hand is reaching for another to rescue it from this polluted water from which it cannot be seen. It wants the other hand to bring it into a positively reinforced state of life and being from which it can be seen and all life forms are very much alive and active. It wants to be brought into a body of water that can ensure these favorable conditions. Now that it has been in the dark side of nature and has seen a way out, it clamors for it because it knows that there is a better way of life. For those who take their lives for granted, just take a look at those unfortunate victims who have been robbed of their lives from the mentally handicapped and evil residents of life. Be glad that you don’t suffer from the same hellish experiences that others all over the world do!

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle Onassis. This Greek shipping magnate believed that only our darkest times can show us the light and how to reach for it. Indeed, one cannot know bliss without first knowing despair and vice versa. But since this focuses on the darkest parts of nature and humankind, only the former [one cannot know bliss without first knowing despair] will be explored.

As if the previous picture wasn’t enough, this dark portrait is even more disturbing. This figure appears to be growing from grounded roots and rests there like an ominous omen that says, “There is nothing to enjoy about this earthly life so full of disease and destruction.” When one thinks of roots, one could be led to think of trees, which provide the oxygen necessary to maintain life on Earth. However, these roots are far darker than normal, which may indicate that life is being given and maintained, but only that life which brings death to the rest. In addition, the figure seems to have a countenance of sadness and despair, which may mean that it acknowledges the disease ridden environment in which it resides and that nothing can be done to improve the situation. This idea is further supported by the fact that the figure is turned away from the light in the work and is turned towards the darkness, as if darkness is all that the sad figure sees and it is all that there is to see.

In my search for works of art that accentuate the darkest parts of nature and humankind, I found this piece. It symbolized the oppression of women in Islam. As such, it is also meant to expose the ugliness and corruption of modern day politics as a whole. The lightbulb, which when lit up would usually indicate a new idea, is much darker than it would be turned off, which shows that there are no new ideas or strides to be made in politics. The dark cloak covering the lightbulb further negates any chance of progress to be made in getting rid of the corruption that is ever present in modern day politics. Overall, there is very little, if any hope to be made for positive change.

This is Bob Ross! He used to host his own show on the PBS called “The Joy of Painting” in the mid 1990s. On this show, he would paint various scenes of nature in all of its grandeur and beauty. Most of these paintings featured the grasslands and forests, with a mountain range far off in the distance. When I was a young boy of 5 years and visited my grandparents, I would tune into reruns of this show. I was mesmerized by his high level of skill in painting and the clear instructions orated by that soothing and calming voice. This led to my huge intrigue in the artistic capture of nature. But another thing that I remembered was that he mostly used light colors to detail nature. Hence, I decided to focus on the darkest elements of nature and explore their connection to the light parts of nature.

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This is the exterior of the building that houses the Metropolitan Opera. Georges Bizet’s Carmen was being performed and I made it my business to see it by myself. I was skeptical about it after having seen Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca at the Joyce Theater. I didn’t think that Carmen could live up to the standards presented by the dance. My prediction was false. But it wasn’t the case without any obstacles that threatened to turn the prediction around. Carmen proved to be superior to the dance in that the subtitles allowed me to understand the drama that was unfolding. Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca was accompanied by a furious and rapid flurry of Spanish that drove me into a maze of confusion. The dance also had a very simple stage with a few chairs and some lighting. Sets in the opera proved to be 3 dimensional, especially so from high up in the seats. The score was a lot more classical in nature and thus more familiar. Spanish music, although traditional from what I know, is relatively unknown to me. I wasn’t as attracted to it as I was to the allure of classical music. Loud singing was much more appropriate in Carmen than in the dance. But the opera took its time in getting to the action and story. Noche Flamenca was more direct and got to the story immediately. Overall, Carmen proved to be better than Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca, but only by a slight margin. Honestly, I am looking forward to seeing The Phantom of the Opera a lot more than what I saw out of Carmen!

Coming from the Brooklyn Museum is a picture of nature in its darkest element. Darkness shadows the land, forest, and mountains, with the black thunderclouds helping in its endeavor. However, a blinding white light in the center shines down upon the land and counteracts the darkness that threatens to consume it. This light may descend from the heavens, casting an overwhelming ray of hope in the epicenter of despair and misery. This painting really speaks to me because of the sharp contrast between the light and the darkness. This is a nature painting reminiscent of the ones that I have seen in my previous dwellings and my grandparents’ home. You know, the ones depicting a clear, blue lake with a waterfall and is surrounded on either side by plains and forest. These kinds of paintings strike me as something that Bob Ross would paint on his show, The Joy of Painting, on PBS. I used to watch that show whenever I went to visit my grandparents. This show, complemented with other similar nature paintings, really led me to enjoy paintings that depict nature in a plethora of ways. This painting of “dark nature” is no exception.