David Shapiro: "Drawing After Summer"

I saw the ruins of poetry, of a poetry
Of a parody and it was a late copy bright as candy.
I approach your metal mouth, you put it close to me.

By the long column of a summer’s day
Like a pair of wild cars on the highway
I saw the ruins of poetry, of a poetry.

The doll within the doll might tell the story
Inside the store: the real estate you could not buy.
I approach your metal mouth, you put it close to me.

Violin lies on piano and makes reply.
Hunted words. Gathered sentences. Pencils too heavy to carry.
I saw the ruins of poetry, of a poetry.

The history of time-lapse photography
Is a student exercise. Throttle the sky.
I approach your metal mouth, you put it close to me.

The moon moves outward failing to grip the roadway.
I see you stuck in the ground like a dictionary.
I saw the ruins of poetry, of a poetry.
I approach your metal mouth, you put it close to me.

-DS

Axel Erlandson's Tree Circus

Erlandson dedicated his life to gently leading these trees into a natural artwork. He pushed the boundaries of what we perceive as a viable (dead) medium into a living medium.

Faust- Why don't you eat carrots

This was the first collage/noise music I had ever listened to at the tender age of 11.
I thought then that it was actually an incantation to satan.

Duane Michals, tell me a story a picture tells in 1,000.

I once gave a book of Duane Michals photographs to a friend who then made me stare at all the nude pictures with deliberate caution. We came to no real conclusions. It was awkward.

The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David

This painting nearly made me cry in person. Notice the man down the hall who is staring straight at you as if he is greeting you.

"This indictment and affidavit is sworn by Meletus, the son of Meletus of Pitthos, against Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus of Alopece: Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state, and of introducing new divinities. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death."

Georgina Mascolo's Metaphysical Little Women

What painfully gorgeous portraits of metaphysical mysteries.

Tim Hetherington, American Soldier Resting at Bunker

I stared at this picture from Vanity Fair for hours while sitting on the john. I kept trying to imagine what he had seen to make him gasp like that.

Marcel Duchamp was a victim of chess.

"Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another."

"I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position."

-MD

Max Ernst Chess Set

Dali Chess Set

Man Ray Chess Set

Brother Theodore, hear me.

This man was the modern day Zarathustra.
Calls himself a stand-up tragedian.

John Cage Walks On Water