Try an evaluation of nautical art in the East Boston shipyard.
http://artseditor.com/site/shipyard-wreckage/
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Artwork, Pictures, and more Essays
Stuart Kurtz’s
Writing, Art, and Photography Portfolio
While the following entries are representative of my best work, I am able to complete polished articles in other styles. My first full-length play is also taking shape.
Serious Arts Articles, all published
This is my most valued assignment. The City of Toronto was
looking for coverage of its ninth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, the “sleepless
night” that was a city-wide extravaganza. They hired Arts Editor, who hired me.
It was my first and only junket, and the Toronto Arts Council said it was
better than they wanted. I was the only American reporter to cover it.
Gnome was a startup arts journal and needed a centerpiece
for issue one. I won them over with my film analysis on the oeuvre of the
Canadian director, Atom Egoyan (Are you noticing a Canadian undercurrent?)
I covered the World’s Fair, my first ever. The 1939 and 1964
fairs in New York City are legendary in my family. I wasn’t born, but in 2010 I
got to go to Shanghai Expo. It was a stunner. Have a look.
Film Reviews for International Newspaper:
I covered six films in all for this Chinese language paper,
which is actually in 18 languages. There was also a photography assignment and
a design one.
Here's a film review with a Freudian perspective. This was out in 2006 for The Newsletter of the Psychoanalytic Institure of New England - East (PINE):
"The Magical Self and the Real World of Ego
A Review of The Spirit of the Beehive"
The battle royal between the pre-ego Self and ego
development plays out in the everyday world of children, a world that is, to
them, charged with magic and terror. Victor Erice’s (The Quince Tree)
film of 1973, The Spirit of the Beehive, is deceptive in its bare
narrative, minimal dialogue, and long, hypnotic takes that all work on the
viewer’s unconscious. They transport that person, trance-like, into the developing ego
of a seven year-old girl. Psychology’s cognate here, that is, the value and
harm of art, addresses the role of the creator in aiding or repressing the
self.
The minimal story involves the daily life of Ana, seven
years old, in Franco’s Spain at the very end of the Civil War in 1940. She under the tutelage of her father and older sister, Isabel, who
sometimes has a vicious bent. Her mother Theresa’s lover goes AWOL from
Franco’s army and travels by train to see Theresa. He is trapped by some of the
villagers, and violent conclusions occur. The violence more felt is that done
to Ana’s fragile self, as her ego and the archetypal mass ego force her to grow
aware of evil in the world.
Erice presents art, the created thing, and the act of
creation, as indispensable to the life of the village and to the larger world.
The villagers get their myths, their collective dreams, every week in the form
of films that come off the trucks from the city. The act of
seeing is important from perspectives of art and judgment. The classroom lesson
on anatomy, in which the teacher has the children put parts of Don Jose’s
mock-up body on his outline, strikes a cord with the imagery of Frankenstein. She calls Ana to put on organs she says are ‘mui
importante’: his eyes. Erice alludes to sight perception as being the tool
whereby individuals determine good and evil in the world. It is the filter of
reality. It also alludes to cinema, whereby the viewer determines meaning and
morality based on the “eyes” of the directors. It is by cinema that directors
reach the people to preserve the lessons of the unconscious or to suppress
these in favor of primers on morality and duty. Creators have the chance
to use their art for good or evil. The Fascists used film for propaganda.
Ana’s father, the familial patriarch, keeps bees, which are
dangerous yet beneficial for the honey they produce. He is an artist/creator
as well. Anna is haunted by the character of Dr. Frankenstein from the 1930s film, whose
monster has good and bad qualities. The tip of the pyramid is the implied
leader, Franco in this case, whose creation is his version of the polity. He
can use it to help or harm the body politic. Pre-Franco Spain is an analog for
the innocent, pre-conscious self, and Franco’s Spain, triumphant by 1940, is
indicative of the heady, compulsive ego.
Ana is about the age when the ego descends on the self. Her
world, captured by muted photography, is charged with magic and inhabited by
elves, sprites, and monsters. As her ego is invading upon this realm, she
trusts her elders and sister to teach her what she needs to know to make the
transition. There are dangers she must negotiate, such as distinguishing
between mushrooms and toadstools. Her sister, Isabel, is her guide to the
enchanted world. When she tells Ana the
monster resides in the cottage as a spirit, Ana absorbs that into her
unconscious. She identifies with the monster’s innocent side. Frankenstein
created the monster for the good of humanity. His error was to switch the
brains for the implant. The monster got the abnormal one, where the destructive
aspects of the ego live. He has the child-like unconscious and the
fragile, volatile ego.
There are tragic consequences from ego building in the
village as in the village in the film, Frankenstein. Theresa’s lover hides in the
cottage, where Ana takes him for the monster. He nurtures her, just as the filmic monster is kind
to the little girl (after all, he is like a child). Theresa's lover, a deserter from Franco's army, and Ana communicate on the same level. Ana’s father and the patrol hunt the man as the villagers do
in Frankenstein. They “hunt” Ana on the next night (to find her) for her affinities with the monster, in Freudian terms. Those are her abilities to access the Self, the unconscious, the
magical places in nature. The villagers in the film-within-a-film must kill the
natural self to erect the ego and superego to further the social order via
installing the defenses of boundaries, rules, mores, and obedience to them.
This is to protect people from the perils of the id in favor of the rational
mind’s ego and superego. It’s the difference between deadly toadstools and
healthy mushrooms. They must kill the soldier and monster “truly”, and child
figuratively. However, the innocent and natural self lives on, often at odds
with the ego. Ana’s father is a killer, but he is also a beekeeper, a nurturer. Isabel is cruel and kind to Ana. The soldier is violent and tender. Directors can work for good or malign purpose. The
dissolve from the beehive to the amber-tinted window, divided into hexagons, of
the family’s doorway evinces a feeling for a family that is hostile and caring, like the bees in the hive.
Ana retreats to the ruins of Theresa’s house, once promised
and built by her soldier paramour. Its latent state is about the ego, a work in
progress. Its unrealized state is the unconscious, where Ana takes haven and
enters it via sleep.
The artist/creator has the job of making art to feed the
unconscious or to help viewers develop ego-coping strategies. In this
film it is to do both. Ana has a fall from grace when she awakens to the truth
of evil in the world. Erice is focusing on a loss of innocence in Spain with
the victory of Franco. The last frames are of Ana in the vestibule peering out
to the light of day. The intimation may be that she is still in the darkness of
the unconscious realm but is growing an ego, a window on consciousness. She
must merge with that world prudently.
Short form copy:
What’s not to love about Not
For Tourists? They have a daily e-commerce content marketing blog called “On
the Radar,” and here are my 38 entries – everything from sub shops to military
museum to the ghost of Ben Franklin.
Tripadvisor is the best of its kind. I have used its reader
reviews on trips, and so I became a reviewer myself.
Poetry:
I am a self-taught poet, so it was an honor to join this
online “poets’ community” as a staff contributor. 11 state poet laureates were
part of it.
Another excellent poetry online journal:
The only magazine you may find that is all parody. They are
a little smash mouthed, but isn’t that the idea?
Parody Song on http://parody.onimpression.com/
North Park Vaudeville and Candy Shoppe is just that. In the
front is an old time sweet shop(pe) with Mary Jane’s and Root Beer Barrels, but
in the back is a 33 seat theater. My play had a three night run.
Produced ten minute play:
Artsfuse is the online branch of WGBH TV and radio and is its “culture
zine.” Here is a piece about the new scientific gastronomy, the weird science
of the kitchen. What would Julia Child think?
Cooking Article:
Here is a little play about the last days of the Aztecs. It’s
just light fluff, unless you can detect something deeper.
THE
PEOPLE, DIVIDED
Time: 1487 A.D.
Place: The city of the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City
AT RISE: Line
of citizens lined up
in front of set of
stairs to receive the blessed ritual.
Line is four deep. There are Aztec
stone carvings and tropical foliage.
AZTEC DUDE
Excuse me, Sir.
FACILITATOR
Yes, Sir. May I help you?
AZTEC DUDE
Could you please tell us how long the wait is? My wife and I
have been waiting a long time, and we're getting impatient.
FACILITATOR
I understand folks. We have 84,400 citizens lined up here,
four lines deep, and two miles long. This whole business will take a few days.
But I promise you will get to the top.
AZTEC WOMAN
Excuse me sir. Are there concessions at the top? I'm hungry.
FACILITATOR
No, Ma'am. The top is a dignified place - no concessions
there - only extractions. The tecuilatl vendor will be back in five minutes.
AZTEC WOMAN
How do you know?
FACILITATOR
The sign says back in five minutes.
Facilitator
points to pictograph in stone overgrown with moss at
base of
pyramid.
AZTEC WOMAN
That sign could have been there for ages.
They all look again at hieroglyphics.
ANOTHER AZTEC WOMAN
Please, Sir. My mother is special needs. She can't walk up
to the top. Do you have one of those new elevators the four guys lift up by
vines?
FACILITATOR
Surely. We're in full compliance with the Aztecs with
Disabilities Act. His Holiness, Montezuma, signed it into law last year...just
before slaughtering the legislators who passed it - you know, for daring to
question the King.
Hawker comes by selling.
HAWKER
Sun gods here. Get your likenesses of the sun god here.
AZTEC MIDDLE AGED MAN
Yo, right here. I'll take ten.
HAWKER
Ten? You must live in a shady spot.
AZTEC
MIDDLE AGED MAN
No, I live just a mile from Tenochtitlan, by Lake Texcoco. I
want to resell them on EBAY.
HAWKER
OK. Three pieces of jadeite.
AZTEC MIDDLE AGED MAN
What a gyp. I remember when you could get a two-headed snake
for five parrot feathers and still have enough left over for a ball game.
AZTEC SPORTS FAN
Speaking of that, how is Montezuma's Revenge doing?
AZTEC
MIDDLE AGED MAN
Not so good. They got pummeled by the Olmecs.
AZTEC
SPORTS FAN
Human-eating water-dwelling dog monkeys with hands on their
tails!
FACILITATOR
Calm down there, sports fan.
BOY
Dad, are we there yet?
FATH
(pointing to pictographs on disc)
No, Son, but the waiting time's not so bad. Only fourteen
hours.
MOTHER
That's still a while. I do hope my Lumbago doesn't act
up again.
FATHER
It takes time to process 84,400 people.
BOY
Mom, can I have a grasshopper snack?
MOTHER
Not until you’ve had your chocolate. Now drink it up. Say
grace first.
Mother pulls out gourd
and hands it to son.
BOY
(insincerely)
Thank you, Quetzalcoatl, for bringing cocoa beans from the
tree of life to man.
Boy upends gourd and
drinks.
BOY
Yuck! I hate chocolate.
MOTHER
Your father works hard to put cacao on the table, so enjoy.
TEENAGE SON
You know, this really sucks cassava root. The
guys are going up with the posse, and I have to go on ritual to the top
with my parents.
MOTHER
There are certain things we do as a family. I don't
want you marring the dignity of this occasion by ascending with that loud bunch
of yours.
TEENAGE SON
Whatever.
Vendor comes along.
VENDOR
Obsidian daggers here. Get your obsidian daggers here.
They're sharper than in the past. Our specially patented emeralds polish
these babies to razor-sharp perfection. They slice. They dice. They make jicama
fries. They can be used for occasions such as...
AZTEC MIDDLE MAN
Hey, Billy. I thought you had gone to the
spirit land.
VENDOR
No, Sir. I'm very much alive. How many would you like?
AZTEC MIDDLE AGED MAN
Two please. Is there a warranty?
VENDOR
Yes, for fourteen hours.
AZTEC MIDDLE AGED MAN
Are they really that sharp?
VENDOR
Same ones the government uses. You shall see.
AZTEC
MIDDLE AGED MAN
Thank you.
VENDOR
Thank you, and good luck up there.
COMPLAINING
WOMAN
Excuse me.
FACILITATOR
Yes, Ma'am. May I help you?
COMPLAINING WOMAN
You know, your colleagues, those two young men way over
there (points) were very rude to us. I simply asked whether I could bring my
pet jaguar, Jag, up with me for the proceedings, and they gave me such
attitude.
FACILITATOR
Ma'am there were pictographs carved in lava stone all around
saying “no pets.” The formality of the occasion would be compromised.
COMPLAINING WOMAN
He's not just any pet. He's my
spiritual pathfinder. I couldn't get through my coca-induced officially-mandated
trances without him.
FACILITATOR
I'm sorry. Rules are rules.
COMPLAINING WOMAN
Well. The pyramid of the Sun has horrible customer
service. I might just take my business to the Pyramid of the Moon
next time.
FACILITATOR
(Weirdly surprised)
Next time??
Along
come three young protestors, two young women, one young
man. They carry signs saying, "Support Obsidian Miners Who Can’t
Strike," and
they chant, "The people, united, will
soon be divided!"
FEMALE PROTESTOR
Hey, everyone, we object to this undertaking you're
all lined up for.
MOTHER
Why's that, young lady?
OTHER FEMALE PROTESTOR
Well, we take exception to the fact certain people are excluded
from the honorary event.
FATHER
Who?
OTHER FEMALE PROTESTOR
There are the dudes working in the obsidian mines. They have
to work straight through these four day ceremonies, and their contract forbids
them to strike. And also those too old and sick to make it up there. And
criminals, and the winning members of the ball teams - of course they wouldn't
have a need to go up there.
MALE PROTESTOR
And don't forget the ones who protest for the rights of
those who are not invited to go up there. You know - us.
FEMALE
PROTESTOR
(projecting)
Ladies and gentlemen, we will not serve Huitzilopochtli, the
sun god. He struggles with the forces of night to keep mankind alive, and...
TEENAGE
SON
Mom…
(Pause)
MOTHER
I know, Agave, I’m scared too.
(Ensemble all agrees.)
FACILITATOR
I know. We’re all scared.
(Pause)
But we have to keep strong in the face of this Conquistador
menace. So, we go about our daily routine…with dignity. OK, protestors, you'll
have to step aside. Next one up, please, you, Sir.
AZTEC DUDE
Me? Cool!
Aztec Dude
climbs stairs. Grips roll out stair tower with chamber
at top. It is clear it is a pyramid. Three priests do a chant and act
out cutting Aztec Dude's heart out. Priest holds out beating heart.
Aztec Dude falls. More acting out cutting. Priest holds out his
head too.
AZTEC WOMAN
My turn. I'm next.
ANOTHER AZTEC WOMAN
No, it's my turn. Stop pushing!
CURTAIN
THE END
By Stuart Kurtz
February 3, 2011
Architecture Essay on a landmark of Modernism. The building is in almost any book on early Modernism. A visit is an experience. (This is unpublished)
The Sky’s the
Limit: Thoughts on the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building
“…It demands
of us, ‘what is the chief characteristic of the tall office building?’ And at
once we answer, it is lofty. This loftiness is to the artist-nature its
thrilling aspect. It is the very organ-tone of its appeal. It must be in turn
the dominant chord in his expression of it, the true excitant of his
imagination. It must be tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it,
the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud
and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a
unit without a single dissenting line…”
Louis
Sullivan
A tenet of Modernism was to
connect the inside of buildings with their outsides. In the Philadelphia
Savings Fund Society building (1929-32) by George Howe and William Lescaze the
interior does not merely form a link with the street and surrounding cityscape;
it creates a unity with the atmosphere around the building. The connection of
lived space and intangible space (light and air) is rendered to masterful
effect. The ascent from the materiality of the streets outside its lobby,
higher and higher to the pinnacle of sun and air of the boardrooms must be
experienced in an uninterrupted flow. We might say it is a journey away from
the material burdens of the world for an esoteric encounter up in the clouds.
When the visitor enters the
first floor lobby, he sees a soaring space that leads the eye upwards. The
light entering through the doorways and filtering down from the banking floor
above fills this area and seems to beckon the viewer to move onward and upward,
starting literally with a ride up the escalator. On level two one’s view is drawn
to a bank of interior windows, behind which one can see an expanse. Once in
this banking floor, the visitor’s gaze is drawn horizontally and vertically by
full-height windows and a U-shaped service counter. Now the hallway windows
extend this room even farther. The view is of the upper stories of surrounding
buildings, thus accentuating the rise the customer has just made. Aluminum
ceiling panels insinuate the sky to the interior. Polished black marble piers
not only tell of height but ricochet light across the banking floor.
Corridors are open and uncluttered
with no ornament distracting the eye. From the second floor one ascends another
long escalator to the ballroom (The building is now a Loew’s hotel.) The
visitor can only see light from the third floor windows and that which is
reflected on the ceiling of that level, seen from the vantage point of the
escalator ride up. The board and dining rooms at the top are airy and breezy. The
solarium cheers up the rooms more, and a terrace extends the free movement of
bankers. From up here the eye looks out and now down. There is more of a
horizontal emphasis, such as in the overhang cantilever over the terrace and
the glass bank of doors.
The thin limestone piers that
elevate the building off the ground, in a manner, accentuate the delicacy of
the building. This might be the first skyscraper whose base reflects its top.
The two-story base exterior is covered in gray and black granite, which
reflects light, thereby losing some of the visual heaviness of itself.
The experience is a physical
and emotional journey away from the confines of the ground and up to the
heights. It is a freedom from the world below into an environment of light and
air at the top…an escape from the problems on street level (in 1932 effects of
the Depression were just outside the bank). I think Le Corbusier meant his
towers to achieve this sensibility. The shopping malls, industrial complexes,
hotels, and luxury apartments of the 1960’s tried to do this as well, with
usually unsuccessful results.
Air and light are what the
PSFS conveys, which are what tall buildings should communicate.
Stuart A.
Kurtz
April16,
2004
My Art Work:
Encaustic work with wax.
"Just Blowing Smoke"
Below is "Explosion"
"Foiled Again" It is a cat staring at a mouse hole...waiting
"Skating the Rim"
My Photos:
Published ones on www.escapewizard.com
Below is Hijmans Medical Facility, University of
Utrecht by Mecanoo
Underneath is education building at University of Amsterdam.
Below is Scheepvaarthuis, Shipping House, Amsterdam. I wrote one of my "photo poems" on this. I use a series of photos in order as a physical and psychogenic journey through the building after its opening in WWI.
An interior waterfall in The Whale Pavilion, formerly Freshwater and Saltwater Pavilions by NOX Architects, Neeltje Jans, The
Netherlands. This is my favorite building in that country and is part of my book proposal. The book will be called "Vanishing Buildings," dealing with dematerialization in architecture.
Below is the Supermoon as seen through a telescope.
Below is of exhibit at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto
Below is Chinese Film Institute, Beijing
Next is planetarium, Beijing
German Pavilion at Shanghai Expo
The Electric Grid Pavilion at Shanghai Expo
Yes, that is a building with a built-in waterfall. Guilin, China
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