RedReplicant photostream on Flickr: “God the Father fishing for Leviathan”, 12th Century: Herrad of Landsberg’s Hortus deliciarum: 19th C reproduction drawings. In the Public Domain.

This is a very unusual depiction of God the Father using Christ, who is strung on a line of Old Testament prophets who predicted the messiah, as the hook to ensnare Satan or “Leviathan.” Herrad was a nun and scholar whose book interpreted the history of the world. It is more than likely that she illustrated the book in addition to authoring it.

Wikimedia Commons: “Destruction of Leviathan”, 1865 engraving by Gustave Doré.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The Statue of Liberty as a female counterpart of Hobbes’ Leviathan (Lazarus’ poem is mentioned in Auster’s novel Leviathan); the United-States as the land of the “wretched refuse”. Is this the “community of those who are without community” (“all of us, from now on” writes Jean-Luc Nancy) ? Read more about Lazarus’ poem on wikipedia.

About the exhibition From Haven to Home:

From Haven to Home is a Library of Congress exhibition marking 350 years of Jewish life in America. The exhibition features more than two hundred treasures of American Judaica from the collections of the Library of Congress, augmented by a selection of important loans from other cooperating cultural institutions. (more)

“Drawing on the influence of anime, comic books, Otaku culture, and animal compendiums, the work of Nicholas Di Genova features an encyclopedic range of constructed creatures ranging from soft and nurturing to calculating and military. A vast and intense fabricated history acts as a backdrop to the hundreds of interconnected species, families and rival clans that find themselves projecting their habits, relations and environments to their viewers. Working with ink and animation paints, Di Genova’s paintings on mylar highlight his skill with line and his ability to manipulate colour. Always intense and intricately executed, Di Genova’s work rivals the quality of any fine art painter while firmly establishing itself on the fringes of contemporary art. The work brings together knowledge of art and design and samples from both fields, resulting in incredible visual and technical impact and an astonishing strong conceptual core which receives respect from both camps, a dichotomy often severely split.” (more at the LE Gallery)

Check his blo: Skeleton Hug.

This is Niemann’s latest instalment published on his New York Times’ blog Abstract City :

“Maintaining a home is an uphill battle. For quite some time Iʼve suspected that little goblins are sabotaging my efforts. We try to keep our place tidy. I broom the floor, I sit back, relax and ponder my good work, yet … a few seconds later … ta-dah! One of those little beasts jumps out to mock me.” (more)

Previously on Skandalon

Godzilla Haiku : no 7

“Loving Godzilla 17 syllables at a time.” By SamuraiFrog

“In his ongoing series Until the Kingdom Comes, begun in 2004 and first shown at the gallery in 2006, Simen Johan depicts a natural world hovering between reality, fantasy and nightmare. Merging traditional photographic techniques with digital methods, Johan’s images are crafted over time and may include a synthesis of landscapes from various geographical locations and animals photographed in captivity or in the wild.

An albino deer is camouflaged in a lattice of trees, shadow and light in one image; in another, a weeping willow is enshrined in an apocalyptic fog. Two of Johan’s recent sculptures incorporating feathers, insects and foliage into miniature ecosystems will also be included in the show.

In his work, Johan blurs the boundaries between the real and the unreal, re-imagining worlds that, much like our own, are forever a mystery. Majestic animals in fantasy landscapes are set in relief against a darker reality. The work addresses primal experiences, shaped by desires and fears—solitary paths towards imagined fulfillment.” (read more).

See-Saw explained: “An established artist edits the photographs of his younger self – I’m delighted to be able to share a sampling of my earlier photography. These come from bodies of work begun when I was “living behind a camera” in small town Ohio. A camera was my sword, my shield, my close companion then, and when I moved out into the wider world.

Photography was a passing interest, at age seven, when Cousin Bill gave me a box camera. At age thirteen it kicked in hard, and from then on was a solid pursuit. I was hooked. I became a kind of local treasure, winning contests with a good eye for composition and a whole lot to learn.

I’ve looked back at some of my earlier work, after four decades as a professional photographer. I chose the period from ages 7 to around 47, and pondered its influence on my contemporary work. I see that I had a fascination with movement as well as light. I see that I developed reflexively and intuitively in capturing the essence of a moment. I see that the innate compositional sense expanded. And so on, all insights giving me a chance to pause and reflect as I go forward in my photographic career.

At the age of 48 a major shift occurred. I found my personal photographic voice. But that’s another story, one that sprung from the early fascination. I see now what I saw back when, as the evolution of my transition into fine art photography.”

Biography: “Michael Philip Manheim has been a professional photographer since 1969. A chance encounter with photography, at the age of 13, locked him onto a life-long pursuit.” Read more over at Contemporary Works

The Nedhamptons: A Few Old Drawings, by Amanda Nedham

“Amanda’s show Tapping The Admiral recently showed at Le Gallery in Toronto.”

“Nedham reinterprets the especially cruel torture machine from In the Penal Colony and uses it as a tool to compliment an assemblage of specimens culled from natural history museums around the world. The utilization of impossible and elaborate devices, absurd in application, raises each animal to a site of reverence, where it is their wounds which beg to be deciphered. In the face of such custom cruelty, the machine comes to represent almost ceremonious sacrifice, positing each animal as martyr at the disposal of humans through the exaggerated gesture of individualized torment. Aligning each body with a different type of human preservation reflects Nedham’s interest in looking at the specimens not as objects, but as historians, each capturing a very specific story which can be read off of the body and in the context of display. The machines provide a place where the viewer can engage intimately with each narrative, suggesting alternative histories and opening them up to possibilities in the realm of the romantic and inevitably tragic.” (LE Gallery about the exposition Tapping The Admiral) Read what Amanda has to say about this specific exposition over at The Nedhamptons, her personal blog. Visit her official website.