Πέμπτη 30 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

William Blake's "The Night of Enitharmon's Joy" (1795)

The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (1795), often refered as The Triple Hecate or simply Hecate, is a 1795 colour print by English artist and poet William Blake depicting Enitharmon, a female character in his mythology, as a androgynous Hecate, Greco-Roman goddess of magic and the underworld, in a nightmarish scene with fantastic creatures. The picture also alludes the Three Fates. Despite this allusion, critics point out that the primary source for Blake's inspiration is Shakespeare, from Macbeth, where there are similarities with the animals illustrated in this painting.

"Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
(Macbeth, IV.i)


Enitharmon is a major female character in William Blake's mythology, playing a main part in some of his prophetic books. She represents the Feminine Will upon the patriarchal Christianity. It's a quite obscure figure representing spiritual beauty and poetic inspiration. She is symbolised by the moon and she is characterised by Pity. As poetic instinct, Enitharmon is represented as being born of the sexual problems that happen during puberty. She is a goddess that represents what cannot be found within nature. In her connection to space, she represents the psychological aspects of unbound space upon the mind.

After her birth, Enitharmon declares that women will rule the world, with Man being given Love and Women being given Pride. This would create within men a fear of female dominance that would in turn bring them under control of the females. In her sexual system, there are four parts: desire, sperm, frustration, and finally war. These are represented by sexual desire being contained to body, which leads to guilt, followed by frustration and ends with erotic dreams. In the last stage, war is the ultimate result of sexual repression. This war is connected to general war and to energy as a whole. Sex is supposed to lead to imagination and love. Love is supposed to leave one to a higher state, and the perversion of sexuality, in Blake's view, leads to destruction.

The Female Will is born from an object of affection refusing to give up its independence, and the concept represents what prohibits an individual from being able to have true vision. (wikipedia)

I think that it worths to mention my observation that this obscured myth has striking similarities with Wilhelm Reich's theory and work of "sexual economy" in libido and patrism vs matrism.

Σάββατο 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

"The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones" Ezekiel 37:1-14

Gustave Dore
"Vision of the Valley with the Dry Bones"
(Bible Illustrations, published in 1865)

One of the most strong and creepy prophecies in Old Testament, that of Ezekiel’s vision of the valley with the dry bones has been depicted with the most dramatic way by the famous illustrationist Gustave Dore in his Bible illustrations. Let’s read the prophecy in English and in Ancient Greek:

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.

He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry.

He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”

I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’

Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.

I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.


Valley of the dry bones
by Unknown artist

Το όραμα της κοιλάδας με τα ξερά οστά, Ιεζεκιήλ (λζ' 1-14).

Εγένετο έπ' εμέ χειρ Κυρίου και εξήγαγε με εν πνεύματι Κύριος και εθηκέ με εν μέσω του πεδίου και τούτο ην μεστόν όστέων ανθρωπίνων και περιήγαγε με έπ' αυτά κυκλόθεν κύκλω και ιδού πολλά σφόδρα επί προσώπου του πεδίου ξηρά σφόδρα.

Και είπε προς με υιέ άνθρωπου, ει ζήσεται τα οστέα ταύτα; Και είπα: Κύριε, Κύριε, συ επίστη ταύτα. Και είπε προς με: προφήτευσον επί τα οστά ταύτα και έρεις αυτοίς τα οστά τα ξηρά, ακούσατε λόγον Κυρίου.

Τάδε λέγει Κύριος τοις οστέοις τούτοις: ιδού εγώ φέρω εφ' υμάς πνεύμα ζωής και δώσω εφ' υμάς νεύρα και ανάξω εφ' υμάς σάρκας και εκτενώ εφ' υμάς δέρμα και δώσω πνεύμα μου εις υμάς και ζήσεσθε και γνώσεσθε ότι εγώ ειμί Κύριος.

Και προεφήτευσα, καθώς ενετείλατό μοι. Και εγένετο εν τω εμέ προφητεύσαι και ιδού σεισμός και προσήγαγε τα οστά εκάτερον προς την αρμονίαν αυτού.

Και είδον και ιδού έπ' αυτά νεύρα και σάρκες εφύοντο και ανέβαινε έπ' αυτά δέρμα επάνω και πνεύμα ουκ ην εν αυτοίς.

Και είπε προς με: προφήτευσον επί το πνεύμα, προφήτευσον υιέ ανθρώπου και είπον τω πνεύματι: τάδε λέγει Κύριος εκ των τεσσάρων πνευμάτων έλθέ και εμφύσησησον εις τους νεκρούς τούτους και ζησάτωσαν.

Και προεφήτευσα, καθότι ενετείλατό μοι και εισήλθεν εις αυτούς το πνεύμα και έζησαν και έστησαν έτη το ποδών αυτών, συναγωγή πολλή σφόδρα.

Και ελάλησε Κύριος προς με λέγων υιέ ανθρώπου, τα οστά ταύτα πάς οίκος Ισραήλ εστί.

Και αυτοί λέγουσι- ξηρά γέγονε τα οστά ημών, απόλωλεν ή ελπίς ημών, διαπεφωνήκαμεν.

Δια τούτο προφήτευσον και είπον προς αυτούς: τάδε λέγει Κύριος: ιδού εγώ ανοίγω τα μνήματα υμών και ανάξω υμάς εκ των μνημάτων υμών και εισάξω υμάς εις την γήν του Ισραήλ και γνώσεσθε ότι εγώ ειμί Κύριος εν τω ανοίξαί με τους τάφους υμών του αναγαγείν με εκ των τάφων τον λαόν μου.

Και δώσω πνεύμα μου εις υμάς και ζήσεσθε και θήσομαι υμάς επί την γήν υμών και γνώσεσθε ότι εγώ Κύριος λελάληκα και ποιήσω, λέγει Κύριος.




Δευτέρα 20 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Gothic and evil Beauty

"Spiral Goth Angel" by

"Cat Fight" by
Henning Ludvigsen






"Black Wings" by
Veronica Atanacio


"Divided Heart" by
Sacha Angel Diener


"Mikaii" by
Benita Winckler



Klik on each name
to see more works by the artists.
Unfortunately some photos are orphan.
If anyone of the visitors knows
or is the creator,
please comment to mention him/her!!!

Σάββατο 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Album: Bomber, Band: Motorhead (1979)

A classic metal album. Of course no comments, probably their best and more punk sound work. More in allmusic





















bonus track:

Τετάρτη 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Juan Cabana's art: realistic sea monstrous creatutes

If you read articles in net about findings of decomposed mermaid corpses or strange mythical sea-creatures keep on being sceptic! Because someone naive or a prankster has taken as real the "realistic" sculptures by Juan Cabana of mythical monstrous sea creatures, created, staged and photographed in real environments. The art of hoax, so to speak!

We read in his SITE where you can find much more pictures of his creatures:

Cabana's mermaids are no gentle pre-Raphaelite maidens. These mermaids seduce us, not with their siren beauty, but with parchment skin and haunted eyes. Their allure lies in their hypnotic honesty. Cabana's mermaids have been dredged from the stygian depths, where the pressure and endless darkness breed spine-toothed monsters and grotesque simian scavengers. These creatures are the sisters and brothers of Barnum's Mermaid, some crawling from the banks of a lagoon, others laid out like wizened specimens in a laboratory. They seethe with life, they call to us with shrill tongues and crooked fingers, they beg to drag us down into the abyss. From the mid-ocean trenches and the bottomless channels they come.








A similar realistic hoax by Dan Baines is about the mummified corpse of a fairy, allegedly found in Derbyshire for an April Fool's Day:





Σάββατο 11 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Album: Spirit the Earth Aflame, Band: Primordial (2000)

A great and dinstinctive epic folk black metal album. More in allmusic





















Τετάρτη 8 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

George Grosz

George Grosz (1893 – 1959) was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada during the Weimar Republic before he emigrated to the United States in 1933.

I’m Glad I Came Back (1943)

This image is a commentary on the horrors of second world war . The rising power of Nazism caused him to regain his urge to paint about wartime cruelties. Works like this image of a skeleton in ripped clothing opening a blood red and black curtain display Grosz’s sheer repulsion for the actions of Nazi Germany. In times of war, as is apparent, skeletons were used to make strong both personal and political statements. (www.trinity.edu)


The Funeral (Dedicated to Oskar Panizza)
(1917-1918)

This work mixes elements of Futurism and Cubism to show a funeral procession, set in a modern urban city, depicted as an infernal abyss filled with twisted and grotesque human forms.

It's dedicated to the German psychiatrist and avant-garde writer Oskar Panizza (1853-1921), noted for his play Liebeskonzil, which references the first historically documented outbreak of syphilis and depicts God the Father as a senile old man. Although his works were deemed blasphemous at the time by both the Church and government of Emperor Wilhelm II, they were greatly admired by the young, idealistic Grosz.

The painting achieves the effect of a hellscape through its colourisation—in particular through its use of red light—and multitude of distorted bodies and limbs. A skeleton representing the Grim Reaper sits on the coffin, drinking alcohol from a bottle. Before and behind him are the mob-like mourners who are depicted as ugly, frenzied and ridden with alcoholism and the madness of late-stage syphilis.

Above the procession, tall buildings induce claustrophobia, seeming to lean and bend both backwards and forwards, as if about to topple over and onto those gathered below. Among these buildings is a small church, surrounded by bars, nightclubs and offices. Giving a literal voice to the "Dance of Death" depicted by the artist, a sign over one club reads "DANCE TONIGHT".

Explaining his intention when creating the work, Grosz said:"In a strange street by night, a hellish procession of dehumanized figures mills, their faces reflecting alcohol, syphilis, plague ... I painted this protest against a humanity that had gone insane." (wikipedia)

 I am always there, 1936

Κυριακή 5 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Meats Meier


3-D sculptures of mechanical, demonical and heroic themes. Visit his SITE for more of his work.









Πέμπτη 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2010

Album: Beyond The North Winds, Band:SIG:AR:TYR (2008)

Post Black metal in the style of Agaloch. Their best and more melodic album. More in Metal Archives