Saturday, September 15, 2018

New Work: In The Meanwhile...

In The Meanwhile...
12" x 12" acrylic and paper on board-collage

Did you know that "in the meantime" and "in the meanwhile" mean two different things, roughly? The former denotes that you are waiting for something to happen or waiting until something happens (and doing something else in the meantime) and the latter means that there are two things happening at once. It seems like they are fairly interchangeable but I chose the latter phrase to say what I mean. What I wanted to call this was While Rome Burns but I learned that that expression is not based on fact. The violin had not been invented in Nero's time so it seems unlikely that he would have been fiddling. (God knows he was likely doing something else as the city burned around him.)

Anyhow. I have written before about bringing snippets of thoughts and ideas together to create a piece. A couple of weeks ago as I was watching the news, I was astounded by the string of stories being reported. Seemingly all in one breath, the newscaster reported that Trump declared Google was skewing its search results in favor of the Democrats; there was more news about election tampering; and lastly, (but surely not least), North Korea was once again testing missiles (or whatever it is that they are doing to try and exercise their might). I could hardly believe it. All news does not have equal weight of course but I thought that the nonsense about Google coupled with the more serious items of election tampering and the missile deal was just a crazy juxtaposition of stories. I wrote it all down and over the next week or so collected images in my mind. The piece came together quickly and represents what I love to do best: bring ideas and images together that are unexpected and maybe not even related but just are things that I was thinking collectively, if that makes sense. It all means that I am tuned in to my own thoughts which is very good for art making, in my opinion.

By the way, I looked in to that Google situation. The original story used to support this claim is based on a faulty interpretation of statistics. Goes to show you.

Oh, and just to explain about the image. I used Google's colors for that line of squares. The green check mark and ballot box go together along with the question marks and percentage signs. That's Kim Jong-Un at the top with a bomb for his head (no love lost there). The North Korean flag's colors have been reversed (accidentally on my part but I like the idea of it) and those are U.S. colors in that target site. I used the nuclear waste symbol in the gray area, kind of an underground feeling. And those are missiles above ground, not crayons as Rich suggested. Anyway, let me know what you see!

Thanks for reading and commenting.
Libby

2 comments:

  1. Libby, we are all affected by the news but your art making about what you are hearing, reading and thinking is a great way to process so many aspects of it. I must admit I rely on your explanation at the bottom, but as a work of art it has a composition that draws me in. I always seem to pick out a favorite part in your work, and this time it is the orange cloud beneath the missiles. It brings some poetry, perhaps because it seems to be rising.

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    Replies
    1. Carol,

      I think that making a piece of art is a much better response than me muttering the "F" word as I walk through the living room listening to the news!

      I am glad that you take the time to read the explanations and that you also provide me with info. on what you are seeing. I like the clouds too though for a reason that is more technical. I wasn't sure about how to construct them and once I figured it out it was like a small victory.

      I hate having to listen to what is going on in the world (it upsets me) but tuning in just a bit seems to be helping. We'll see:)

      Thank you again for your visit and observations. It always helps.
      Libby

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it! I reply back in an email if you are signed in and I can see your address. Otherwise I will post the reply here under your comment. I tend to cut and paste my emails too so that others can experience the back and forth which I think is integral to blogging.
Libby