S W O O N D: the living and the dead

10.30.2008

the living and the dead

Joe Holmes shot the first of his amnh images in fall 2005, as an antidote to his obsession with New York City street photography; the darkness and languid pace of the American Museum of Natural History offered some interesting - and welcome - alternatives to Holmes's usual "city life" fare.

Three years to the day after Holmes shot the first amnh image, he returned to the museum on a whim, curious to see if those silhouettes could still hold his interest. He came away just as enthralled by the power of a simple silhouette. According to Holmes's artist statement on 20x200, he remains "fascinated by the surreal mix of living and dead, real and artificial, human and animal, and by the whimsy and wistfulness suggested by such juxtapositions."

Joe Holmes's current exhibition, under | exposed, is on view at the Wall Space Gallery in Seattle.

:20x200

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the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

- w. b. yeats

sounds travel through space long after their wave patterns have ceased to be detectable by the human ear: some cut right through the ionosphere and barrel on out into the cosmic heartland, while others bounce around, eventually being absorbed into the vibratory fields of earthly barriers, but in neither case does the energy succumb; it goes on forever - which is why we, each of us, should take pains to make sweet notes.

- tom robbins

the same dream returned each night until i dared not to go to sleep and grew quite ill. i dreamed i had a child, and even in the dream i saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and i ran away. but it always crept onto my lap again, clutched at my clothes. until i thought, if i could kiss it, whatever in it was my own, perhaps i could sleep. and i bent to its broken face, and it was horrible . . . but i kissed it. i think one must finally take one's life in one's arms.

- arthur miller, after the fall

YIN AND JUNG

who looks outside, dreams;

who looks inside, awakes.

everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.

when we must deal with problems, we instinctively resist trying the way that leads through obscurity and darkness. we wish to hear only of unequivocal results, and completely forget that these results can only be brought about when we have ventured into and emerged again from the darkness. but to penetrate the darkness we must summon all the powers of enlightenment that consciousness can offer.

- carl jung, the stages of life