READING ART
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
READING ART is simple, it’s free, and is meant to enlighten and entertain those who sign up to receive a once a month photo of one of my sculptures, accompanied by a text. This text is not to explain, define, nor defend the art, yet will have some relevance to it.
Reading art is like 'reading' the weather. You have to observe it for a long time, and over a long period of time, until you can predict its flavor, its attitude, its inevitability to stun, to surprise, to anger, to bring pleasure.
What I hope to achieve is for the viewer to "look", to “see”, to "read" the art in a new or meaningful way.
Start READING ART now!
Thank you,
TJ Mabrey
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WATERGATE
In Washington D.C. there is a set of grand steps rising up from the waters of the Potomac River to the Lincoln Memorial. They were designed in 1902 and built in 1930. The steps were originally intended for ceremonious arrivals of dignitaries and heads of States coming to the Capitol by boat or barge, to ascend from the river to the land above, to a new democracy.
a point in time
DEFINITION
A particular moment, as in 'At no point in time had they decided to leave the country', or 'The exact point in time when he died has not been determined.' Critics say this usage is wordy, since in most cases either point or time, along a continuum will suffice. The reference however has survived since the mid-1700s. And then...there are T.S. Eliot's words about the still point.
Influence of Penjing on the Imagination
This concept was introduced in last month's READING ART. Dating back to at least the 1st Century AD, practitioners of Daoist mysticism endeavored to create landscape scenes in miniature - as when seeing human forms in mountains, as in the two pieces below.
It is An Art Form of the Imagination
Part of the beauty of penjing as an art form is that it is an evolving form of expression due to the ways particular artists will experiment. Artists might cut and reshape rocks to embody mountains, as in the sculptures above.
Egyptian onyx, brick, mortar 11 H x 18 x 7.5 inches
Influence of Penjing on the Imagination
Dating back to at least the 1st Century AD, practitioners of Daoist mysticism have endeavored to create landscape scenes in miniature. People see it as a means to focus on and increase the properties we might experience at full-size sights.
While related to bonsai, penjing are noticeably different. They are often more natural or “wild” looking, and they often depict landscapes rather than single trees. Penjing 盆景 is Chinese for a landscape or scene (jing) in a pot (pen). Whereas bonsai displays typically focus on a tree or trees, penjing displays can include elements other than trees, including rocks, water, figurines or structures.
OGO'S BASKET
"Says Chicken Little:
The Sky is Falling
The Sky is Falling
and a piece of it
just hit me on the head."
Above excerpt from "Squaring the Circle" by poet, John Campion
What drives folks to want to understand and prove the impossible? to conquer the world?
This sculpture is titled OGO'S BASKET. The inscription circling it reads, "Squaring the Circle, Ogotemmeli's Plaited Basket Unwinds." Imagine a round basket tied up with a square cloth. When unwrapped and the cloth laid out on the ground, the contents of the basket can be emptied onto the cloth. Like a fortune teller, the person looking at the way the contents have fallen, might possibly conjure up a future, or explain the present.
IT'S ENVIRONMENTAL, MY DEAR WATSON...
The syllogism of the form
Men die.
Grass dies.
Men are grass.
should not be dismissed as illogical or invalid.
This “grass syllogism” (first expressed by Gregory Bateson) reflects the way poets, artists (such as I), and schizophrenics communicate with metaphor.
Art is given as religion and dreams, the freedom to distance itself from logic, much as Zen Buddhism invites us to return to pre-linguistic consciousness where there is no “I” separate from “the other.” I strive through my art to make the point that nature and humans are the same.
To destroy one is to destroy the other.
glass, etched crystal, grass approx. 45 x 34 x 60 inches
Photo: Kathleen Brennan
Ishmael and the Rising Tide of Memories
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
The title,” Ishmael”, was suggested by Texas poet and teacher at the University of California at Berkeley, John Campion. The name “Ishmael” was chosen for it reflected my interest in nature and concern for the environment.
The sculpture is a very long fish, perhaps a whale, with a male figure clinging to its back. Is the figure climbing on, hanging on, falling off or letting go? Who will be the victor?
French red marble, grey marble base, glass tiles, plastic lenses etched with a poem.
53 x 10.25 x 22 inches (marble sculpture only)
WATER WORLD
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
"...nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever
...the sea does not cease to grind down rock."
- James Baldwin
In the near beginning of time, after things settled down on Earth, our planet was completely covered in water. Then volcanic lava and ash exploded from the center of the earth, creating land. After billions of years, life appeared. Almost 75% of Earth was covered in water.
BOUND BUD
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
bound and gagged
[ bound n gagd ]
WHAT DOES BOUND AND GAGGED MEAN?
Bound is a word we immediately recognize to describe things that are tied up, like the pages of a book, or being linked to other things or people by common values, such as 'we are bound together.' But it is also referred to in police reports to indicate a person that has been restrained, to prevent them from physically moving by having their hands bound together with an electrical strap or a zip tie.
6 Poeti Crepuscolari
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
Seed
It’s a shell, a foregone conclusion
waiting its chance to be shattered, perhaps,
by something as graceless as luck.
It lands softly and with little fanfare,
a goddess with her apple inside.
Fecund, maybe. Encircled by pulp.
The sculptor’s made one of marble,
bright and sensual; it glistens. It cracks
in changing weather, and is no longer itself
but rather something else: broken apart.
The light loves it. Moths shroud it at nighttime.
White Marble, approximately 2" x 1.5" x 2.5"
THREE SISTERS
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
The story behind TJ Mabrey’s sculpture THREE SISTERS is complicated as it relates to agriculture. It speaks of avenues for salvation and survival of the human race and our home, Earth, from agriculture.
The human story is complicated. The history of agriculture is equally complex. Once our ancestors organized agriculture; they wanted to feed the world. With advances in science, chemical fertilizers became possible. The horse was replaced by the combustion engine. Industrialization moved "forward."
It was thought that we now had a way to feed the hungry and eliminate starvation. But what grew out of these advancements was disastrous for the environment and even for the survival of our own species.
Recently acquired by the City of Albuquerque
Public Art Program for the Public Art Collection
Photo by Kathleen Brennan
WINTER LEMON
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
DOES WINTER LEMON MEET THE ACID TEST?
If you've ever bitten into a lemon, or that slice of a lemon stuck on the side of your ice tea glass, you've experienced citric acid - a naturally occurring, weak acid, found in citrus fruit. Citric acid is used in a variety of products from household cleaners to disinfectants. It is used in personal care products, yet it can safely remove toxins from polluted soil and yes, even clean up nuclear waste. Best of all, is its miraculous use in the kitchen to enhance food and enliven beverages from the bar. Citric acid is generally deemed safe; however, when I cut into a lemon, I think of something else.
One of four sculptures in the Seeds of War Series by TJ Mabrey
yellow sienna marble 8.25 x 6.25 x 10.25 inches
CACTUS POD
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
The War in Iraq was a dark thing. Yet there it was, happening in the fertile crescent of ancient Mesopotamia. In what was The Garden of Eden, where life began between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the cities, the towns, the villages, were rendered dark by bombs and bullets; as black as the dirt hurriedly thrown over the bodies of the dead. On the edge of paradise, in the desert, possibly unseen, a cactus grew, quietly, spewing forth its seeds of life. Life goes on, at some price. We all pay. Is it worth the price?
One of four sculptures in the Seeds of War Series by TJ Mabrey
black Belgium marble iron element
12 x 12 x 17 inches with iron base
POPPY POD
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
Poppies have been referenced in literature since Homer’s writings in Ancient Greece. Papaver somniferum renders brilliant, blood–red flowers, while others are pink, like the soft cheek of a child. These flowers are some of nature’s premier beauties. But that beauty belies the black nature of humans who put the pod of the poppy to malevolent use. The milky latex extracted from the seed pod contains naturally occurring opiates and alkaloids whose pharmacological use, in the form of opium, has been documented since the 16th century. Working in The Golden Triangle of opium trade, Britain engaged in Two Opium Wars during the 1800s that resulted in a lucrative trade agreement with China that would last for 150 years. Greed, power, money, control.
One of four sculptures in the Seeds of War Series by TJ Mabrey
white Italian marble, iron element 16 x 6.25 x 6.25 inches
DOA
Patent Pending
A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey
"We got along without seeds until about 350 million years ago when evolution finally produced one. Now, with few exceptions, we can’t get along without them.
During the decade I have been creating sculptural seeds and pods in marble and bronze, the impetus behind them has changed, but the fascination endures."
–TJ Mabrey
