Eggman

Here's a comic by 'Jeremyville'.

Gee's Bend Quilts

Last night I listened to a wonderful audio clip about the 'Gee's Bend' quilts. I have seen some of these quilts in fine art galleries but never knew what gave them their distinct quality. They mix boldness and simplicity with raw energy in a way I find thrilling.

From what I learned, 'Gees Bend' is a small southern community in Alabama. It's inhabitants for the most part are the descendents of the slaves who used to work the 'Gee' plantation. The women of this isolated, one-road community continue to produce what has been called some of the finest examples of American Minimalism. I like how William Arnett, an art collector, described it. "They think and they work like traditional artists the world over. They make the same types of aesthetic decisions. What you see coming from Gee's Bend is not accidental. It didn't happen because a bunch of women were just sewing cloth together and happily they came up with something that was beautiful or unique. It was a very conscious thing, and it's been passed down for at least five or six generations."

I know I've made a few quilts in my life but they never resembled anything like this. It makes me want to really explore the possibilities of this dying art form.

Sleeping Beauty

Here's another drawing I did. It sort of reminds me of Eve sleeping in the forest before she wakes up to realize she is on earth.

Mixed up creatures

Here are some doodles for a comic book I'm working on called 'Me Good Me Bad'. If you want to see a preview for the movie I'm making by the same name, go to www.anniepoon.com.

This creature is based on the Greek 'Cerebus' with a little 'Alice In Wonderland' thrown in.


This dracula made a brief appearance in 'Tis the Night of Halloween'.


The Griffin. Son of a lion and an eagle.


This merman wants to 'PUMP. . .YOU UP'. In my story, he lives with a whole pack of other hotties on the sea rocks just of the coast of the island of seduction and romance.


The snake lady or 'Lamia' also inspired by Greek Mythology. According to legend, she has a voracious appetite for children thought to symbolize her unbridled lust and depravity.

Dolls

I'm looking for a poseable doll to use as the subject of some upcoming photography and was stunned to learn about the Korean ball-jointed dolls. These dolls are made in realistic proportion with working joints and great attention to facial features. To me they are very beautiful. They really have a lot of anime spirit and their expressions are so whimsical. Also, they are expensive. When you buy one you have to pay extra for hair and clothing. Here are a few examples I found.


This amazing doll costs around $450.




The 'Blythe Doll' is the Japanese counterpart. She is much less complicated, however. Her head is much larger and she has huge doe eyes. I couldn't find one for less than $80.00.

This one's called a Domuya Doll.

Also there's the 'Pullip Doll'.

Still in love with Olga Bielma's Birds

Here's another one of her drawings. She's having a show in Oakland soon. I'll try to find out more information.

There is more to life than New York City

It's called Beach Vacation at unspoiled location X. I've been to many beaches in many lands and always felt I was at a glorified swimming pool. But last week I spent my days watching flocks of pelicans fly over cold waters stirred up by dolphins whose waves spat sea sponges onto the conch littered white sands. The Zen-like solitude of the unpopulated beach got me up each morning for a stroll down to the sandbar with children and friends where we would hunt for sand dollars and look for stingrays. Sorry Coney Island baby, you just aint it no mo!

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer

I recently visited the Neue Galerie where I saw for the first time the famous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt. This is the painting that sold for $135 million to Ronald Lauder making it the highest sales price for any painting at that point, and prompting the ARTnews article 'Klimt- Overhyped or Worth Every Penny?"
I had seen reproductions of this painting. I think most people are familiar with Klimt's strange geometric backgrounds swirling around beautiful women with transluscent skin. But there was something about my museum guide's tale of this painting that fascinated me.

Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of a wealthy industrialist who made his money in the sugar industry. She married at only 18 and soon after, her husband commissioned Klimt to make this painting of her. Adele is the only woman Klimt painted more than once. She was known to have a deformed finger which she constantly tried to hide when out in public. If you look at her hands you can see that she is holding them in a very unnatural position. My guide said there were rumors that Adele and Klimt had some sort of fling together, though there was absolutely no proof. "As you can see, her cheeks are. . . flushed," (the rest of the crowd giggled) "Well, you can see by this painting that he did like her very much!" I paid the rumor little mind till she began pointing to all the symbols surrounding the figure. The eye shapes on the dress, our guide suggested, represented the all seeing eye of God and were a sign of protection. Interlocking swirls were also celtic signs of protection.


I thought it was rather odd that an artist working on commission would trouble to embed signs of protection into the image if he did not have a special interest and love for her. If you look carefully you can see the shape of a golden thronelike seat behind the figure. The picture opened itself up to me as I saw Adele as a vulnerable woman surrounded by men who showered her with care and elevated her to the status of a goddess. She died about a decade later of meningitis, a sad contradiction to this painting's suggestion of immortality. But her brief youth is forever preserved in this stunning work of art.