Pictures!
Nigel Wrench has been out and about and he returns with this question:
"How sexy is the sea?"
The artist Maggi Hambling has been telling Nigel why she's turned from portraits of everyone from the Dalai Lama to Stephen Fry to portraits of waves and waterfalls. "Orgasmic," is a word she uses. I'm sorry but there it is. Orgasmic. There. I said it again.
Here are two of the pictures, Nigel says try to imagine the waterfall -- the long one -- nine feet high and the wave one nine feet wide.
By contrast, our third picture from her show, a new self-portrait, is only a little larger than a postcard.
The big waterfalls involve a dream, but hear more on PM tonight. You might also know of Maggi Hambling from her controversial sculpture for Benjamin Britten on the pebble beach at Aldeburgh, it is.
Confusingly, all this talk of the sea was in the Lake District. We're still assessing Nigel's "generous" gift of Kendal Mint Cake.
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Ahhh, Maggi Hambling! I shall listen out to that interview with great interest as I think she's quite extraordinary in so many different ways ....
I've read and indeed, heard, that from time-to-time, if not all the time in a number of unfortunate cases, some people suffer problems in the (whisper) orgasm area...
Learning, as I now do, that these portraits/paintings are considered to be "orgasmic" I realise that orgasm issues are FAR more complex than I'd ever imagined...
Always thought I had a good imagination too...
These look like they would be fabulous in real life - they're pretty great in miniature.
The first time I ever heard anything described as "orgasmic" (that wasn't chocolate, obviously) was a recording of Wagner's "Procession to the Minster" by Grimethorpe Colliery Band (I think). And he was right.
Wonderful images. It's all personal of course but I'm not sure they quite capture the sensation of orgasm (is that a bit risque for a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ blog?); however, there is something quite charged about them. Can we seem them in the flesh (as it were)?
I looked at the self-portrait before I saw the caption, because I was scrolling down, and I thought it was an abstract painting of water. I wonder if that would please or outrage the artist!
So I used the 'o' word and my comment doesn't appear.... :(
I thought it was quite a good one too!
Chris,
SNAP!
xx
ed
May you die in bed at 95, shot by a jealous spouse.
there is nothing 'generous' about a gift of Kendal Mint Cake, in fact quite the reverse. I would be very worried about the unspoken narrative behind such a 'gift'.
Well (ahem), since this is a family frog and it's before the, er, watershed...
the first painting is a little suggestive-looking, if looked at in that light.
And, well, waves, you know...
but I must stop since my keyboard's ggggot the ggggiggggggles and the monitor's blushing
FrancesO - I had noticed that too. I wonder if she has any plans to make any pieces based on fountains.
Frances O @ 8
...I'm a little reluctant to say this but I think you're over-due a spell in the sin-bin...
(Mmmm... now, how might that be interpreted I wonder...?)
Frances (9): I have absolutely no idea what you mean. Please can I have a map?
Witchi (4 and 6): I think your (6) has turned out to be a premature ejaculation given the appearance of your (4). You should know that you sometimes have to wait for them to come along.
Yep, closest thing I've had to an orgasm all day...
Forget about that for a moment, and check this out...
This lady paints the 'sounds' of people's voices, and the 'tastes' of tea and maltesers...
Difficult to explain, so just check out the ace paintings.. especially the 'sound portraits' of Jonny Vegas and Mariella Frostrup..
Weird and wonderful...
Jason, I'd better not, after what Charlie has said...
I don't believe it ... I thought lowering the tone was MY job!
Well done everyone. Keep those standards low. Prouda ya.
Fifi ;o)
Fantastic pictures - even better commentary from you all. Well done - keep it up (oops!).
I saw Maggie Hambin once in the foyer of a hotel in Aldeburgh. My husband who is an artist said something very unflattering about her. I've never understood why he doesn't like her. I've just told him that she was on the radio tonight and without a pause he said something else unflattering about her.
He still won't explain. He says the paintings are OK though!
Men are strange.
Mary
The valley spirit never dies;
It is the woman, primal mother.
Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth.
It is like a veil barely seen.
Use it; it will never fail.
...
The highest good is like water.
Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.
It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.
-- ~450BCE
Shanthi
ed
I have seen the Great Pretender and he is not what he seems.
Or, from my :
The Valley Spirit never dies.
It is called the Mysterious Female
Shih wei hsüan p`in
The entrance to the Mysterious Female
Is called the root of Heaven and Earth,
Endless flow
Of inexhaustible energy.
Shang shan jo shui
Best to be like water,
Which benefits the ten thousand things
And does not contend.
It pools where humans disdain to dwell,
Close to the Tao
Live in a good place.
Keep your mind deep.
Treat others well.
Stand by your word.
Make fair rules.
Do the right thing.
Work when it's time.
Only do not contend,
And you will not go wrong,
xx
ed
We place two copies of PEOPLE magazine in a DARK, HUMID mobile home.
45 minutes later CYNDI LAUPER emerges wearing a BIRD CAGE on her head!
Who is telling lies? The PM program I suspect.
On the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ WEB Page
I am told
"85% of the recall was due to its own (Mattel) design faults."
But you reporter attributed all faults to China.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ is telling porkies, one way or the other
Ed I @ 19 & 20, am I right in thinking that Lao Tzu lived inland and wasn't talking about the sea when he said 'does not contend'?
There is also
a winter weirpool
water whirls you round concrete
until you are drowned
for the less ocean-inclined...
:-) fish observe water as a bird must know the air.
Chris,
I wouldn't presume to say what LaoTzu was talking about. I don't know whether he ever saw the Sea, but I suspect it had a similar pull on him as it did upon Tolkein's Elvar.
Possibly the Sea does not contend, because it seeks to be low.
Best to be like water.
Ed, is it ok if I *like* water rather than trying to *be* like it? Living in a thing that one also is seems to pose philosophical problems I find slightly alarming, and the alternative, not having them, seems somehow less like contesting. :-)