17 Comments

  1. parodycenter says:

    Clysmatics I think you should send your kiddo to art school, because she apparently has talent. Here she has to work on the composition a bit, as the image seems to be falling out of the frame, but her grasp of light, atmosphere and scenography indicates a budding artist in the movie or game industry.

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  2. ktismatics says:

    She finished this piece in art class last week, on her fifteenth birthday. You think about your child as someone to protect and to cheer up, but at some point you have to acknowledge that this is her vision, the horizon she scans from within the generation that’s getting ready to come of age. I’m not sure what you mean by “falling out of the frame,” Dejan — might it be an artifact of the photograph (a bit crooked) rather than the painting? The purple is darker on the original, and it’s especially dark surrounding the light source. I told her your remarks and she was pleased, since after you saw her last drawing she knows you’re a tough and informed critic.

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  3. Odile says:

    Impressive image. I think she should study something that gets others out of the alley and into the lightness of being. I know someone who just finished theology. She’s working on how the mainstream beliefsystems are found back in activities for the youth. Journals. Spiritual leadership.
    And yes, she’s certainly talented for arts. Illustrate books? Write and design her own?

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  4. ktismatics says:

    She’s still quite young yet. Even in the first year of high school the teachers are already putting pressure on the students to think about university. She had resisted taking any art classes until this year because she was concerned that it would turn art into a performance for a grade rather than something she does for the love of it. In the American school system an A counts as a 4.0 in calculating overall grade average. In her school it’s possible to take advanced classes where an A earns a 5.0. Because students are so grade-obsessed, they’re reluctant to take an art class because earning “only” an A isn’t good enough to keep up with the competition.

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  5. parodycenter says:

    well assuming that i can see the borders of the frame, and the shot is slightly distorted due to an irregular angle, the cages on the left side are dropping out of the frame. also the vantage point should be decentered a bit more, because this way it introduces a symmetry into an image that is supposed to be disturbing or quirky. it’s handy to look on an instruction book about perspective and do a bit of practice, she’ll get it in no time.

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  6. ktismatics says:

    “…says Mister I-draw-squiggles-and-call-them-people,” is the artist’s reply to your last comment, Parodycenter. I think the cages falling out of the frame is an error by the photographer, and she said she already decentered the purple rectangle from its original position. Also, Odile, I’m not so sure the light source is meant to be the “lightness of being.” To me it seems rather ominous, with the black rays coming out of it. And of course we do have this precipitous edge, so that approaching any nearer to the light will spell certain doom.

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  7. samlcarr says:

    John,
    Is the title “One Step Closer” yours or Kenzie’s?

    The black lines could be cables drawing the structure towards a point of release. I somehow got a sense of being underneath a surface of some sort, and a sense of motion?

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  8. Erdman says:

    I bow in her general direction.

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  9. ktismatics says:

    It’s her title. At first she was going to call it “The End of the World,” which I think is the subject of the piece. I’ll ask her about the cables idea.

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  10. ktismatics says:

    Regarding the cables: “Cool,” says Kenzie; “it’s not what I had in mind but I like the interpretation.”

    She says thanks also to Erdman that it was a bow you sent in her general direction.

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  11. parodycenter says:

    dad have you seen jonquille? I am starting to fear the Stalinists took him to Room 101 and now he’s lobotomized or something.

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  12. ktismatics says:

    No word from Jonquille lately. I suspect he’s recovering, retooling himself, getting ready for vacation.

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  13. Odile says:

    About lightness, it has more than one meaning. Young people are supposed to be light, this young person is on the edge of the dark.
    The idea of cables makes me think of the island of mathematicians in Gulliver’s travel that is upside down hanging over another island, in the clouds.
    The idea of not knowing if it’s upside down or not appeals to me, because of the perspective confusion.
    The cages maybe are a metaphore for thinking in a box, until you master the art: education framing. Mastering the restraint brings light.
    The edge makes me think of the leap of faith in Crocodile Dundee. I’m puzzled by a detail, the puzzle shaped edged border.
    It makes me wandering about what change lies ahead.

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  14. Odile says:

    I showed it to my daughter who is here for two weeks. She says “beautiful!” in Dutch with some reverence in her voice.

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  15. gsik says:

    one step closer to making the jump – can you do it?

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  16. ktismatics says:

    Thanks Gsik. I relayed your question to the artist, who claims not to know the answer.

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