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Tracking a Painting - The Hands Resist Him

“The Hands Resist Him”, Bill Stoneham, 1972

Based off of a childhood photograph of himself at around the age of five, the painting portrays a young version of the artist against a large glass window with a doll positioned beside him, and with hands pressing against the glass from the shadows outside. “I used an old photo of myself at age five in a Chicago apartment. The hands are the 'other lives.' The glass door, that thin veil between waking and dreaming. The girl/doll is the imagined companion, or guide through this realm.used an old photo of myself at age five in a Chicago apartment.”

Inspired by a poem by R. Ponseti, circa 1971

“He is of the seeing visions

His strokes reveal them

In a rush- of color, of madness

Of mystics

And his head is the highest center

It must confront its enemy,

The hands- resist him,

like the secret of his birth.

His presence is the sanctum heartbeat

Felt in darkness and in passion

Its sound the sole gift to that silence.”

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BBC Radio 4: “Refrain”

In the very beginning of listening to “Refrain” I was extremely confused by the strange narration by the artist’s mother but found myself immersed in a world that I believed could only truly be experienced through music or film as opposed to spoken poetry, but there I was. Nostalgic narrations about mundane house chores such as scrubbing or waxing the interior of a long corridor in a house opened the poem, immediately sending me into vivid visions of what the speaker was describing. The poem quickly transitioned into describing the poet’s father and the challenges he faced physically as he aged.

The poet speaks of flashbacks about food his mother would make, and those church bells would continue to ring in the background. The poem spoke how food was “another significant memory” because how it symbolized nurturing and being “cared for” as well as “regulation”, implying meals given at certain times trained children to prepare for routine as they enter adulthood.

Much of the poem focuses extremely heavily on the domestic, again taking me back to my own childhood. However, some of the poem reveals various payments the adults had to pay to upkeep the home, which in my childhood days were of ignorant bliss as I was too young to have to worry about all of that. As I’ve grown older and have had to become aware of the expenses it requires to sustain myself, these parts of the poem have become the most relatable.

“Where is my voice? Who do I speak for?” were words read repeatedly by Lily, making me question the same for myself, respectively. A profound feeling of being lost and yearning security and validation is felt through her following words. Much of the rest of the poem, as I interpreted it, reminds me of trying to traverse the world and life and feeling lost frequently, as most of us do. Reaching back into our childhood gives us clues into what we should do or why we do things in the first place but not all of the answers can be found back there. 

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1,000,000 Movies - The Sacramento State University Union Room

I sit in my old university’s Student Union during a slow part of the year. Sacramento State University is still on Christmas Break technically, but some students still dart back and forth around the halls while some work the small restaurants that nourish studying students, wondering if their grades post-finals will suffice. All of this action is taking place across the room from me or on the floor under me, while immediately around me dozens of empty tables and chairs wait expectantly for occupants who won’t fill them for another week or two. I look up and see an octogonal window on the ceiling, letting the clear, sunlit sky show through without a cloud in sight with a triangular cement figure obstructing much of the view. Above me is the third floor immediately under the large oddly-shaped window, with seven windows letting me peek into the rooms in which they occupy. I look to my right and a girl on the far-right side of the room sits alone at a table with her head down and her backpack leaning against the cement wall. She looks lonely. A small group of four students take their seats at a table across from me, talking loudly about a mutual friend between them. They laugh occasionally. Dimly-lit square-shaped lights hover over my head and throughout the union room, not completely lighting the entire space up but enough to create almost a dream-like state for me, and it’s beginning to make me drowsy. I look behind me and a large analog clock reads 3:49pm, its red number cutting through the yellow lights the square ones illuminate the room with. I continue to glance to my right where a staircase leads down and outside onto the campus where I expect my fiance to enter from, but the doors remain closed and quiet. He opens the door. I am not lonely anymore.

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Hit the Headlines

The original article that accompanied this piece of work greatly intrigued and then infuriated me the second it caught my eye because of my undying fascination yet contempt for the corruptness within the funeral industry. Originally in response to this article I wanted to do a painting but because of the one hour time limit given to produce a piece, I found a leftover styrofoam skulls and decided this piece will be sculptural as opposed to a painting. I hoped to achieve a piece that symbolize frustration alongside corruption, thus choosing acrylic paint colors usually associated with melancholy or anger. Using a small skull as opposed to a human-sized one or a larger one encapsulates the very attitude held by the funeral industry against their clients, as if the funeral industry looks down and sees mourning, vulnerable families and victims as nothing but a cash cow of sorts.

The overuse and repetitiveness of the various amounts of money when counted add up to a decently large amount of money, similar to how much a family, for example, would be expected to pay whilst using one of these exploitative funeral services. 

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Review on Miwon Kwon’s “Genealogy of Site Specificity”

Miwon Kwon’s article “Genealogy of Site Specificity” was an extremely difficult and convoluted read with a valuable message about the evolution of art and how the conversations about it have changed as well. The traditional idea that art should always stay contained to one plane or canvas and site does not matter because the piece is its own individual identity is challenged greatly in this article as modern-day art grows more flexible to outside forces.

Combatting the older experience of art that usually involves a somewhat removed, detached perspective by an unfamiliar audience who happened upon a canvas, for example, is an experience where the art married with the natural world or even interacting and being part of the piece itself. As recent as the 1960’s, the radical idea to create art that was made in one specific place, never to be moved was really introduced into the art world, implying that any attempt to place the piece anywhere else would not only literally destroy the piece but ruin the original intentions by the artist themselves.

The Article discusses how art can not only expand from into the natural world and off of the canvas, but can traverse into culture and socioeconomics.

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Go and See Task: A Quiet Wander to the Cathedral

The Journey

The mission of this day’s session was to travel towards Worcester Cathedral and to look around at the surroundings as we made the journey there. I’ve made this same journey several times prior to this one, but the recent tragic passing of Thomas Jones has changed the atmosphere of the town. Dozens of bouquets grace the surface of the bridge I crossed to the Cathedral, which created a somber and melancholic mood amongst all who joined me on this particular journey. As I passed by the water, the mood shifted from one of sorrow to one of calm and sereneness, partly due to the soft sound of the water moving and because the sun was shining on this particular day. Before this trip I never noticed the intimacy and closeness between people in the community, and the recent unfortunate event that had taken place reinforced this idea greater than before.

The Site

Worcester Cathedral was built with the intention of creating a spiritual, uplifting mood within its visitors. It aims to portray a strong presence of God and holiness. Stories and pictures of God and godly characters are displayed through stained glass art, painting, sculpture, photography, and even student photography. The architecture of the building itself is an exhibition, particularly the pointed arches of the windows which are probably a symbol for pointing towards heaven. In terms of how the site itself made me feel as a person who practices no religion, I felt calm and privileged to be here. I felt wildly in awe of the artwork and atmosphere of the place. However, as soon as I descended down into the crypt alongside two of my fellow course mates, the sudden silence and lack of vivid colours within the crypt made me feel uncomfortable. My mood shifted from that of fascination to that of fear.

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Art House studio space-inspired posters. What kind of posters can you make in response to space around you?