issue 21

YAREAHMagazineIssue 21. February 2012

Imagination

Nenuphars, by Charles Courtney CurranTribute to Lewis Carroll and Charles Courtney CurranArticles by Martin Cid, Isabel del Rio, Michael J Metcalf, Charles Kinney Jr,IZara and Isadora Sartosa.Artists: Peter Akinwumi, Erla Axels, Elena Malec, Martin Askem and RamelJasirProject 365 by Tamara Linse

Day 6. Tamara Lindsay

YAREAHMagazine

Literature

.- Why ‘Imagination’?

Martin Cid.- Issue 20 was a joy-

ful issue … tender, I would say. As you

know, Yareah always related a classical

author with an artist and in the issue

20, they were Mark Twain and Murillo

(the painter of childhood). We wanted

to be tender to contrast with the cold

year of crisis which was ending. Now,

in issue 21, we want to be beyond, to

the world of imagination where all is

possible, even the happiness.

Q.- ‘Wonderland’?

Martin Cid.- Yes, ‘Alice in Wonder-

land’… Lewis Carroll is going to be the

classical author and

Charles Courtney

Curran the artist. We

want positive ideas.

We need a positive

thinking to over-

come the ugly 2011.

The current author

and artist Allen

Tager bets by an

‘Open Intuition’ to

solve unemployment

problem… me too.

Q.- Therefore, is it

going to be a naïve

issue?

M a r t i n

Cid.- Well,

it depends

on your

idea of

N a ï v e .

Naïve is so-

metimes deeper than we think

since it is full of metaphors

which need a moment of re-

flection. Lewis Carroll is a

deep author, he can be enter-

tained on a superficial reading,

but like all great author, he has

many levels of understanding

and at the end, he is studying

the human soul… A hard

topic because it addresses the

essential questions of our

existence.

Q.- And how about current

authors?

Martin Cid.- Well, Peter Akinwumi, a

fresh artist from Nigeria is going to co-

llaborate too, and Erla Axels from Ice-

land and the romantic Elena Malec,

the strong Ramel Jasir or the imagina-

tive Martin Askem. As always, we

would like an international point of

view. The pdf is only a summary for

the month. One month, I repeat, which

has focused on giving hope and exal-

ting imagination. Remember, ‘yareah’

means Moon and from the brilliant

Moon, I wish a happy future.

Martin Cid, about this

issue by Michael J. Metcalf

Q

“Women” by Peter Akinwumi

“A Perfect Day” by Ramel Jasir

LiteratureYAREAHMagazine

he novel was publis-

hed in 1865 (more

than 150 years ago!)

but it remains valid because

it is full of universal fears.

The problem is not growing

but growing to do what

others want and never what

you would like it.

Majorities catch you, they are

supported by tradition, state

and (even) mass media: ‘boy,

you must earn money’, ‘girl,

you must behave as your

mother did’, ‘men and

women (above all) pay the

tasks and never protest’…

What could Alice do? Get-

ting into a hole to escape. It

was there and after trying to

change her body and mind,

shrinking and enlarging at the

pace of fashion, when her imagination

could prevail and to be, at the end, her

own Queen (more or less this is what

Arthur of Britain had said several cen-

turies before)… More or less is what all

of us wanted every morning, upon

awakening and before beginning the

imposed obligations.

‘If you want to write, to paint or wha-

tever other hobby, do in your free time’,

I have heart a thousand time. And I

have always thought ‘What free time? 8

hours of sensible work (no hobbies),

plus 3 of move (I live in a great city),

plus 4 of housework, plus 1 for me (at

least to have a shower!)… are 16. I

need the other 8 to sleep: therefore, my

free time is a lie (better not talking

about people with small children). I

don’t have free time! Another thing is

to try to convince cretins that Litera-

ture and Arts are not hobbies…

Yes, a bleak picture. Me, as Alice, have

entered several times in the hole, wai-

ting for not being seeing by people who

believes in TV and its slogans. Then,

and after some minutes, Imagination

started to fulfill with light and shapes

that darkness… and maybe it is a smi-

ling cat who appears or a blue butterfly,

or maybe it is the force of being your-

self which started to approach… to

shake hands.

Yareah magazine wants to embrace

imagination in this issue.

Imagination to Powerby Isabel del Rio

Social pressure can only be overcome with imagination. In my opinion,Social pressure can only be overcome with imagination. In my opinion,this is the message of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, a mesthis is the message of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, a mes --sage that Yareah magazine wants to spread in January, with the besage that Yareah magazine wants to spread in January, with the be --ginning of the year.ginning of the year.

T

Charles Courtney Curran “In theLuxembourg Garden”, 1869

Peter Akinwumi


orway is a strange

place. Rich and libe-

ral to outsiders, it is,

in reality, a conservative and

monopolistic society. Gay

marriage is legal, but the state

church does not recognize it.

The transportation and food-

supply network are each

owned, respectively, by one

(semi-private) company.

Some joke that it is the last

communist state in Europe.

Norwegians praise equality,

but haven't resolved income

distribution in a petrostate.

They are polite, but shy of

outsiders and foreigners.

They believe in an open so-

ciety with easily accessible

institutions, but are very pri-

vate people overwhelmed

with bureaucracy. They obey

authority. They are naïve chil-

dren when dealing with the world.

Active members of NATO and the

Atlantic alliance, their own government

and military institutions are unprotec-

ted and unforti-

fied. On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring

Breivik, a blond and blue-eyed Norwe-

gian, exploded a bomb in the center of

Oslo, devastating the main governmen-

tal building. He then drove to Utøya, an

island resort of the ruling political

party, dressed as a police officer, and

How Norway Fell through

the Looking Glassby Charles Kinney’ Bio

Photo: Utoya Island

N

“I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. ” “I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. ” ―― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

YAREAH Literature

massacred 77

children, teena-

gers and young

adults of the ru-

ling elite. They

were protected by

one guard.

Norway had fa-

llen through the

looking glass. A

country that was

on the periphery

of violence was

thrown into the

center of it, by

one of its own,

disguised as a po-

lice officer, whom

Norwegians have

been taught to

obey.

Even though the

world had been

changed and Nor-

wegians now speak of July 22 as their

own 9/11, even though it was much

more similar to Oklahoma City, no one

really questioned the government. The

lack of fortified buildings. The inepti-

tude of the police and military (who

are mainly white males) for arriving 90

minutes after the first reported shoo-

ting. How did Norway produce a white

Norwegian male, whose manifesto was

anti-Muslim, but pro-Jewish and pro-

gay?

The Norwegian media discussed males

who rescued people by crossing to the

island in their boats. It took the foreign

press, verified by the Guardian, the In-

dependent, and the New York Times,

to discover that Hege Dalen and Toril

Hansen, a Norwegian married lesbian

couple camping across from the island,

raced back and forth in their boat four

times while being shot at and rescued

up to 40 people. An unselfish act, but

these were not men, and they definitely

were not heterosexual. It was not even

mentioned in Norway.

Norwegians are different people now.

The nightly news in Norway has grown

darker. Rapes in Oslo. Stabbings on the

subway. Parents killing their children.

The world is not what it was. A nation

that has gotten very rich in

roughly one generation but

has not begun to question its

role, its future, or its society

and institutions, which, con-

trary to what is the percep-

tion in Norway, are still

clearly slanted toward a cer-

tain part of the populace.

Norway went down the rab-

bit hole, but has not woken

yet.

Lesbian couple deserve their place in

Norway's heroic narrative: Roz Kave-

ney: Hege Dalen and Toril Hansen

saved 40 youngsters from the Utøya

massacre, so why have we hardly heard

about them?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commen-

tisfree/2011/aug/03/lesbian-couple-

norway-utoya-massacre

“The steins on the glass” by Martin Askem

Magazine

Charles Kinney, Jr. is married to aNorwegian, actively involved in theUnited States, and is currentlybased in the Republic of Georgia.He has written for publications inGreenland, Denmark, Norway, theUnited States and the UnitedKingdom. He has taught and lec-tured at universities and educatio-nal institutions around the world.He is currently on a two-year tea-cher-training assignment with the US State Departmentto the Republic of Georgia.

Charles Kinney Jr

Charles Kinney Jr

http://www.charles-kinney.blogspot.com


e flatly rejected the Calvinist

principle of original sin and he

replaced it with the notion of innate di-

vinity”, that is the opinion of Morton

Cohen, the principal biographer of

Lewis Carroll, about the author. Then,

a man who was a priest, son of an An-

glican priest and grandson of more

priests, he arrives to admire the beauty

of human body as the reflection of

moral perfection, as they did the

Roman humanists of the Renaissance.

As every well-read gentleman in the

19th century, he attended awful boar-

ding schools, where he was unhappy,

and he studied in Oxford, in Christ

Church college, where he will be a tea-

cher of mathematics the rest of his life.

Repression, coldness and strict rules

were his daily bread, the life of a dea-

con. However, he found outlets for his

imagination. He loved theater and he

was an amateur photographer influen-

ced by his friend Reginald Southey and

Oscar Gustav Rejlander, a great artist

from Sweden, pioneer of photography.

Lewis Carroll took more than 3000

photos and most had been destroyed

by immoral. Afterwards, and thanks to

Bloomsbury Circle and intellectuals as

Virginia Woolf, he has been considered

the most important photographer of

the Victorian era.

His mind was restless and when he

mastered this art, he abandoned it, but

never his

boundless

imagina-

tion. His

first lite-

rary fo-

rays were

in jour-

n a l s :

p o e m s

and sto-

ries, all

very hu-

m o r o u s.

But in

1856, he

knew the

family of

Henry Li-

dell, a

new dean

who has 3

daughters,

L o r i n a ,

Alice and

Edith. It

was in a

picnic with them, in 1862, when he de-

vised the plot (‘Alice's Adventures

under Ground’); afterwards, ‘Alice in

Wonderland’. Late in 1871, a sequel –

‘Through the Looking-Glass and What

Alice Found There’ – was published.

Other works are ‘The Hunting of the

Snark” and the two-volume novel

‘ S y l v i e

and Bruno’ which achieved nowhere

near the success of the Alice books.

He also wrote math books, the most

known is ‘An Elementary Theory of

Determinants’.

Definetely, an author of many faces,

across many ‘looking-glasses’.

Lewis Carroll (1832-

1898) by Ignacio Zara

An author of many looking-glassesAn author of many looking-glasses

H

This photo was taken by Lewis Carroll

YAREAHMagazine

e’ve pretended to lose the keys

to that world of rabbits and

chess, that world that contains

all worlds and all words, that Tower of

Babel plenty of toys and nightmares,

plenty of gifts, plenty of gods and de-

vils… but you have still those keys and

you remember it every night, when the

prisoner child tries to scape to the jail

of reality and logic, the jail of works,

the jail of forgotten feelings…, jail of

tears and cold sweats, jail of calmed fo-

olish, jail of economy, risk and hate, jail

of the fake human destiny, jail for the

last of the humans, last human choice

of the first chosen one.

Imagination is the road to humanity

and the path to the most disrespectful

of freedoms. Imagination for creating

the book of silence

Imagination to burn the secret of times

Imagination to suicide and reborn

Imagination to think and to die, to lie

and to dream.

Imagination is the jail of conscience,

the secret treasure hidden inside a

never thought dream. Might you be-

lieve a never delivered lie? Might you

believe into the deepest secret of foo-

lish? We might, I can.

Someday, imagination turned one's

back on me. Why you left me? Imagi-

nation is the

c a p r i c i o u s

lady who can

change her

mind like that

the forgotten

lover has

changed the

lipstick. Ima-

gination is the

craziness of

that fool who

believe some-

thing can

change in this

insane world.

Imagination

is the criminal

who prays for

life, who

prays for free-

dom, who

prays for

death.

Playing the stuffy game of life, I found

her cruelest secret escaping fast from

my mind. In this dream, I tried to

caught the secret, I tried to grab it as

strong as I can remember when I as-

leep. No luck for the dreamer, no luck

for the lover, no luck for the fantasy

subject of the book of disasters. I for-

got

the secret or the secret forgot me and

I asked to myself: Where is the confi-

dence floating? I received a true ans-

wer, the only answer I was never been

prepared, the inner answer, the stupid

answer of the conscious.

I forgot it.

Imagination or Die

Literature

by Martin Cid

Remember the childhood, remember that waste long filed. We both areRemember the childhood, remember that waste long filed. We both arethere; we both are lost in foreign waste words of future and borrowedthere; we both are lost in foreign waste words of future and borroweddreams. You will forget this land soon; you will forget these dreamsdreams. You will forget this land soon; you will forget these dreamsas soon as you buy the years of the maturity with the coins of memoryas soon as you buy the years of the maturity with the coins of memoryand hate.and hate.

W

“Bipolar”, by Martin Askem


he White Rabbit. Everybody has

two interior guides. The white

rabbit is the shy guide.

The Cheshire Cat. It is the second

guide: Alice’ logical thoughts (which

appear and disappear like a rebel cat).

The Mad Hatter and the March Hare.

They constantly frustrate Alice. Their

obsession by the tea-time is represen-

ting the time, this ugly variable that no-

body can control; less Alice, who is

quickly growing. Soon, she will be an

adult person, surrounded by strict rules

that now she is trying to avoid.

The Dormouse. It is the companion of

the previous two. It appears when time

stops (but time only apparently stops).

The Caterpillar. Smoking and loitering,

he represents the pleasures of life.

The Gryphon. It’s Alice’ strength

The Mock Turtle. It’s her weakness.

The Knave of Hearts. Accused of ste-

eling, it’s her guilt complex.

The Mouse. It’s the first creature that

Alice knows in Wonderland. It’s her in-

tuition.

The Dodo. It’s her creativity. In the tale,

he shows it

by inventing

words.

The Pigeon.

A Wonder-

land crea-

ture who

b e l i e v e s

Alice is a

s e r p e n t .

Therefore,

it is her con-

fusion.

Bill. A li-

zard… her

stupidity.

The Frog-

Fo o t m a n .

The Du-

chess’s foot-

man: ergo,

the submis-

sion.

A very me-

t a p h o r i c

world: Won-

derland.

The meaning of ani-

mals in Alice in Won-

derland by John Glass

T

A lot of strange animals are living in the interior of Wonderland. WonA lot of strange animals are living in the interior of Wonderland. Won --derland is Alice’s mind and every of them is representing one of herderland is Alice’s mind and every of them is representing one of herpersonal aitudes. When Alice will be able to control them, she will bepersonal aitudes. When Alice will be able to control them, she will bea responsible person, able to face the adult world.a responsible person, able to face the adult world.

A Child’s Song. Ramel Jasir

YAREAHMagazine

9ll around arose a thousand noi-

ses,

yet still so filled with silences

that the ear seemed attuned

to the song of its innocence.

All things alive and self-absorbed,

the neighbourhood was a mirror

in which creation moved,

entranced, toward fulfilment.

The palm trees, finding a form

in which to sway with pure delight,

summoned distant birds

to show them their leafwork.

A white horse encountered Man

advancing quietly, while the Earth

revolved around him, inspiring

his astrological heart.

The horse twitched its nostrils

and whinnied as if in flight.

Lost in its dream time

the creature galloped away.

On streets where chil-

dren

and women seemed

adrift like clouds,

they came together to

find their soul,

moving from shadows

to light.

A thousand roosters

crowed,

mapping out the lands-

cape,

the ocean waves hesi-

tant

between twenty land-

falls.

The hour so rich in

oarsmen

and phosphorescent mer-

maids,

the stars overlooked their images

in those speaking waters.

Jules Supervielle

Literature

The Morning of the World

Jules Supervielle (1884–1960). His life was divided between MonJules Supervielle (1884–1960). His life was divided between Mon --tevideo, where he was born, and Paris, where he was educated. His timetevideo, where he was born, and Paris, where he was educated. His timewas the avant-garde time but his South American was the avant-garde time but his South American background influencedbackground influencedhim and his works rejected the Surrealism to focus on majestic subjects treated withhim and his works rejected the Surrealism to focus on majestic subjects treated witheveryday simplicity. Among his novels: L'Homme de la Pampa (1923) and Le Survivanteveryday simplicity. Among his novels: L'Homme de la Pampa (1923) and Le Survivant(1928). Short stories: L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (1931) and Le Petit Bos (1942). Plays:(1928). Short stories: L'Enfant de la Haute Mer (1931) and Le Petit Bos (1942). Plays:Bolivar (1936). And volumes of poetry including Poèmes de la France malheureuseBolivar (1936). And volumes of poetry including Poèmes de la France malheureuse(1941).(1941).

A

after Jules Supervielleafter Jules Supervielle

Translated by David CookeTranslated by David Cooke


is weary gaze has slipped so often

through these bars it now takes nothing in.

For him it’s as if there were a thousand bars,

and then beyond them no other sphere.

The muscular rhythm of his stride

that shrinks in ever-decreasing circles

is like some vacant dance of power

whose wilful energies subside.

At times his shuttered eyes flick open

to let an image in, his sinews tight,

as recognition stirs, then ceases,

in his heart’s exhausted chambers.

Rilke, a poet to

emerge from the crisis

H

Yesterday, yareah magazine knew David Cooke’s work. He is a poet, aYesterday, yareah magazine knew David Cooke’s work. He is a poet, areviewer and a translator. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) has beenreviewer and a translator. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) has beenone of his favorite poetsone of his favorite poets and he has done a great job translating this excellentand he has done a great job translating this excellentCzech author. Translating a poem is not rewrien it in another language? Yes, that is whyCzech author. Translating a poem is not rewrien it in another language? Yes, that is whyonly a poet can successful translate other.only a poet can successful translate other.Yareah magazine, fed up with 2011, wishes a great 2012. Maybe is good to start with aYareah magazine, fed up with 2011, wishes a great 2012. Maybe is good to start with asmart poet as Rilke, maybe him can hide so many horrible economic data and his versessmart poet as Rilke, maybe him can hide so many horrible economic data and his verses(like the movements of a swan, like the walking of a panther) to raise us to other worlds:(like the movements of a swan, like the walking of a panther) to raise us to other worlds:those of the imagination.those of the imagination.

The Panther

Translated by David CookeTranslated by David Cooke

Feather and bone revisited. By Eleanor Bennett

YAREAHMagazine

Literature

aking our way laboriously through lists

of things to do, complexities that ensnare us,

we are like the shambling swan –

until, dying, we lose all purchase

on terra firma, slipping away like the swan,

as he settles, at first uncertainly,

into the water that buoys him,

and flows on blithely in endless ripples,

while he, so still and self-assured

in the achievement

of majesty, deigns to drift,

untrammelled, where the current takes him.

M

The SwanTranslated by David CookeTranslated by David Cooke

David Cooke won a Gregory Awardin 1977 and published Brueghel’sDancers in 1984. He stopped wri-ting for twenty years. A retrospec-tive collection, In the Distance, waspublished this year and has beenwarmly received. A new collection,Work Horses, will be forthcomingin 2012. His poems and reviewsand translations have been accep-ted widely in journals such asAgenda, The Bow Wow Shop, Critical Quarterly, TheFrench Literary Review, The Interpreter's House, Irish Press,The London Magazine, The North, Orbis, Poetry IrelandReview, Poetry London, Poetry Salzburg Review, The Rea-der, The SHOp, Stand, The Use of English.

David Cooke

David Cookehttp://www.face-

book.com/davidco-okepoet

Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 15 yearold photographer and artist whohas won contests with National Ge-ographic,The Woodland Trust, TheWorld Photography Organisation,Winstons Wish, Papworth Trust,Mencap, Big Issue, Wrexhamscience , Fennel and Fern and Na-ture’s Best Photography.

Eleanor Bennett

Eleanor Bennett

http://eleanorleon-nebennett.zenfolio.c

om/

Calling. By Eleanor Bennett

The demon. By Eleanor Bennett

AARRTTSSYAREAHMagazine

He was born in Hartford (Ken-

tucky) but he moved to Ohio

with 20 studying in Cincinnati, in

the School of Design. There, his tea-

chers encouraged him to go to New

York entering in the Art Students Lea-

gue and in the National Academy of

Design. Again his calcifications were

fantastic and he could go to Paris, the

center of art at that time.

In Paris, he was student of Benjamin

Constant (remember his exotic the-

mes), Jules-Joseph Lefebvre (remember

his exotic beautiful women) and Henri

Lucien Doucet (same exotic, nice at-

mosphere), friendly painters who never

suffered from critics as the contempo-

rary post-impressionist or avant-garde

artists did. He got along with these suc-

cessful painters and with the rich so-

ciety: different mentions of honor in

the Salon of French artists and in the

Universal Exposition in 1900.

His technique his precious and nobody

like him knows how to capture the be-

auty of flowers and landscapes and the

contrasts of shadows and lights, almost

enlightened, near the Spanish Sorolla.

Back in New York, he set up in Crags-

moor and wrote very many interesting

articles about art in the magazine Pa-

lette and Brush with his wife, Grace.

There, together with other artists (Ed-

ward Lamson Henry, Eliza Pratt Grea-

tores, John George Brown, William

Holbrook Beard,

Helen Turner,

Austa Sturdevant,

George Inness Jr.,

and Frederick De-

llen Baught) he

founded a colony

of working, where

they lived in har-

mony and painted

the beauty of the

scenery.

He was elected to

membership of the

National Academy

of Design in 1904

and was also a

member of the

Macdowell Club,

the Allied Artists

Association, the

New York Waterco-

lour Club, the Ame-

rican Watercolour

Society and the Na-

tional Arts Club.

A painter of suc-

cess, a childish

painter, but the world

of a child, sometimes is enigmatic and

metaphoric, very suitable for visual arts.

This month, Yareah magazine is going

to compare the plastic works by Char-

les Courtney Curran with the written

works by

Lewis Carroll, both ‘childish’ but both

enigmatic and full of secret meanings.

Read also:

http://yareah.com/?p=763

Charles Courtney Curran

(1861-1942)He is a ‘childish’ painter. Not because he paints nice girls in nice places but because hisHe is a ‘childish’ painter. Not because he paints nice girls in nice places but because hissoul was full of naïf thoughts, unable to imagine the ugliness of the life; oblivious to pain,soul was full of naïf thoughts, unable to imagine the ugliness of the life; oblivious to pain,disease or death.disease or death.

T

by ISartosa

Charles Courtney Curran “In theLuxembourg Garden”, 1869

YAREAHMagazine AARRTTSS

But Eurynome give them much more since

she was close friend of Hephaestus, god of

fire, as she was the only one who had helped him

in his sufferings (he had been send to hell a cause

of his ugliness). Then, her daughters not only could

transmit their jolliness to everybody around their

aquatic influenced but they gave the strength to

keep on dancing and singing from days: Aglaia,

Euphrosyne and Thalia were essential in every ce-

lebration, even in Olympus agapes.

Half-naked and disheveled by joy, they have been

represented dancing and enjoying from ancient

times: Botticelli painted three slim smart young

women; Rubens, three fat sensual ladies; Courtney

Curran saw them as spiritual beings (nothing to do

with the appetites of the flesh).

Apollo, god of Arts; Mercury, god of winds; and

Dionysus, god of wine (therefore, of the earth)

gave them their favors too and then, the Three Gra-

ces controlled all the elements (earth, water, air, fire

and ether (art)).

All around them was happy and still today, we ad-

mire them for this… but, remember, their mother

took pity on the ugliness too… Who was actually

their mother? Maybe the White Goddess? Maybe the

Mother Nature?

** Everybody in every time has represented the Tripartite

Goddess. Not only the Western tradition but in Asia,

Africa… see examples.

* *

Other article about Charles Courtney Curran:

http://yareah.com/?p=786

The Three Graces: take

pity on the uglinessAglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. They were daughters of Zeus and the nymph Eurynome.Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. They were daughters of Zeus and the nymph Eurynome.Eurynome lived in the oceans and it is possible that she was a siren (sometimes, she wasEurynome lived in the oceans and it is possible that she was a siren (sometimes, she wasrepresented with a fishtail) and her daughters inherit her aquatic grace to dance as waves,represented with a fishtail) and her daughters inherit her aquatic grace to dance as waves,in that subtle way which only goddesses can do. in that subtle way which only goddesses can do.

T

Erla Axels


nyway, I have never been angry with

this question (repeated year after year,

month after month) because I think if

you live a subject with passion, you finish as

a football fan. ‘Well, Velázquez is incredible,

the best technique a painter can achieve but

I prefer Goya,’ I usually answer. ‘Both of

them are very creative, don’t misunderstand

me, but Goya painted with guts, unable to

be politically correct, always his true soul is

on the canvas?’

Yes, it is not easy to put so much passion in

a work, a part of yourself is delivery to the

viewer for nothing, only for a moment of

understanding which doesn’t always happen.

It is better to be Velázquez, if people don’t

understand him, at least they remain open-

mouthed shouting: ‘What difficult! How he

could paint it!’

Yes, my admiration always will be for pain-

ters with guts: Martin Askem is one of

them. He is not painting portraits of pretty

faces, he is painting the many faces of a per-

son: in the end, his face. Pleasure, pain, an-

xiety, excitement, disappointment, courage,

anger emanate from some beings who min-

gle with their peers in the confusion which

is our world, our life. Sometimes, it is a

world in black and white, but when the

color explodes we see again the explosion of

a passion which goes beyond the picture frame,

which splashes and catches us.

Yes, it is impossible to be indifferent in front of Martin As-

kem’s works. One thousand and one opinions can be done

because everyone will speak about its soul…, normal reac-

tion

to the questions which are emerging of his paintings.

And you, who do you prefer: Velázquez or Goya?

See more: Martin Askem, 'The Saviour of Modern Art'

www.martinaskem.com

Artists with guts and Soul:

Martin AskemI have been teaching art history from years. ‘Who do you prefer: Velázquez or Goya?’ MyI have been teaching art history from years. ‘Who do you prefer: Velázquez or Goya?’ Mystudents used to ask me as if we were speaking about football teams. students used to ask me as if we were speaking about football teams.

A

by Isabel del Rio

The Legend of john Merrick.Martin Askem


The Night Croydon Fell . MartinAskem

Alcoholic Father. Martin Askem

Hypnosis Martin Askem

The Perverse Beauty of MaryMagdalene. Martin Askem


f course, I

take many

more photos than I

post, many shots

of the same things,

and I’m looking for

very specific things,

which I’ll discuss in

relation to the pho-

tos. Then I use

Photoshop to crop

and enhance. My

goal is to maintain

the natural co-

lors—not to use di-

gital enhancement

to force the image

into the surreal—

but I also push

them a bit, trying to

get closer to my

perception than to

what the camera

simply captured. In

cropping I’m looking for a certain compositional balance

and an intensity and singularity of focus, and I may blur the

background a bit to sharpen it.

I’ve also realized, there are some photos that cannot be

taken, that cannot capture the lived experience. The moon

over the horizon, for example. To get the image to mirror

experience, you have to do serious things in Photoshop with

the size of the moon and the balance of light. A photo of

standing atop a mountain peak will always be dull and never

capture the feeling of vast space and distance.

Above all, I’m trying to get the viewer to see the beautiful

world all around us, to focus on things, and I do not take

that viewer’s attention for granted. It is imperative that the

photo be interesting or aesthetically pleasing in some way.

I’m asking for the viewer’s time and attention, and I really

try to make the experience worth it.

Project 365

This year, I am posting a photo a day on Google+, Facebook, and my blog, which I’m callingThis year, I am posting a photo a day on Google+, Facebook, and my blog, which I’m callingProject 365. It’s inspired by my friend, the artist and writer Pierre Hauser, who is on hisProject 365. It’s inspired by my friend, the artist and writer Pierre Hauser, who is on histhird year of a similar project based in New York City, which he posts to his Facebook page.third year of a similar project based in New York City, which he posts to his Facebook page.

O

by Tamara Linse

Day 3. Tamara Lindsay.


Peter Akinwumi, just on

the other side

‘Entangled’, this is my favorite Peter Akinwumi’s‘Entangled’, this is my favorite Peter Akinwumi’swork. Sometimes, society or destination surpasswork. Sometimes, society or destination surpassus. We are an empty mask surrounded but otherus. We are an empty mask surrounded but otheryellow (envy?), red (anger?) or brown (selfisyellow (envy?), red (anger?) or brown (selfis --hness?) masks. We don’t understand anythinghness?) masks. We don’t understand anythingwhile spiders weave their network. We walk withwhile spiders weave their network. We walk withclose eyes and nobody can help us… close eyes and nobody can help us… Perhaps onlyPerhaps onlythe viewer because he/she is just on the other side, awaythe viewer because he/she is just on the other side, awayfrom the web.from the web.

Isadora SartosaIsadora Sartosa

It is peculiar to be Sagiarius, a fire horoscope.It is peculiar to be Sagiarius, a fire horoscope.All of my life, I have been in love with fire and I canAll of my life, I have been in love with fire and I canspend hours looking its strange shapes, shadowsspend hours looking its strange shapes, shadowsand colors. For other people, fire is a synonym ofand colors. For other people, fire is a synonym ofdestruction, I also know its devastating consedestruction, I also know its devastating conse --

q u e nq u e n --ces, but the ashes areces, but the ashes arealways to remember thealways to remember thepast and to pay forpast and to pay forthings to come.things to come.‘Freedom’ it the title of one‘Freedom’ it the title of oneof Peter Akinwumi’ works. Itof Peter Akinwumi’ works. Ithas impressed me and forhas impressed me and forme, his freedom is fire. The lime, his freedom is fire. The li --berty of building a new worldberty of building a new worldwithout forgeing ourwithout forgeing ourroots.roots.

Isabel del RioIsabel del Rio

Peter Akinwumi

Peter Akinwumi

Peter AkinwuPeter Akinwu --mi’s works aremi’s works aresmart. Puresmart. Purelines, stylizedlines, stylizedfigures, tofigures, to --tems of singutems of singu --lar force. He islar force. He isfrom Nigeriafrom Nigeriaand all the exand all the ex --pressi venesspressi venessof African Artof African Artis present inis present inhis colorfulhis colorfulsets of peoplesets of peopleworking, loworking, lo --ving, traveving, trave --lling… In short, living.lling… In short, living.His works are bright, he has an optimistic view and creates worlds which invite us to enter and live there.His works are bright, he has an optimistic view and creates worlds which invite us to enter and live there.

John GlassJohn Glass


Entangled. Peter Akinwumi

In my opinion, rhythm isIn my opinion, rhythm isthe word which definesthe word which definesPeter Akinwumi’s works.Peter Akinwumi’s works.They are a wonderful danceThey are a wonderful danceof colors and shapes, all ofof colors and shapes, all ofthem in proportion and inthem in proportion and inrelationship with the warmrelationship with the warmatmosphere created by aatmosphere created by acombination of abstractcombination of abstractand real forms.and real forms.You can not go fast in front ofYou can not go fast in front ofhis works, they are full of hidhis works, they are full of hid --den meanings. den meanings.

IzaraIzaraSecrets. Peter Akinwumi

Peter Akinwumi is the exponent ofthe Dot-Beaten Metal concept. A vi-sual Artist with a difference. He pic-ked up a rare Art form, known asrepousse, modified common tech-niques and evolved rare and stun-ning representations, to thedelight of art lovers .

Peter Akinwumi

Peter Akinwumihttp://www.artslant.com/global/artists/sh

ow/42525-peter-akinwumi


Tribute to Women

Regardless of the race or class, women throughout human existence have always sacrifiRegardless of the race or class, women throughout human existence have always sacrifi --ced for their families unconditionally. Many women have sacrificed their lives and dignityced for their families unconditionally. Many women have sacrificed their lives and dignityso that their children could eat and so that their husbands could survive when faced withso that their children could eat and so that their husbands could survive when faced withdeath. death. There have been women who have picked up the sword, sticks, the gun and most importantly....There have been women who have picked up the sword, sticks, the gun and most importantly....the "pencil" to fight for their families and humanity. A nation canthe "pencil" to fight for their families and humanity. A nation canrise no higher than its women.... you are our first teachers...rise no higher than its women.... you are our first teachers...this one is for you!this one is for you!

Anacaona, acrylic /charcoal on canvasAnacaona, acrylic /charcoal on canvas16 x 30 201116 x 30 2011Anacaona is a painting Ramel JasirAnacaona is a painting Ramel Jasir

had wanted to create for some time.... it was his depiction of Anacaona, also called thehad wanted to create for some time.... it was his depiction of Anacaona, also called the"Golden Flower". She was a Taino cacica (chief ) of the island of Hispaniola when the Spa"Golden Flower". She was a Taino cacica (chief ) of the island of Hispaniola when the Spa --niards invaded in 1492. She was eventually executed by hanging after being accused ofniards invaded in 1492. She was eventually executed by hanging after being accused ofconspiracy. conspiracy.

Anacaona. Ramel Jasir

by Ramel Jasir

y your grace alone I stand here as a Man

Not just any Man but a Man who overstood your will

and chose to fulfill and not change one manifestation of your

design...

Without words you sent me signs on how to combine proper thought

& Mind

Transcending time, devoid of space to inhibit your Epiphany...

Resonating within me as soft tones in symphony...

spiritually lifting me because you know that I need you...

As I breath you remain my rock, my shelter

my reason for knowing and not just believing...

Feeding me from every angle of the square as I stare on in bliss

because this Man was chosen...

Although woven in steel my heart submits to reveal undaunted appre-

ciation that you alone

would love me, regardless of my insecurities your purity remains do-

minant

and supersedes all written history...

And the first story was about you and how man tried prove

his birthright amongst your congregation...

Foolishly wasting time trying to define and rename you...

You are....

my Mother...

A Man’s Song

B


Jewel of a Moment, acrylic on hardJewel of a Moment, acrylic on hardfoam/apoxy resin 10 x 12 2011foam/apoxy resin 10 x 12 2011A lot of children run hard lives. TheirA lot of children run hard lives. Theirmothers don’t have time to hug ormothers don’t have time to hug orkiss them. But sometimes, this haskiss them. But sometimes, this hashappened: ”Jewel of a Moment, Jewelhappened: ”Jewel of a Moment, Jewelfor Eternity’.for Eternity’.

Jewel of a Moment. Ramel Jasir

The Color of Love, acrylic on hard foam 16 x 22The Color of Love, acrylic on hard foam 16 x 2220112011

The Color of Love was the first painting in whichThe Color of Love was the first painting in whichRamel Jasir used his wife's image: ‘I often useRamel Jasir used his wife's image: ‘I often usepaerns using dots in my paintings in which Ipaerns using dots in my paintings in which Iwas inspired by my love for Aboriginal Art. I rewas inspired by my love for Aboriginal Art. I re --member when I created the painting the feelingmember when I created the painting the feelingof having a natural flow when it came to the coof having a natural flow when it came to the co --lors. I had no real plan in regards to the designlors. I had no real plan in regards to the designbut everything came prey naturally. I remembut everything came prey naturally. I remem --ber my wife saying how much she love the colorsber my wife saying how much she love the colorsand said "because it is the color of love".... sheand said "because it is the color of love".... shesmiled and it became the name of the painting.’smiled and it became the name of the painting.’

The Color of Love. Ramel Jasir


To me art is nothing but

pleasure‘To me art is nothing but pleasure’ Erla Axels said in the issue 5 of Yareah magazine and I‘To me art is nothing but pleasure’ Erla Axels said in the issue 5 of Yareah magazine and Iclaim today: Erla's paintings reflect the joy of living and the joy of living in this Earth. Theyclaim today: Erla's paintings reflect the joy of living and the joy of living in this Earth. Theyare part of nature and its basic eleare part of nature and its basic ele --ments. Earth, air, water and fire, whatments. Earth, air, water and fire, whatelse?else?

by Isabel del Rio

rla is from Iceland, a paradise of reflections, yet

sparsely populated, where Mother Earth still spe-

aks in blue whispers, maybe green.

Do you know that centuries ago a geographer was con-

fused and changed the names of Greenland and Ice-

land. Yes Iceland is green and brown, full of stones

with copper spots.

Strong constructions that no human

has done, they arise from the blue background of Erla.

Strong, powerful, fruit of a safe world, of an optimistic

mind and of a refined technique.

I like the abstract because it allows you to dream, to

see beyond the media and to delve into another world

where everything is possible because imagination is

free.

Abstract, Erla, Nature. They are ingredients of some

paintings which invite to a smiling dream.

**See Erla Axels’ gallery at the Main Page.

E

Erla Axels

Erla Axels


Erla Axels was born in Reykjavik,Iceland 1948. Erla studied art, atThe Reykjavik School of Visual Artand later at Skidmore College, Sa-ratoga Springs, N.Y. She has hadmany solo and joint exhibitions,held in Iceland, Norway, France,Canada, Sweden and USA. Erla es-tablished an art gallery workshop,Gallery Art-Hun, along with four other women. The gallerywas the first one if its kind in Iceland and ran for twelveyears. Around two years ago Erla built and established herown workshop gallery located just outside Reykjavik, Ice-land. From the panorama view of her workshop she ex-tracts endless power and myths from the nature whichappears in her works. Erla works with three kinds of ma-terial, pastel on paper, oil on canvas and mixed media,which is a technique she has been developing through theyears.

Erla Axels

Erla Axelshttp://www.erlaa-

xels.com

Erla Axels

Erla Axels

Tribute to the Flowers by

Elena MalecVery many classic authors and artists have honored the flowers: Robert Burns, Ann Taylor,Very many classic authors and artists have honored the flowers: Robert Burns, Ann Taylor,Sylvia Plath, Philip Levine… Now, Elena Malec wants to be added to thisSylvia Plath, Philip Levine… Now, Elena Malec wants to be added to thissmart list with her impressionistic soft pastelsmart list with her impressionistic soft pastelpaintings from imagination.paintings from imagination.She is welcome.She is welcome. Elena Malec was born in Bucharest,

Romania.A graduate from the University ofBucharest with a MA in modernlanguages, Elena pursued a careerin education and research.Without a formal training in artshe eventually followed her pas-sion for drawing, sketching, doingwatercolor at different ages. From 2008 Elena resumeddrawing and painting on a daily basis learning and stud-ying art on her own. Art is for Elena an expression of herfreedom of creating from imagination but also inspired bydaily subjects, still life, her travel photographs.Whether is charcoal, watercolor, pastels or colored pencilseach medium is approached by the artist in its unique spi-rit to convey serenity, beauty, joy of color and shape.Elena believes art is a realm of beauty and harmony andart’s mission is to inspire meditation, bliss, positive energy,peace.

Elena Malec

Elena Malec http://www.elena-

malec.blogspot.com

Elena Malec

Elena Malec

Elena Malec

issue 21

Documents

martin cid

imaginative martin askem

free time

wonderland lewis carroll

charles courtney currantribute

erla axels

great author

adeep author