Jester: Chewing the Scenery

Leave it to Mother Nature and photographer Jimmy ienner Jr. to draw out the brilliant oranges, bright yellows, golds, auburns, and flaming reds that add just the punch and pizzazz most leaf-peepers love.  The peak color intensity of a little mischief making Jester and this photographer's eye lasted throughout the fall season, proving that stepping out with a camera and a mask can be just as fun as donning one.  On good days, Jester will do most anything for a laugh--even rest comfortably on the tracks awaiting the next train!  Next stop, Greenwich Village!

 View more of Jimmy ienner Jr.'s photography and video work on his website: http://jiennerjr.com/

Stylist:  Michelle Martucci 

Headdresses

Manifesto

This (now very altered) Manifesto was originally written and then read aloud by Marina Abramovic' in front of an audience at the Smithsonian.  It was conceived of as a performance piece which would be recited by odd numbers of people all dressed in Lab coats.  She has invited anyone, anywhere to perform this piece.  I like her generosity very much and so have copied her Manifesto here and, in order to make it better reflect my own ideas, I've made many changes throughout (not highlighted) and added a couple of paragraphs (highlighted).  As time goes on, I will continue to alter it as I get more in touch with what I mean to say.  I'm grateful to Marina for laying a foundation for this thought provoking process. 

For me, there's a discomfiting aspect to this Manifesto as Marina has written it.  It has to do with her use of the word "should".  While I understand this is the nature of a manifesto, I feel it's important to begin by stating... 

The Artist's relation to "should"
An Artist should examine what ought to be.
"Should" is a subjective experience and should be arrived at after deep personal reflection.

An Artist's Code of Conduct
An Artist should not lie to herself or others.
An Artist should not steal ideas from another Artist.
An Artist should not compromise himself with regards to
the Art market.
An Artist should not kill another human being.
An Artist should not make himself into an idol.
An Artist should not make himself into an idol.
An Artist should not make himself into an idol.

An Artist's relation to her love life
An Artist should avoid falling in love with another artist.
An Artist should avoid falling in love with another artist.

An Artist's relation to the erotic
An Artist should take pleasure in the physical aspects of life.
An Artist should develop an erotic point of view on the world.
An Artist should be erotic.

An Artist's relation to suffering
An Artist suffers.
Suffering brings transformation.
Through suffering an Artist is urged to transcend the mundane.
Through suffering an Artist is urged to transcend the mundane.

An Artist's relation to depression
An Artist should not remain in depression.
Depression is a dis-ease and care must be taken to cure it.
An appeal to intuition must be made to find the path out of its paralyzing effects.
Depression is not productive for an artist.
Depression is not productive for an artist.

An Artist's relation to suicide
Suicide is a crime against life.
An Artist should not commit suicide.
An Artist should not commit suicide.
An Artist should not commit suicide.

An Artist's relation to inspiration
An Artist should look deep inside himself for inspiration.
The deeper she looks inside herself the more universal she becomes.
The Artist is Universe.
The Artist is Universe.
The Artist is Universe.

An Artist's relation to self control
The Artist should not have total self control about her life.
The Artist should have total self control about her work.
The Artist should not have total self control about her life.
The Artist should have total self control about her work.

An Artist's relation to the intellect
The Artist should remember that the intellect treats everything mechanically.
The intellect relies on immobility to form a clear idea.
Instinct, on the other hand, proceeds organically within movement.

An Artist's relation to transparency
The Artist gives and receives at the same time.
Transparency means to be receptive.
Transparency means to give.
Transparency means to receive.

An Artist's relation to symbols
An Artist creates his own symbols.
Symbols are an Artist's language.
The language must be translated.
Sometimes it's difficult to find the key.
Sometimes it's difficult to find the key.
Sometimes it's difficult to find the key.

An Artist's relation to silence
An Artist has to understand silence.
An Artist has to create a space for silence to enter her work.
Silence is like an iceberg in the middle of a turbulent ocean.
Silence is like an iceberg in the middle of a turbulent ocean.

An Artist's relation to solitude
An Artist must make time for long periods of solitude.
Solitude is extremely important.
Away from home.
Away from studio.
Away from family.
Away from friends.
An Artist should stay for long periods of time at the waterfalls.
An Artist should stay for long periods of time listening to the sounds of nature.
An Artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the fast running rivers.
An Artist should stay for long periods of time at looking at the horizon
where the ocean and the sky meet.
An Artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the night sky.
An Artist has many ways of becoming inspired.
An Artist has many ways of showing up for work.

An Artist's relation to work
An Artist should avoid going to the studio every day.
It is counter-productive to treat his schedule as a bank employee does.
An Artist works best when an idea comes to him in a dream or
during the day as a vision that arrives as a surprise.
An Artist should not over produce.
An Artist should avoid her own art pollution.
An Artist should avoid her own art pollution.
An Artist should avoid her own art pollution.

An Artist's possessions
A Buddhist Monk advised that it's best to have nine possessions in life--
One robe for the summer
One robe for the winter
One pair of shoes
One begging bowl for food
One mosquito net
One prayer book
One umbrella
One mat to sleep on and,
One pair of glasses if needed
An Artist should decide for himself what are the minimum personal possession 
that she should have.
An Artist should have more and more of less and less.
An Artist should have more and more of less and less.
An Artist should have more and more of less and less.

The list of Artist's friends
An Artist should have friends that take pleasure in spiritual travel.
An Artist should have friends that take pleasure in spiritual travel.  

The list of Artist's enemies
Enemies are very important.
The Dali Lama said, "It is easy to have compassion with friends but 
much more difficult to have compassion with enemies.
An Artist must learn to forgive.
An Artist must learn to forgive.
An Artist must learn to forgive.

Different death scenarios
An Artist has to be aware of his own mortality.
For an Artist it is not only important how he lives his life but also how he dies.
An Artist should look at the symbols of her work for the sign of different death scenarios.
An Artist should die consciously without fear.
An Artist should die consciously without fear.
An Artist should die consciously without fear.

Different funeral scenarios
An Artist should give instructions before the funeral so that
everything is done the way she wants it.
The funeral is the Artist's last art piece before leaving.
The funeral is the Artist's last art piece before leaving.
The funeral is the Artist's last art piece before leaving.

Here's to the masquerade.

Blair Glaser is a consultant, therapist and leadership mentor helping people excel on the twin journeys of loving and leading.  I enjoyed reading her latest blog post titled "Leading from the Outside-In:  Masks, Costumes and Other Tools of Leadership and Love" detailing some of the ways that props and costumes can help us to open up.  Enjoy reading what she has to say at http://blairglaser.com/blog/outside-in-leadership-and-love/

I'm also pleased that she chose one of my masks to accompany her writing.  Thank you Blair.

Eurhythmy

A few mornings back, a small amount of thick, tacky glue dripped onto my left hand, quickly dried and became a bead of rubber. The more I tried to rub it off, the larger and more impossible it became to remove. Pulling at it, tightness filled my chest as I imagined it spreading over my entire body and enclosing/separating me from everything I knew. This pulling went on for awhile until suddenly, to my surprise, the bulbous growth smoothed out to a thin layer and I saw my wrist, hand and fingers, sheathed in a thin, blue, polymer glove. Surprised and relieved, I pulled the glove off easily only to find that underneath was yet another glove and so on. Alarmed, I frantically peeled off each layer as fast as I could until, hit with a rush of adrenaline, I awoke.

I had this dream the morning after creating Eurhythmy, a mask inspired by research I've been doing into the significance of magnetic fields in the functioning of life. I was led to the study of magnetism through an exploration that began with crop circles and wound its way through ancient mythologies, vortex mathematics, free energy, and the kitchen sink. Literally, the improving of water quality achieved through spiraling motion.

And what, you may wonder, does all this have to do with my latest mask Eurhythmy?

Eurhythmy is a word meaning harmonious structure or rhythmic movement. Using intuitive sense to follow my studies where they lead, an awakening is gradually taking place. I'm beginning to understand and see things that were always present but have remained, until now, beyond my grasp.

For instance, in creating wearable masks, I have always felt limited design-wise by the need to locate eye openings. I treated the eye-holes as the hub around which the entire mask revolved. Eurhythmy is an expression of me shedding this preconceived idea. There are no eye-holes to speak of but also, there is no lack of vision. Space exists where I thought there was none. It thrills me to discover my way around the contradiction. The pattern for this mask resembles a long exposure photograph of stars circling our Northern pole star. As life and work are one, symmetry is found between my studies and the direction a particular mask takes.

Eurhythmy (leather, glass seed beads) - side view 1

Eurhythmy (leather, glass seed beads) - side view 2

Eurhythmy (leather, glass seed beads)- front view

The Lord of Wild Things

I love the experience of allowing a new mask to morph into existence. I'm taken on a fantastic journey which begins with my willingness to let go of preconceived ideas. My latest began with a simple idea...the merging of two leather circles of the same size into one mask. This starting point was sparked by my recent interest in the sacred geometry of crop circles. A crop circle is a large pattern created by the flattening of a crop such as wheat or rye. Over the last couple of months I've looked, with great interest, at dozens of images and am absolutely awestruck by the extraordinary complexity and precision of these formations. At least as remarkable as their beauty and execution is their unknown origin.

To give you an idea of scale, here is a picture taken of a field in Wiltshire, England 2010.

Having heard about crop circles in the past, I was genuinely intrigued. Though back then my reaction resembled what I felt when I heard stories about UFO sightings...amazement tempered by not knowing what to make of the various theories ranging from natural phenomena and man-made hoaxes, to the paranormal. The fact that no one could say for sure how they were made, or by whom or what, had the effect of devaluing the lesson they had to teach me. That is until recently. Timing is such a funny thing. Part of the magic of crop circles is that their power can only be fully accessed through a shift in one's awareness. It's precisely within that shift that a deeper understanding of oneself emerges.

This mask, Cernunnos (The Lord of Wild Things), began, morphed, and came into being as the crop circles whispered to me, "Abandon your expectations, nothing is as it seems." Here's to the power of shifting dimensions.

ps - click on the image for a larger view.

Let me tell you about JohnnyB...

A couple of years back JohnnyB asked me to make a mask for him. Not in the usual sense, JohnnyB wanted a mask dedicated to and called by his name. Somehow this request did not seem unusual coming from him. Though I don't know him well, he's the embodiment of dark whimsy and liking his boldness, I agreed with the condition that he must be patient. All of the masks in my collection arrive when they do and this would be no different. Since then he's asked me a couple of times about his mask and all I could offer was a somewhat bewildered apology wondering myself when would the time come. Recently, he wrote asking "Where is JohnnyB?" adding that if I needed a Muse he was available late, late at night over Gotham. With this he sent me a photograph of himself, white faced with a red heart and black spade painted one around each eye. He was winking and had his arm around a woman all dressed in polka dots. Well...sometimes I just need a little push! JohnnyB this mask is for you. It wears your name proudly and with great mischief is ready for whatever new adventure awaits. Gotham needs a hero with a face my friend. You're it.

Below is a left and right side view of JohnnyB. These images are of the same mask. JohnnyB is made up of two masks merged together and protruding forward creating the three dimensional shape of a spade. When not being worn this mask rests comfortably on a table top.

With minor alterations, I'll be adding JohnnyB to the Garden of Stories Collection (on my website) over the upcoming month.