Brainstorm Images: Life-Death, Heaven-Hell

Ron- here are my images for the Brainstorm project.  I have done further research and thinking and I plan to narrow it down to Life- Death. Focusing on imagery associated with the two words and contradictions and ambigiuosity that goes along with the words.  Below is my original idea and even though I have narrowed down and reshaped this idea I think it is still relavent.

We live and we die, maybe we go to heaven or maybe we go to hell.  For the fortunates life is heaven- and death is usually a hellish experience for them because they love their life so much.  For the unfortunates life is hell- and death is heaven, or a liberating experience.  In my last project I touched metaphorically on how humans can make heaven out of hell or hell out of heaven, this is another relation of these words that is intriguing to me.  I think stuff like this is amazing and very relative to life throughout history and myth.  I also am fascinated with exploring the the complex emotions that go along with these words.  All together I would like to work with imagery, emotions, metaphors, and relationships of form to convey life-death heaven- hell and how all the words intertwine.  

Jayne Hinds Bidaut:  Turtle skeleton

I was originally drawn to this image because I saw the description first and it said Bidaut used photogram tintypes and I thought that was awesome.  The form is very recognizable and the claws are a visual confirmation that it is dead.  But the context which it is displayed in is interesting because it looks very organic like water.  And the gesture of the turtle mimics swimming.  This photogram conveys the line between life and death and how it can be fooled with in photography,

Mark Osterman: Lathe

I think this image is the strongest metaphor for time I have ever seen.  And time goes hand in hand with life and death.

Duane Michals: The dream of Flowers

Without the title I would have associated this image with death- and I still kind of do because of the surface the figure is resting on.  Who sleeps on a hard surface like that?  Either way the flowers that are fully bloomed definitely convey life and beauty .

Joel Peter Witkin: Corpus Medius

In this image Witkin objectifies death.  Direclty out on a table for us to see and relate to- the lower half of an average adult male.  Clearly about death and the brutality and gore associated with it.  However something about the lighting, the cloth and composition seems classical or related to the renaissance.  This to me makes me reflect on past life and how artists devoted their lives to studying the not always complete figure in the renaissance and other movements proir to and after.

Francesca Woodman: Untitled

Francesca Woodman’s work is dark, surreal, and sexual.  This image is dark and surreal, but not sexual.  It screams hell and feelings of being trapped through motion and the chaos of the composition.  But not hell in the sense of Dante’s Inferno- more like Hell on earth.  The setting is clearly a room, the glass enclosing is recognizable, and the form is clearly human.  This figures life has become hell.

Michael Flomen: Photogram 

Regardless of how dark and mysterious Flomen’s images are, he is an artist purely concerned with the life of nature.  He lets elements of nature take control of his composition to a certain point, like in this image.  A lightning bug is the light source walking over dirt- and although it is not recognizably a lightning bug it’s energy is clearly conveyed.  I admire Flomen for his ability to abstract something completely but still keep it’s essence and life in the image.  This image and all of Flomen’s images touch on life- but in a much different way than average nature photography.