In light of Sunil’s posts in which he displayed photos of a number of items about his household and, subsequently, led a discussion of Photoshop methods, I will add one of my own.
Each year we get a conifer and cover it with a grab bag of ornaments, many of them home made, which together form a gathering of memories and associations. Throw in some beads and wheat bulbs and we have something that, while something of a jumble, is just fine for us.
This year I have tried taking some shots of the tree for further manipulation. The re-shaping has been modestly tonal and chromatic, with an occasional wave of the magic wand. As has so often been mentioned in this blog, continuing to focus on a motif can and will lead to new visions. I have always accepted our trees as apparitions of an inside-out nature, glowing from within as they present various surface effects – all merry and light. This year the tree has been lurking at me, perhaps the result of some of my recent reading and viewing. I have approached the images in this mood.
In this more generalized view we find themes including the carnal and the carnivorous.
Trees of this sort go back to times when anxiety about forest dangers were rife. The act of adorning may have symbolized a taming of the primeval.
The ornaments float on darkness. As happened with the waterfalls, I may have introduced a little personal template into these images.
Did you put up a tree?
Jay,
Christmas tree ornaments! What a grand subject for exploration, particularly as they can be muckled about with Photoshop.
In some weird way, I’m reminded of Pollock — the lack of focus, the way the eye jumps around from bit to bit, seeking order but finding crusts of memory and desire instead. The tree only takes shape if you don’t look at its individual parts. As soon as you do that, the seduction of meaning overcomes any sense of cohesion.
Wow. You may be onto something here. And I’m not sure I quite “like” what it is — the carnal, the carnivorous, and the mortal.
Jay,
Merry Christmas. Yes, we do put up a Christmas tree every year – guess it is the warmth that the light unconsciously offers us – not too sure…
Although I must say some of the garish decorations around lawns in NJ have me quite shocked… I wrote a little piece on them here… http://simplisticart.blogspot.com/2007/12/our-variegated-lawns.html
I liked the decoration up at your home – as usual, the artist in you never fails to turn up.
June:
As the years go by a desire for memory suffices. And, yes, the integration of these ornaments is mostly through the lens and program as they tend to be hung wherever possible. Too, the ornaments, as shown, with the exception of the balls, are often fragmentary as they face various ways. I take your “seduction of meaning” comment in a Heisenbergian sense, to mean that the compositional aspects bear a negative relationship to any perceived meaningfulness. As I see it, the ornaments are so empty of anything but personal meaning that they are mostly form per se and comfortably take their places as components. That said, I see these images as placeholders of a sort, awaiting further developments.
Jay,
We have a tree, decorated like yours with all manner of memory-laden items. I mostly put them on randomly with only a general attempt at balance. But thinking about it, thanks to your provocation, I can see I’ve quite missed a chance at artistic expression. Perhaps next year I’ll consider the trimming as a practice of 3-D collage referencing personal timelines and privileging Freudian themes.
Troels says, it is a real fantasy world like in a winter forest in Northern Sweden. It is really special.
Jay,
You are a ‘face man’. I love your masks.
In the mid eighties, Nina and I collected painted wooden toys sold as Christmas decoration. This year, Troels and I are in Germany.
Sunil:
Boy, ain’t that a fact! And the stuff is the same everywhere. All that you mentioned can be found in a short drive down Meadowbrook. And those flaccid effigies look like they’ve been chewed on by Deflater Mouse. But the tradition of lighting seems to be on the wane. One could see, some years ago, displays covering acres and visible from Mars. One reason for their demise were the resulting carbon footprints that blackened the snow for blocks around.
Steve:
Practice, reference and privilege, oh my. Have to go figure how these terms will relate to me. Speaking of Freudian, there are portions of the tree that can cause my camera to blush – nothing that can’t be corrected later in Photoshop.
Birgit:
Troels sees what I see. Our tree isn’t just a little island of cozy in the house, but a gibbet of a wild exposure, cut off at the stump and shackled into place.
Denzel Washington was deemed a “race man” in the papers today. Now I guess that I’m a “face man” as well. Some of this year’s decorations were purchased in Akron from some folks come over from Cremnitz (spelling?). And we of German derivation can be superstitious. Witchcraft is still practiced in the mountains of Pa. Folks can slide under closed doors and cast spells, etc.