Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Here’s another artwork that Alice Brozofsky brought to the Blue Line Studio’s April show. It’s called Exile, and it also sold.

I did talk to the artist about this piece, and she was appropriately vague. The main influence for the title is the two artificial toys in the foreground. She said she felt like they were exiles, removed from the rest of the painting.

Since she said that she sometimes likes to leave things up to the viewers’ interpretations (oh, artists), and since I do like stories and themes, here’s my take:

The Taj Mahal-like building is very mystical and dreamlike. With the blurring brushstrokes, we can’t see if it is on an island or if it’s floating, as if on smoke. It is surreally placed with the legs in the water.

As water turns to land, the shore rocks become these human forms that are only in proportion until the eye travels to the farm animals. Then, the shore rocks transform into mountains.

Along the way, we pass a bog or swamp that has mired certain figures. One figure appears to be struggling to crawl out.

Although more in the foreground, the farm animals remain blurry and dreamlike. We’re denied definable eyes, which would make the scene more real and serve as a connection point to these figures.

In contrast, the two toys are very detailed. Contrary to the other two pieces I posted, these hooded eyes and aloof demeanor make them very sinister indeed.

So if I look at it as a progression, I can move from the very spiritual past and the cleanness and freedom of the water into the heaviness, dirtiness of land, where there is a pastoral scene that is still more serene than the dominating artificial replicas of the real thing. But then again, I am pretty crazy.

Independent of the story, I like how this artwork allows me to consider each of the elements separately but to also have my ideas and conceptions change as I start to group things in different ways.

Tags: Art by Ms. SP
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spoilers through The Ties that Bind (4.3)

Previously on blogging Battlestar Galactica . . .
I had speculated that Cally was the Final Cylon. One of the reasons I posited this eventuality was that she, as a character, is annoying and boring (MHO). There had to be a point to her.

Everyone else on the show has a viewpoint, a voice, a purpose within the storytelling. If Cally had any of these things—it sure was whiny. Perhaps I’m missing something.

And now, provided that she isn’t actually the Final, her character ends. For someone who has done so much—shot Boomer, married Chief, had Nicolas—I still can barely remember her.

I, however, continue to like my Cally-is-a-Cylon ending, if only in theory.

Thematically, I think Cally would be an interesting choice because then she and Chief would have an honest-to-goodness procreated Cylon baby.

If the Cylons realize that they are “whole and complete” onto themselves, perhaps their obsession with humanness and humanity can end. Then it’s a new start again, for both species.

Since this is one show where the “no body = no death” understanding is out the airlock, I may still have a shot.

Other thoughts:

• The title reminded me immediately of Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down. That’s the episode in which we first met Ellen. Marrying a Cylon tends to get you a rough end. Is anyone else worried about Starbuck now?
• Starbuck’s detailed-away ship is the Demetrius. Demeter is the Greek goddess of grains and crops. It’s not exactly ‘earth,’ but I think it is interesting nonetheless. For a nomadic tribe to become a settled people, it must develop agriculture. Of course, it could just be that the original owners of the ship thought it was funny to associate all that fiber with sewage processing.

Tags: TV by Ms. SP
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This Saturday, I went to the Visual*Verse*City art show at Blue Line Studio. There was a lot of interesting art and a brand new music group, Sweatpants Money, debuted. Over the next few days, I’m going to try to share some of my favorites pieces.

Alice Brozofsky is relatively new to showing her work, but she has been painting for a long time. The painting to the right is called Family Portrait. She had several artworks there that used toys and animals as motifs. For this one and the one below, Social Club, she applied a course nylon(?) shag as a trim to frame the images. For me, the mood of these two pieces is initially dark, uncomfortable, and creepy, but there is such a sweetness to them that they become more complex in their messages. The toys are outdated and well-worn. The presentation of the paint, the frames, and the overall art pieces themselves speak towards an older time. And yet, they are still a bit space-age, a bit in the future.

And the robot dad is so solid, dignified, and unapologetic that he projects nobility within the mysterious and dilapidated state of his surroundings. These figures have such a marvelous way of relating to each other that I smile for them, even within their dark and sinister environments. By the way, both paintings are sold.

Tags: Art by Ms. SP
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