RED WOLF PACK BY CAROLE LAROCHE

RED WOLF PACK BY CAROLE LAROUCHE, GICLEE ON CANVAS, LTD ED, 40 X 60.
CAROLE LAROUCHE GALLERY
415 CANYON ROAD, SANTA FE, NM, 87501
www.larouche-gallery.com

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST CAPTIVATING AND ORIGINAL WORKS OF CONTEMPORARY SANTA FE ART WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED LATELY.-PGO

ADOPT A YAK

ADOPT A YAK

LAGUNA PUEBLO 1875

LAGUNA PUEBLO CIRCA 1875
[LOOKS LIKE 'NEW MEXIPOST']

PICKUP ARTIST

www.barbarabowles.com

PROJECT TIBET

PROJECT TIBET

A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION FOUNDED BY TIBETAN REFUGEES IN THE U.S. AND FRIENDS SYMPATHETIC TO TIBET'S PLIGHT.

403 CANYON ROAD, SANTA FE, NM, 87501

TEL: 505-982-3002 FAX: 505-986-9812

WHEN YOU CONFIRM THE EXISTENCE...

PETER GUMAER OGDEN:

"WHEN YOU CONFIRM THE EXISTENCE OF SOMETHING YOU ARE ALSO IMPLYING ITS OPPOSITE" ACRYLIC AND INK ON ARCHIVAL PAPER
COPYRIGHT 2007

www.abqartview.com
the albuquerque art review

SAVE TIBET LINK

www.savetibet.org

SAVE TIBET CONTACT INFO

NEWLY PUBLISHED SANTA FE BUDDHIST POSTER 1st ED 50 COPIES

FOR A BETTER VIEW OF THIS IMAGE AND OTHER UNIQUE ARTWORK BY CONTEMPORARY NEW MEXICO ARTISTS PLEASE GO TO THE ALBUQUERQUE ART REVIEW SITE AT:

www.abqartreview.com

A few days ago we went to Mesa Photo Arts in Santa Fe and picked up the FIRST EDITION of Peter Gumaer Ogden's "LAMPS OF ENLIGHTENMENT". Only 50 copies of this Tibetan Buddhist and Shambhala themed poster have been printed. This can be verified by Mesa. 48 copies remain on hand of which 12 are spoken for leaving only 36 available as of this writing.

If you wish to order this unique 11" x 14" satin finish poster remaining copies are available for$50.00 each including First Class USPS domestic postage with Delivery Confirmation. This price includes Ogden's customized hand signed ink inscription per buyer's request. Each poster will be wrapped in tissue paper and mailed in a cardboard tube. This is the first exclusive public offering of this rare American Buddhist poster by an emerging Santa Fe artist.

Quesions: bibliolux@yahoo.com Payment can be made via USPS and Allsup's money order or Paypal. Our bibliolux feedback is available at eBay under seller ID bibliolux. Currently we are not selling via eBay. www.ebay.com

This poster is a digitally enhanced copy of an 8" x 10" collage on canvas board completed in 2007 and registered with the Library of Congress Copyright Office.

This collage was hand made from over 500 hand cut pieces and hand glued by Ogden [aka 'Mezziah'].

The images in the collage represent current Buddhist-related leaders, teachers, writers, centers, and sponsoring institutions primarily in the U.S. A significant number of the images and motifs come from Shambhala Sun Magazine and "A Simple Monk " [Pub. Tibet House].

NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS, ORGANIZATIONS, ETC. REPRESENTED IN THE COLLAGE FOR KEYWORD SEARCH:

LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE - SAKYONG MIPHAM RINPOCHE - MASTER SHENG YEN - SISTER CHAN KHONG - JOHN TARRANT - DILGO KHYENTSE - DR REGGIE RAY - SOGYAL RINPOCHE - PENOR RINPOCHE - JACK KORNFIELD - ANDY KARR - AURA GLASER - JON KABAT ZINN - KHENCHEN THRANGU RINPOCHE - ROBERT THURMAN - SYLVIA BOORSTEIN - JOHN DAIDO LOORI - JUDITH LIEF - TARLEG KYABGON RINPOCHE - ARJIA RINPOCHE - THE DALAI LAMA - TENZIN GYATSO - THICH NHAT HANH - TENZIN WANGYAL RINPOCHE - TENGA RINPOCHE - LAMA SURYA DAS - EIHEI DOGEN ZENJI - ROSHI JOAN HALIFAX - PEMA CHODRON - RICHARD REOCH - LAMA YESHE - JANGCHUB PELMO - DZIGAR KONGTRUL RINPOCHE - KHENSUR RINPOCHE JAMPA TEGCHOG - ROBINA COURTIN - VENERABLE CHODEN RINPOCHE - EIDO SHIMANO - MAXINE HONG KINGSTON - DARLENE COHEN - SHARON SALZBERG - BARRY BOYCE - ROD MEADE SPERRY - SUSAN MOON - PHILLIP MOFFITT - MELVIN MCLEOD - GENPO MERZEL - PATRUL JIGME RIKPE - KHENPO KATHAR RINPOCHE - BARDOR TULKU RINPOCHE - PHAKCHOK RINPOCHE - GANGTENG TULKU RINPOCHE - PERRY GARFINKEL - TENZIN PALMO - KAREN MAEZEN MILLER - ANDREA MCQUILLIN - KHENPO UGYEN TENZIN - CHOKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE - CHOGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU - KYABE ZOPA RINPOCHE - DEEPOK CHOPRA - THUBTEN CHODRON - SWAMI SUBOHANANDA - NAROPA UNIVERSITY - SHAMBHALA SUN - KALACHAKRA - SNOW LION - KARMA TRIYANA DHARMACHAKRA - INSTITUTE OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY - DZOGCHEN CENTER - TIBETAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE - ZEN WORKS - LIGMINCHA INSTITUTE - ZEN MOUNTAIN MONASTERY - GAMPO ABBEY - UPAYA ZEN CENTER - JOGYE ORDER - RANGJUNG YESHE - KARME CHOLING - TIBET HOUSE .

#5 FLOWER POWER EPILOGUE

Michael Ceshiat's "Power Flower", 2008, clay and mixed media.

This modular installation oasis is a tour de force evoking the sense of walking into the animated presence of a delightful magic garden, a frozen explosion or large entwining tropical jungle tree's detonating embrace.

The rainbow of basic colors and toylike transformations of land mines and bombs into morphs of chubby flowers and plantlike elements echo the 'My Trick Ride' theme of imminently dangerous weapons [the metaphoric sword] transformed into benign playthings, if not plowshares.

Here, a cascading merry-go-round carousel flourishes and unravels like an inviting zenesque Japanese garden of military industrial fruits, flowers, stalks and seedpods frozen in a somewhat macabre dance of death cloaked as a whimsical trumpeting comic strip grotto of affectionate amusement. It is as if an ammunition dump from a child's fairy tale has been ignited.

A great deal of effort has been invested in the manufacture of the scores of ceramic pieces assembled in this Neo-Victorian centerpiece. The technical expertise required to fire and glaze the temperamental pottery pieces is substantial yet easily overlooked here by the uninformed. The transporting, packing, and arranging of this work's components requires great organization, love, and calculation. 'Power Flower' is like the Coney Island July 4th of a munitions magnate's warped egotistical delusions and mad infantile ecstasy.

Betty Hahn's "Pink Flowers, Perth Australia", 1986, type C prints:

At first glance these medium sized photos in their subdued pastel colors appear completely domestic and forthright as if lifted from a Burpee seed catalog, your sister's almost vintage photo album or late 19th century handcolored stereocards. Looking closer at the background one seems to observe other dimensional glimpses of a vast, precipitous, distantly expansive landscape which informs us that the setting for this garden was not your average back yard but rather the edge of the Himalayas until the title informs us and we conclude "Ah--an exotic ecosystem of the rolled over continent Down Under."

Closer examination, for those familiar with horticulture and agriculture, appears to reveal that the domesticated looking pink Easter Sunday hat strawflowers portrayed here have run away wildly aflame and uncontrollable. It is Monet opening his floodgates; yet a palpable, real, breathing meadow of wild and wind whipped herbaceous satori; feral floriculture, utterly unconquerable; ever resilient subverting humankind's best laid plans; a dream idyll marches across the land.

NOTE: I offer my humblest apologies to the artists in this exhibit whose work I did not have a chance to write about. I had to leave prematurely due to a lingering adjustment to the diffused oxygen levels at Santa Fe's alpine elevation. [ Funny: It doesn't look like you're 7000 feet up!---gasp---gasp. ] If you read this and wish to send me images of your exhibited work I would enjoy writing about it. Donations of: Food, clothing, spare change, luxury automobile, trip to Cap d'Antibes or large yacht; etc., will be gratefully accepted in trade for my efforts.--Anon--Peter

#4 FLOWER POWER ROSENTHAL ET AL

Rosenthal's 2007 Andy Warhol themed dinnerware:

This display was contained within a glass case and not resting on a sumptuous banquet table festooned with candelabrum, exotic sweet tropical fruits, and finely fragrant herbed tender game as the venerable old semi-royal European name might infer. Novel as it was I found this manufacturing combo to be a clash as loud as a Rolls Royce designed by Willem de Kooning in his last years might have been.

This fine bourgeois classic porcelain name was once the epitome of superbly executed antique elegance--but not quite on a par with Sevres [which one doubts has ever crossed The Big Pond for inspiration with the possible exception of 1776].

I recall that I once worked for an accounting firm owned by the creator of 'Beanie Babies' near Mill Valley, California. While browsing some receipts for Santa Barbara's exclusive Auberge du Soleil I had to take pause when I came across one in the amount of $800.00 for a NEW replacement of ONE Rosenthal dinner platter. Yet other versions--recent teapots, gravy boats, etc. which might be forgeries regularly sell for a few dollars on eBay in 'mint' condition. Apparently there's rosenthal and there is Rosenthal.

These pieces were cheerful and unpretentious recalling a pit stop in a 1960's classic diner or Trailer Heaven on Route 66. I could see these in a Jackie Onassis Cape Cod cottage or at a Lady Bird Johnson picnic reflecting the latter's love of wildflowers and Texan informality [ and the former's adoration of her sycophantic artist devotee ].

Takashi Murakami's 'Untitled', 2000, polychrome plastic and mini CD:

Toylike, diminutive brightly colored gleeful sculpture resembling a design from the classic 'Jetsons' cartoon or recent Japanese video games. One half expects to open it up and find bubblegum inside. The main figural piece wears a huge brilliant white porcelainlike smile with a grid of giant geometric perfect teeth reminiscent of the Kennedys on parade or a very happy five year old overdosed on sugared chocolates and Turkish coffee. The constructional execution is exceedingly precise allowing one to surmise that Murakami would be a wiz at designing fine jewelry and automobile styles.

The almost carnivorous smile of the main piece brings to mind the way some dogs smile just before they bite you in the behind or a pirhana crossedbred with Stephen King's Langoliers.

This toothsome streamlined toy flies straight out of a winning toothpaste advertisement in a kindergarten playroom. The viewer is somewhat comforted that this hungrily happy plastical, evangelical robot is confined within a display case like a tiger in a cage to prevent the curious from testing a bite with their fingers. Excellent craftsmanship and period 2008 C.E. popculture genre. If Leonardo were alive today or Rafael this is the style they would be using to produce technomadonnas.

Erika Wanenmacher's 'My Trick Ride', 2007, steel, enamel and vinyl.

So that's where the efforvescent music was coming from. This deliciously enchanting music was a warmup and seductive invite to 'Wanenmacher's'
gleaming luxurious toy craft poised on the wall like a charming winged dragonfly cousin.

This work resembles a B-1 Bomber's body in miniature. Only here the great black death machine's progeny has been [dare I say] 'feminized' and luxurized a la Bat Girl Mobile. One can't help again remembering the 'Jetsons' ' flying cars. The tufted white upholstery of the open cockpit invites comparisons to the pimpiest supercomfortable Philadelphia Cadillac while also seeming somewhat like a coffinish pillbox. The gorgeous lavender color of this sharp hyper-Barbie aeroposse leads to thoughts of oversweet Valentine's Day mints and licorice; several viewers were blatantly drooling.

This is a piece highly impressive in its skill of manufacture. The theme calls to mind the scene in Stephen King's 'Hearts in Atlantis' where hundreds of motorists stranded on a New England superhighway endure an aerial bombardment of American Consumer Products; where the tools of consumerism become agents of death and destruction; Erika's bomberette flies in the opposite direction.

One can imagine ubiquitous dear Paris Hilton cavorting above Harvard in this minijet while tossing candy apple grenades to the onlookers below; or, if Zsa Zsa had been driving this turbo charged petite missile through Beverly Hills on that infamous and fateful day of proactive diva brutality she would have undoubtedly left her battered, 'disrespectful', anti-elitist patrol officer pursuer behind in Rodeo Drive's glittering faux-gold dust.

'My Trick Ride', if slightly modified could be seriously marketed worldwide as a 'toy' childrens' vehicle with great success and popularity--start with Dubai--then as you work your way west go the Barbie route Erika and please give me a few shares of your IPO.

Polly Apfelbaum's 'Flags of Revolt'.

...is a neatly arrayed large floor-to-ceiling display of banners imprinted with brightly colored carefully executed and balanced graphic logo type designs. This is where a photo would come in handy [but I can't take photos in the museum--yet!]. The initial feeling of this display is an announced officialdom and an expectation of a breeze to animate the flags as one would normally experience in the natural habitat of such fluttering alliances at a yacht club or outside the United Nations headquarters. It seems this big bright, gameboard montage alludes to a similar arrangement in one of the UN's great halls of nations.

Oddly the only logo image I recall from 'Flags of Revolt' is that of a marijuana leaf--which is not to suggest that I was ever a great fan of King Mota because paranoia is not my gig. It seems that the magic leaf impresses here because it is by nature a strong design motif, an essence of the '60's culture theme and was simply one of the few flag logos that I recognized; the remainder remaining rather elusive to me. Perhaps as an aside a small card or brochure freebie alongside this exhibit designed by Apfelbaum elucidating the intent or meaning of her crisp enigmatic images might have been a complimentary addition. ...or maybe I'm just plain ignorant.

#3 FLOWER POWER REVIEW CONT'D

content copyright 2008 by peter gumaer ogden, santa fe, nm. copying and reproduction rights by express permission only.

I was having some weird challenge there in which most everything I typed turned into question marks or little square boxes. Strangely, I was unable to reach my old friend Bill Gates by phone, so I fortunately managed to correct this bug myself by removing the Adult Content Warning [which was only added to attract attention--they say 'forbidden fruit tastes good'] and the Hindi option. I suspect the latter caused this. For some reason it is easier to suspect a foreign, mystical language and culture than my own. This info might help other blogspot bloggers should you encounter the same scenario. Hopefully everything I'm writing won't turn into question marks at the end--that would be a VERY mean curry.

It's now been over a week since I viewed these works and I have no images of them except in my wavering memory. They might all be congealing into one giant compound subversive botanical hybrid in my mind--a little bit like Purple Loosestrife.

TIM JAG'S "Loves Me Loves Me Not", 2008, mixed media on panel.

A very large piece. Almost a diptych as either side is so radically [no pun intended] different from its partner. Left side is intricately detailed undulating, snakey, art nouveauish gothic script with an occult Celtic flavor. One seems to be able to decipher certain code words relative to the piece's title but it's hard to be sure. As in several other works from this exhibit the right side, which is made up of cheerful multi-colored daisy like starrettes brings a shower curtain to mind, especially one from the 1960's that had been encountered in one's great aunt's bathroom in Levittown, NJ, Miami Beach, or Oceanside, CA. Possibly Dayton, Iowa as well.

Jag's painting has that eye-dazzling effect in the left half to some extent like one of those dizzying old brilliantly designed brain-quaking psychedelic aboriginal rugs on display at the M Rogers [Rodgers?] Museum in ethereal Taos. It is curious how this effect was achieved and whether it was intentional or sprouted of its own accord as often happens in the creation of visual art.

This painting undoubtedly required a tremendous amount of time and energy to produce. Having made quite a few miniatures lately, so small that I have misplaced several and cannot ascertain their whereabouts, this writer wonders how artists transport these leviathan canvases let alone stores or displays them outside the gallery space. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the large construction crane in the museum's neighborhood.

This painting would have to be cut into six pieces just to fit through the door of my place. On the bright side--it's not likely to be easily misplaced. A great painting though if there's ever a pending division I'll take the left side--reminds me of Led Zepp on St. Patrick's Day and deep dark dancing secrets.

FLOWER POWER REVIEW CONT'D

BETTY HAHN'S 1970'S gum bicarbonate prints with stitching:

These fairly small comforting works brought to mind old needlepoint and tinted Victorian photographs as well as the recent rage for certain antique silk embroidered postcards.

These photo image based moss green velvety images convey a sense of nature attractively manipulated and engineered to please humans. They are soft, subtle, forms with a hint of Eden's tranquility. The brightly colored stitching adds some visual spice, an element of homespun handicraft and enhancing texture. These works are something one would be delighted to uncover inside an old and dusty turtle top attic trunk.

ANDY WARHOL'S 1982 screen prints of daisies:

How dare I presume to critique the works of an artist as famous as Andy? I don't know much about Mr. Warhola. With all due respect my first, uneducated impression of his works in general is one of decorative childlike frivolity. It would be good to know if Andy was familiar with the historical symbolism of the flowers he created here or if he was being completely spontaneous.

One wonders, if much of Warhol's mass-produced, quickly produced work, like that of many prominent 20th century artists, especially the so called "abstract expressionists" could have risen to prominence based on its own merit without having been calculatedly packaged, promoted, and marketed by the New York art gallery mafiosos. I am regrettably prejudiced in favor of masters like DaVinci, Rafael, Michelangelo, Cole, Giotto, Audubon, El Bosco, Heade, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Picasso and Dali.

These large screen prints of quality technical production strike me as something Catherine the Great would not, were she alive today, buy for her Hermitage. Nevertheless it is wonderful that these vivid, monetarily valuable, luminescent works of a world famous artist are here in Santa Fe for us to experience. Each piece contains a large pastel colored childlike scribble of a daisy like flower imposed over a similar but much crisper and well defined frontal floraform resembling a colorized photo. Bold and playful it seems be a reflection of the frolicking fun popular culture of the 1950's, '60's and '70's more than a product of the serious economic concerns of the early 1980's.

I feel challenged, ungrateful, jaded, rude and someone puzzled as to why I cannot seem to appreciate nor understand why Warhol's works have become so famous and valuable. Perhaps his art, like his Jackie O. subject, is an icon of a time when much artwork was lighthearted, somewhat funky, slick and unpretentious. Perhaps he had an instinct for placing his finger on and visually representing the pulse of his epoch. ...or it might simply boil down to the fact that some folks just like apple pie while others prefer cherry pie which is no qualification of either.

ERIKA WANENMACHER'S "Stealth Painting (The Bombing of Baghdad)", 1999 oil on panel:

A rather large, direct and ominous piece which reaches out with three dimensional trumpeting red, orange, and rust toned shasta daisies which defiantly thrive and emerge from a ghostly X-Files/War of the Worlds spooky night background. These multi fingered, sharp-edged and vigorous hand like blooms seem almost to be needfully reaching out as they endeavor to pull the viewer into their catastrophe. The indigo sky above the black landscape is haunted by glowing luminescent fire-fly amoebic blob explosions harkening back to the eerie sky of Van Gogh's swirling Starry Night.

The unwavering defiant sculpted daisies seemingly impale this piece and it's tragic world to the wall as they sprout through it from behind pronouncing their indestructable, enduring immunity to violence and evil; they shout an oath of benevolent life forever resilient in the face of suffocating annhilation.

TIM JAG'S "Group vs. Individual", 2007, mixed media on panel:

Bright colors and vibrating razor cut floral forms grab the viewer's attention in this large, textured psychological work of fused strongly contrasted equal sized halves. The left half is comprised of a complex net of inter and overlapping brightly colored geometrically perfect windmill like florets. Behind this botanical shield looms a large, ominously monstrous, dark asteroid like sphere made up of heavy blackish brown dead looking blossoms representing death. The metaphor herein is that of organized group strength protecting against a deadly threat.

The right half is a field of fiery yellow with a single island like flower [the individual] alone in a sea of blinding solar furnace sunshine which undulates with concentric circular faint ripples as if to indicate the lone individual's cries of isolation and vulnerability. This is a strong and thoughtful metaphoric piece of which prints should be produced for sale to enrich the interiors of spiritual, educational, and holistic or psychologist-related homes and offices.

JONATHAN SELIGER'S "Politely", 2000, lithograph:

Contained inside a small automobile interior size space enclosed with windows on a waist high stage stand several equally volumed, neatly arranged classic grocery store open brown paper bags, mouths open, and standing at attention like a group of hungry soldiers. Each bag is neatly imprinted with the words "Thank You." This gesture could be interpreted in many different ways. One suspects if this is not a comment on capitalism and corporate consumer indoctrination it must represent a straightforward expression of gratefulness to shoppers and store owners who contribute to protecting animal life and preserving our environment by choosing recycled, biodegradeable paper over plastic--an often unwelcome pros vs cons choice decision which has presented a profound conundrum to many harried "Americans" for the past two decades.

D. JEAN JAWRUNNER'S "Zen Centurions", 2007, aluminum.

An installation in the center of one gallery being a small group of tallish horizontal four sided approx. 4 x 4 pillars shaped like an architect's model for a campus of modern-early post modernist high rise office towers. These attractively oxidized blunt totems are distinguished by their thick metallic skin of roughish brocaded vaguely astor blossommish fungal hide. The Centurion towers initially took me to images of World Trade Center aerial views before it was bombed.

The wonderfully rich and elegant surface texture of these pieces suggests the intricate Rococo craftsmanship of mid 19th century Kirk and Tiffany sterling.

I could not restrain myself from a laugh when a mannishly dressed middle aged woman walked up to one of the towers and proceeded to bang on it with her hard fist while demanding in a New York taxi driver accent: "Wazzit made ov?" She was promptly advised both firmly and tactfully by a guard to cease her tire-kicking behavior. She quickly moved off unruffled as if disappointed that she had not brought a sledgehammer or drill with her.

YUMI JANAIRO ROTH'S "LIVINGWARE", 2001, vitreous china:

The first things that come to mind when one spies this archipelago of thickish cloverleafed horticultural chunks scattered in a wavy circular arrangement and wide swath from floor to ceiling across one wall is refrigerator magnets, guacamole [ especially if you're a hungry gringo] and those textured rubber flower shaped compact-disc sized adhesive no skid pads that people install inside bathtubs. Yumi's colors and surfaces also reminded of my grandmother's avocado colored refrigerator from the 1970's.

Moments later this display populated my head with similar images recalled from vintage mugs and casserole dishes manufactured with the now iconic "American" names Glassbake, Pyrex, Corningware, and Fire King.

Mindful of the apparent heavy weight and size of these gathered pieces some over cautious viewers dared not approach too closely in case of the unlikely event of a twenty pound component suddenly deserting its high perch.

The custom manufacture of these pieces undoubtedly required a lot of very hard physical work; they appear far less manpower intensive than they undoubtedly are. Kudos to Yumi for mustering the physical strength and tender packing precautions to transport and successfully direct the installation of potentailly unwieldy yet fragile "Livingware."


PHOTO: " Santa Fe Dragon Perch", peter gumaer ogden, chromogenic c-print, from 35 mm negative, copyright 2007.

#2 "MUM'S THE WORD!" A CHINA CONNECTION.

DAISIES: WARRIOR FLOWER.

The daisy is much more than a '60's fad. Whether coincidence or carefully selected as a noble symbol of order and peace in China for over 2500 years the unassuming daisy is a member of the revered Chrysanthemum family [genus pyrethrum].

Members of this innocent enough looking flower family are equipped with a powerful natural poison designed to ward off and kill creatures interested in eating it. It is believed that Chinese Buddhist monks introduced that "Mum" to Japan in AD 400 where the Japanese Imperials adapted it to their dynastic "Chrysanthemum Throne" and considered it to be a symbol of purity and long life.

The Mum was cultivated in China for over 2500 years as one of the four "noble flowers" and was not allowed in the gardens of the "lower classes." Some old Chinese armies wore the Mum emblem as an official badge. In China it also symbolized autumn, a life of ease and happiness. The Mum's strength resists killing frosts far longer than most other flowers.

The Mum has also been associated with the Buddha, the sun, and as a metaphor for an orderly unfolding perfection.

The word "chrysanthemum" derives from two Greek words meaning "golden flower." The Greek word "chrysos" is etymologically related to the abbreviation for "Christ" indicating the "golden" or "anointed one." This alludes to France's great Sun King and the golden "aura" in the name Marcus Aurelius. A chrysanthemum image is said to be an element of the Shroud of Turin.

Bearing the above history in mind it seems anyone, Christians, Buddhists and others attending this exhibit will have a much more profound emotional experience than I did when I viewed it in ignorance.

above left: LAMPS OF ENLIGHTENMENT, collage on canvas board, 8" x 10", 500+ hand cut pieces, peter gumaer ogden, copyright 2007 library of congress.
keywords for some images in this collage: TENZIN GYATSO - DALAI LAMA - SAKYONG MIPHAM - JOHN TARRANT - JACK KORNFIELD - JON KABAT ZINN - ROBERT THURMAN - SYLVIA BOORSTEIN - THICH NHAT HANH - ROSHI JOAN HALIFAX - PEMA CHODRON - SHARON SALZBERG - DEEPOK CHOPRA - NAROPA UNIVERSITY - TIBET - SHAMBHALA SUN - SNOW LION - GARRISON INSTITUTE - KARME CHOLING - TIBET HOUSE .

1st INSTALLMENT FLOWER POWER

All content of the Santa Fe Art Blog by Peter Gumaer Ogden: copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Reproduction, sale, or copying of this content is granted only by express email or other written permission from Peter Gumaer Ogden, P.O. Box 24045, Santa Fe, NM, 87502-0045, USA.

Dear Art Blog Readers Out There:

This is my first post. I will start by reviewing only one work of art from the current Flower Power exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Art [Feb. 1-May 11,2008]. I would like to write more but after just dealing with almost 500 emails and a heavy enchilada meal followed by a murderously rich chocolate cake my energy level is waning fast. I am forcing myself to write about at least one piece tonight for the sake of 'getting started' with 'dissere blog. More will follow soon if the gallons of cholesterol and pounds of salt now coursing through my cardiovascular system do not snuff me out permanently during the night.

At the entrance to the exhibit a plaque states approximately:

" 1960's antiwar, anti-establishment. How artists have used the daisy in art and design from the 1960's until today. 'A simple form, but a complex symbol, the daisy has become an apt metaphor for optimism and protest in a time of turmoil." This made a lot more sense to me after viewing the exhibit than when I first read it. I was not previously familiar with daisies as anything more complex than a cheerful and hardy simple wildflower that children revel in ripping to shreds while reciting a riddle of love or as an appropriate and inexpensive if not free sentimental old fashioned gift for one's grandmother in June.

Initially my wild horse mind kept clinging to a "Driving Miss Daisy" mantra and I half expected to see her viewing this exhibit with me and her chauffeur.

DIVERGENCE/WANDERING MIND COMMENT:

It would be good to also experience an
art exhibit based upon the rose. This ever seductive flower has a long and fascinating history as well as female sexual and yin-yang existential symbolism. The rose would have been somewhat inappropriate to the '60's bohemianism [except in Jackie's White House] due to it's rather elitist and royal associations.

I recall in 1997 or 1998 attending an exhibit at an art museum in Provincetown where a contemporary nude painting had provoked an uproar among some of Cape Cod's more traditional lingering Puritans. The painting featured a nude male prominently displaying his provocatively excited stem.

When this sexually liberated artist was assailed by the wounded and scandalized Pilgrim community he stated something to the effect that there was little difference between a harmless cuddly flower and the blossoming male essence he had lovingly painted. As a result of this artist's benign horticultural opinion of naked human male floressence a small group of determined, reactionary puritanical critics stationed themselves in front of the museum entrance where, in protest they handed one rose to each about-to-be-visually-assaulted person who arrived to view the exhibit while the crumpet nibbling "demonstrators" somberly chanted "fleur d'homme, fleur d'homme" ; thusly these valiant Mayflower menaces proffered their prickly posies to make an art-politics statement which remains obscure to his day.

But that's P-town--a world and a planet where, unlike utopian multi-cultural [I want to see some homie's from the Bronx welcomed to the Plaza to blast their rap-hip-hop boom-boxes for twelve hours without being arrested as authentication of Santa Fe's proud "cultural inclusiveness" banner.] "Anglo-ism" dominates and is highly regarded, preserved, and awaits the next climate change supercharged nor-easter to expunge the last cold grain of this glacial sandbar from the coast of stiff New England and into the abyss of now codless Georges Bank.

BACK TO OUR MISSION:

1. Corita Kent's fluorescent, almost half tie-dyed imagery screams off the wall in blinding colors, small as it is, like some esoteric supercharged art nouveau parking lot signs. It's brightness virtually requires the viewer to employ a pair of sunglasses. Ari Onassis would have been pleased.

I seem to recall this was an era when a plethora of new, unprecedented, glowing neon paints became widely available. Kent's screen print of the famous photo of a somewhat dainty yet stylish young man inserting fragile, lacelike flowers into the determinedly inappropriate muzzles of military police guns is one of the most striking images in the exhibit and defines a substantial element of the -60'sU.S. anti-war movement flower child-hippie culture.

I was reminded of my cousin Sally who, as a flower child of this period fled oppressive Washington D.C. power politics to live in the Arizona desert grinding maize into meal with a stone mortar and pestle to sustain her nouveau-aboriginal anti-materialist lifestyle.

Most likely, considering the times and circumstances, these MP's guns were loaded when this photo was taken. The situation was tense and unpredictable with lethal intent. This image evokes the feeling of a man in front of a firing squad attempting to impossibly shield himself with his hands or a piece of clothing. When one considers that this utterly vulnerable and possibly suicidal young man might have suspected that the least accidental flinch on the part of the MP's could have resulted in a fatally explosive discharge one can only regard this immortal semi-mythic adolescent as an extremely courageous and or half mad individual.

The cheerful minty sweet colors in these prints contrast starkly with the dark subject matter in the same manner as the vulnerable youth clashes against the savage military threat which he attempts to stifle like a lamb against a pack of wolves.

To be continued...--Peter Gumaer Ogden: would-be art critic on the loose.