Escape Into Life Digest No. 40

Rinko Kawauchi, Tapioca Pearls

Art News by Laura Lawson. . . Our own Laura Lawson has a great eye for rounding up the most fascinating details on current news and hot exhibits around the world. In this edition she reminds of the story of the most famous art theft in history, decribes the exhibit now running on the Spot paintings of  Damien Hurst, and shares a recent discovery of a Roman statue of Hercules from Israel’s Jezreel Valley.

Poetry by Jeannine Hall Gailey . . .  In the last Digest we were talking about the thin line between poetry and prose, Gailey also explores this continuum with heat sparking selections that lead the reader into rich slices of thought and poetic immersion. As if sharing a dream via a Vulcan Mind Meld, we are submerged into the colorful interior world she creates, rich with detail and slippery shifts of meaning.

Movie Review: Countdown to Zero . . . Grundy’s review finds a few problems with this documentary film that describes in vivid detail that universal nightmare of Nuclear Disaster (always in caps). The insistent fearmongering that gives the film it’s intensity also can obscure the complex issues of Nuclear science and usage. Nevertheless he finds the film a solid documentary on an important subject.  If you want a change of pace after Countdown to Zero, move on to Grundy’s reviw of Cowboys and Aliens; either way you’ll catch some August heat.

Essay: Post Modern Really by Christian Harder . . . Living in a Postmodern (or post-postmodern) world, one may wonder about the meaning and origins of the term. How deeply does postmodern thought actually pervade our current cultures and is there life after the postmodern siege to the citadel of all human history? Harder gives us a panzer strike explanation of the origins of the ideas and introduces us to some of the brilliant thinkers who introduced them. If the idea of no absolute culural judgements frees the critical reader, what is the fallout of Post Modern thought? Join the discussion . . . .

Artist Watch: Rinko Kawauchi . . . Move from the intellectual to the sublime by visiting this collection of shimmering imagery by an award winning Japanese artist. Kawauchi makes simple visual statements with a vivid but subtle glow that is original and difficult to describe or classiby. Her subtle use of cool temperatures and light-filled but not over-sharpened details, remind us to look and to see, surely the ambition of every photographer and, perhaps, every artist.

Stacy Ericson is an editor, poet, and photographer addicted to imagery both in word and in art.  Her work often reflects her roots in the western states and an abiding interest in other cultures, ancient languages and religions, and other visceral passions. She lives and works in Boise, Idaho. Her poetry, fiction, essays, and photos can be found at the old bouquet , while fine art and portrait work can be seen on her professional website Stacy Ericson Imagery.