"Having A Coke With You" Explication

In the poem “Having a Coke With You”, author Frank O’Hara demonstrates to the reader that true love is one of, if not the greatest, of all life’s treasures. He does so through a stark contrast between the mundane and the exceptional, interesting enjambment and lack of punctuation, and an unnamed first-person speaker who addresses another unnamed individual.

This poem attests to the powerful emotions that one experiences when he or she is in the presence of somebody with whom they are in love. The speaker of the poem, an unknown and unnamed individual, describes these feelings by displaying them in mundane situations, and then accentuating them against exceptional circumstances that they ironically overshadow. The technique is evident in the very first line of the poem, which is a continuation of the line that is the title of the poem. The speaker states that drinking a Coke is “even more fun than going to . . .” (line 1), and then continues on to list no less than 6 exotic and exciting travel destinations. The irony set up by this simple statement is amplified by the fact that these exotic locations fail to arouse as much excitement as drinking a Coke- an extremely common and relatively cheap beverage- with a loved one. Similarly, this statement is continued with descriptions of this individual, who has only been defined thus far as “you”. The speaker describes both an “orange shirt” (line 3) and “fluorescent orange tulips” (line 5), saying that these objects are “partly” the reason why his initial statement holds true. These objects, a shirt and some tulips, are also exceedingly common, but the speaker emphasizes their importance with the description of their interesting orange color. The color orange, in itself, is a vibrant color- full of life, energy, excitement, and warmth. These associations with the color orange are symbolic of the way one feels when one is enamored with someone else. The comparison is drawn between whoever the “you” is, and the shirt and tulips, when one realizes that just like these seemingly mundane objects, the person of discussion crosses the boundary from ordinary to extraordinary due to her energetic eminence and the impact it has on the speaker, much like the color orange.

The extraordinary nature of the mysterious “you” mentioned in the poem is also revealed by the authors interesting use of enjambment. The total lack of sentence-ending punctuation would make the poem read like one entirely run-on sentence, if it were not for the interesting line breaks that the author uses to show where certain thoughts end, as well as to give added emphasis to certain points. The only break between the two stanzas of this poem occurs when the setting shifts from a relatively indistinct setting to one that is more concrete, preceded by an interjecting “and”. The speaker of the poem, and their beloved, are suddenly at a “portrait show” (line 11), where the paintings seem “to have no faces . . . At all, just paint.” (line 11) The line then breaks, demonstrating the interjection of “your” questioning of “why in the world anyone ever did them” (line 11). This hints that the paintings, although beautiful, pale in comparison to the beauty and radiance of “you”. The next line, containing only the two words, “I look”, give this action a dramatic flair that sets up the next line, which serves as a revelation of sorts. Following this line, the speaker says that he would rather look upon whoever “you” is “than all the portraits in the world” (line 13). This declaration is expressed in its entirety, completely devoid of punctuation, in one long line. This gives to the reader the familiar rush of emotions that accompanies the sight of a loved one.

Finally, the speaker of the poem speaks in a first-person narrative towards an unknown individual who is addressed in the second-person. This choice of perspective allows the poem to read like it is a love note directed towards the reader themself. Constant repetition of the indistinct “you” throughout the poem creates a void which the reader, themself, fills. This makes the reader both consciously identify with the unnamed person mentioned, as well as sympathize with the speaker of the poem (who addresses themself only as “I”) on both a conscious and subconscious level. Indeed, the mere fact that the poem uses nothing but “you” and “I” to describe the characters within it creates a dual meaning- one in which the reader can identify as the “you” mentioned in the poem, and another where the reader identifies with the “I”, making the poem much more personal as it appears to be speaking from of the reader, instead of to him or her.

Through the poem “Having a Coke With You”, author Frank O’Hara shows that true love is one of the most captivating and wonderful things on the planet. Through ironic comparisons, enjambment, lack of punctuation, and perspective, he shows that true love can outshine the most dazzling of spectacles, even if the love is cloaked in the most mundane setting.

1000 Years of Animal Sounds - Audio Lecture Review

Wow! I must say I really enjoyed this lecture far better than the previous one. This one actually kept me interested and engaged in the discussion.

With that being said, I found some of the most interesting things examined had to do with the "white noise" mentioned near the beginning of the lecture. White noise was defined as the noise created by the "random collisions" of the particles in the air. You never really think about this because it is so quiet, but the truth is there is constantly some kind of noise occuring. Even if it is outside of the normal hearing range of humans, there are tones being emitted by colliding air particles. It's almost as if there is not ever TRUE silence in the earth's atmosphere. Another aspect I found interesting was the fact that "vibes in water move five thousand times faster than in air, and thirteen to fifteen thousand times faster through rock." This is because the closeness of the particles, and it also makes it easier for sounds to travel over larger distances. This is how whales, which emit the sounds that we're all pretty familiar with, can communicate with each other over hundreds of miles. It's pretty amazing to contemplate. Imagine if we, as humans, were somehow a part of the rocks of the earth and had ears that were specialized to hear the vibrations present in the rocks of the earth. We would be able to hear things from all over the world! Also, I found the sound of the vibrating sand dunes to be pretty awesome and breathtaking. I would love to hear that in real life, if possible.

In the animal kingdom, including humans, sounds play an even more amazing role now that the element of communication has been introduced. From a large perspective, it's pretty cool how emotions and messages can be transmitted just by an organism vibrating air particles a certain way. It's interest how frogs create a male dominance hierarchy based on how deep their voices are, called "expressive size symbolism". The deeper the voice, the larger the animal is. Clearly this is not the case with human beings, though.

This leads me to my next topic- the sheer difference between humans and animals in the way they use sound. For instance, there are "no stretched string membrane[s] in nature other than [in] humans" that are used to create sounds. I thought this was interesting, because we also have extremely developed body parts used to manipulate the sounds created by our vocal chords (lips, tongue, teeth, jaw movement, throat muscular movement). It just seems like we actually HAVE the most advanced sound-producing system as well as the most advanced system of communication.

Finally, I thought I would comment on the "hearing test" given during this lecture. I could actually hear the sound produced at 40 cycles/second, but i couldn't hear the noise produced at 18,000 cycles/second. It was pretty wierd to know that some of the people who listened to this lecture could hear something that I couldn't.

This leads me in to my response post to Steven...

Steven- It was really wierd, I agree, to find out that there "is an entire aspect of the world, another layer that is all around us", yet it is completely hidden to us. I was told by a worker at the Stone Zoo that certain macaws can actually see Ultraviolet light. It's so wierd to think that some animals have greater powers of perception than we do. As the lecture stated, "dolphins and bats go above the sound levels we can hear, while whales and elephands go blow them." It sure is humbling!

Heart of Darkness - "Word Collage" Poetry & Metacog.

BLOOD (77) HALOS (7)

“Save me, and I will save you.” -Petronius Arbiter

PART I:

In the midst of (8) immense (16) sorrows (16), veiled (6) dreams

Of men (6), The bond of (3) the (16) supernatural (15) somnambulist. (24)

Glowing white (4) in the midst of (8) black shadows (26); no (34) expression. (34)

Cold, fog, (8) water (8), exile (8) - There is nothing

mysterious (6) about (27) the (16) unknown, (16) accepted in silence. (7)

Devotion to (9) Destiny (6), the surrender (8), a sacrifice. (9)

Who was dead? (36) Who was alive? (36)

One must look about (32) with great precision (22) at (3)

the incomprehensible (8) city of the dead (16)

The (16) most charitable of saints (39) was here yesterday (7)

PART II:

Great spirit (8) stripped of (60) time (60),

Horrid, (59) pestilential fellow (53)!

Unearthly (59) hidden evil (54) lurking bewitched (56)

a (9) heart (58) to (9) darkness (58) – black thoughts. (70)

A frightful gash, (77) blood, (77) red (77) gleaming (77)

in the moonlight (41) lurking (54) black figures (43) rose (40)

cursing (59) the (16) accepted, (7) welcoming us. (59)

swarming with human limbs (75); arrows

flew out of them (75) to (80) butcher (80) the (16) cannibals, (57)

and sealed his soul. (81)

PART III:

Horrified, (67) I (94) said (94) to (94) the (16) evil, “Why?”

Growled a voice (57) stripped of its (60) heart (54),

“The (70) devotion (9) to lusts (98); diabolic love (116),

unearthly hate (116)! The bond (3)! The black (70)!

Behind me (70) fury (75) lifted (72) the (70) wind- (75)

A (77) prolonged wail (77) of (60) mournful fear. (77)

Horrid faces - (59) battered, twisted, ruined. (47)

The (70) red (3) sword (8) striking (97) its heart, (54) dead (15)!

Countless ages (68) of (68) sorrows (16)

I, (94) Monster, (47) properly (67) deserved. (55)”

BLOOD HALOS

“Serva me, servabo te.” -Petronius Arbiter

PART I:

In the midst of immense sorrows, veiled dreams

Of men, the bond of the supernatural somnambulist.

Glowing white in the midst of black shadows; no expression.

Cold, fog, water, exile - There is nothing

mysterious about the unknown, accepted in silence.

Devotion to Destiny, the surrender, a sacrifice.

Who was dead? Who was alive?

One must look about with great precision at

the incomprehensible city of the dead.

The most charitable of saints was here yesterday.

PART II:

Great spirit stripped of time,

Horrid, pestilential fellow!

Unearthly hidden evil lurking bewitched

A heart to darkness – black thoughts.

A frightful gash, blood, red gleaming

in the moonlight lurking black figures rose

cursing the accepted, welcoming us.

Swarming with human limbs; arrows

flew out of them to butcher the cannibals,

and sealed his soul.

PART III:

Horrified, I said to the evil, “Why?”

Growled a voice stripped of its heart,

“The devotion to lusts; diabolic love,

Unearthly hate! The bond! The black!

Behind me fury lifted the wind-

A prolonged wail of mournful fear.

Horrid faces - battered, twisted, ruined.

The red sword striking its heart, dead!

Countless ages of sorrows

I, Monster, properly deserved.”

METACOGNITIVE REFLECTION:

BLOOD HALOS

“Save me, and I will save you.” -Petronius Arbiter

The title of my poem immediately sets up parallels between itself and the story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The clear distinction and juxtaposition between the use of the word “halos” and the supporting description yielded by the word “blood” immediately creates a sense of tainted holiness or ethical perversion. Halos, usually described as an aura of light around an enlightened being, is being reduced to a near sub-human state by the fact that these halos are described as being made out of “blood”. This hints at a fatal and dangerous deception by the one whom is surrounded by the halo, and this is a central theme in Heart of Darkness. Kurst, a corrupt individual associated with the ivory trade, has been elevated to near god-like status (and therefore possesses a metaphorical halo) by the natives of the African Congo in which he has established a profitable business. This reputation for greatness hides the truth, however, as Kurst is revealed as being progressively inhumane as the story unfolds. His employees are brutal in their treatment of their African workers, and he himself possesses ruthless ambition that leaves the reader questioning his sanity. Towards the very end of the novella, Kurst himself succumbs to an unknown disease after withering away (mentally and emotionally, as well as physically) and passes away in a hellish state of vengeance and horror. His animalistic nature hidden behind his god-like reputation is reflected in the title of my poem.

PART I:

In the midst of immense sorrows, veiled dreams

Of men, the bond of the supernatural somnambulist.

Glowing white in the midst of black shadows; no expression.

Cold, fog, water, exile - There is nothing

mysterious about the unknown, accepted in silence.

Devotion to Destiny, the surrender, a sacrifice.

Who was dead? Who was alive?

One must look about with great precision at

the incomprehensible city of the dead.

The most charitable of saints was here yesterday.

The exposition of the poem, PART I, gives the reader a glimpse into a fantastic world that can only be described as “the afterlife.” Multitudes of imagery and tone words mimic Part I of the novella Heart of Darkness, and describe a desolate scene where a single character interacts with a transparent second character, about which close to nothing is known. In Heart of Darkness, the main character is a man named Marlow, who is telling the story of his experience in the African Congo to other sailors in his presence. These other characters do not interact back with Marlow, as the story is experienced as if the reader themself is listening in on the conversation. I adopted this point of view in my poem as well, although the main character who holds the focus of the work is the spirit of Kurst himself. His domain is the “city of the dead”, the afterlife, where the reader briefly transparently interacts with him over the course of the poem. Words such as “cold, fog, water, exile” depict a gloomy and hopeless scene where the souls of the dead “surrender” to their “Destiny.” I chose to capitalize “Destiny” in this stanza in order to personify the word- to transform the abstract idea into an omnipotent being. I recycled this from Kurst’s near-mythical reputation in Heart of Darkness, and established a juxtaposition because now instead of Kurst being the one who wields (or appears to wield) this kind of influence, it is the influence (of Destiny) that is being wielded over him.

PART II:

Great spirit stripped of time,

Horrid, pestilential fellow!

Unearthly hidden evil lurking bewitched

A heart to darkness – black thoughts.

A frightful gash, blood, red gleaming

in the moonlight lurking black figures rose

cursing the accepted, welcoming us.

Swarming with human limbs; arrows

flew out of them to butcher the cannibals,

and sealed his soul.

In this second stanza, the spirit of Kurst is introduced to the reader in his entirety. He is immediately recognized by the reader as who he truly is in Heart of Darkness - a “horrid, pestilential fellow.” The tone of the poem shifts drastically towards morbid and shocking, in order to mimic the tone of the novella when Kurst’s true self is revealed to the reader as a cruel, blood-thirsty, and power-hungry man who was driven by “black thoughts”. This is reflected in his physical appearance, as his apparition is marked by bloody “gash[es]” and a dark void where his heart should be. This represents both the metaphorical, corrupted, heart that compelled him to do evil, as well as the darkness and mystery that hides his true self. The gory horror and fear present during this stanza is an adaptation of the fear and gore present during the attack on Marlow’s riverboat by the African natives in Part II, which left the helmsman of the boat dead. This attack is specifically referenced during the last five lines of this stanza, and its ambiance of chaos and fear is felt directly through the use of the words “swarming” and “butcher.”

PART III:

Horrified, I said to the evil, “Why?”

Growled a voice stripped of its heart,

“The devotion to lusts; diabolic love,

Unearthly hate! The bond! The black!

Behind me fury lifted the wind-

A prolonged wail of mournful fear.

Horrid faces - battered, twisted, ruined.

The red sword striking its heart, dead!

Countless ages of sorrows

I, Monster, properly deserved.”

Finally, I constructed the last stanza to resemble the interaction between Marlow and Kurst during Kurst’s final moments. This is paralleled by the speaker of my poem, and unknown “I”, verbally interacting with the mutilated spirit of Kurst. Whens questioned with a simple “Why?”, I decided that the voice of the spirit of Kurst deserved to be more animalistic, saying that he “growled” instead of spoke in response to this inquiry. I felt that this better suited his personality, actions, and character as a whole. In response to this simple question (which I purposely left as a terse one-word prompt in order to leave room for multiple interpretations), Kurst erupts in a tirade of anger, grief, and other dark emotions. I used multiple exclamatory sentences in order to convey this tone of aggression and anger. Additionally, I used frequent exclamation marks to mimic the dramatic flair of Kurst’s final living moments in the novella, in which his last words were “The horror! The horror!”. Lines five through eight specifically chronicle the effect that Kurst had on the African Congo over time. He elicited “fear” by following his ruthless ambition, as well as violence and death. The reference to a “red sword,” which symbolically represents a sword covered in blood, is a testament to this violence. Finally, I chose to include a final shift in tone in order to unify the beginning and ending of the poem. The final two lines of the last stanza include the spirit of Kurst, referring to himself as “Monster”, surrendering to his eternal punishment in the city of the dead as “properly deserved.” The acknowledgment of his evil nature (hence his new self-imposed name “Monster”) as well as his acceptance of his fate demonstrate a total humbling of Kurst. When he once violently impressed his will upon others, he now has no choice but to surrender to the will of Destiny, referenced in the first stanza.

My revision process was relatively simple and short. Prior to writing the actual poem, I made an outline constituting of what I wanted my poem to be like. I stuck with my original idea of my poem being an interaction with the spirit of Kurst in the afterlife, and used this as the basis to interweave many key themes and events from the novella itself. The main challenge came in creating a coherent message with the fragments of text that I pulled from the reading, but I purposely wrote the poem to be slightly vague in order for multiple interpretations. I also purposely used interesting enjambment, particularly in the first stanza, to create long sentences that contained multiple meanings and that could be read in multiple ways. If one chose to acknowledge the line break between the following lines:

Cold, fog, water, exile - There is nothing

mysterious about the unknown, accepted in silence.

Then the line “there is nothing” can be read as an extension of the setting description. Simultaneously, if one disregards the line break, it will read “There is nothing mysterious about the unknown, accepted in silence.” Other, more subtle, uses of enjambment were also used throughout the poem. My main challenge during revising was simply rearranging the word order, or changing the diction itself, in order to more accurately accomplish my purpose in writing this poem.

Visual Poetry Explication - Page 302 of A Humument

Page 302

On page 302 of Tom Phillips' A Humument, Phillips creates a cause-and-effect relationship that explains his philosophical reason for the existence of hell. This view is presented to the audience by his simplistic, yet revealing, use of color and shape that depicts a descent into darkness, biblical references in the form of numerology, and interjections of staccato text, which appear as if they are interjecting thoughts in a degenerating psyche. Together, these techniques create a situation where the carnal emotions of man send the reader on a self-reflective journey to discover the darkest parts of their own nature, and the consequences for acting on such dark emotions.

At first glance, the most prominent object on page 302 of A Humument is, in fact, the only colored object on the page. Sitting in the center of the top of the page against a solid black background is an unnerving blood-red object. This irregularly-shaped spot extends about a third of the way down the page, terminating in a circular shape that oddly enough looks like a flow of blood pooling on a flat surface. The shape of this object both hints at the spilling of blood, and starts the downward progression of the observers eye which leads to the other objects in the image. Additionally, the color of the object (a dark blood-red), in combination with the black background of the piece, gives the entire piece a sinister tone. Phillips use of this specific shade of red is extremely important as well to the overall tone of the piece. Pure red is a vibrant color- used to show liveliness, energy, and passion. Blood-red, however, is a muddy and dark shade of red which hints at the corruption of this energy and passion. It symbolizes all of the darker passions that arise within human awareness, such as hatred, anger, and destructive feelings. Combined, all of these factors demonstrate that it is all of these darker emotions that contribute to the degeneration of the human mind into a hellish environment, which can be viewed as a method of self-induced quarantine.

Directly below this red shape is the most prominent piece of text on the page. In the center, slightly above the horizontal midline of the page, is “CHAPTER XXX” written in all capital letters. This holds a symbolic biblical meaning, as the number thirty (XXX read as a roman numeral) equates to divine order in biblical numerology. Also, these words are surrounded by a parchment-colored oval, which is the only circular object on the page. Circles are also interpreted to have an extremely spiritual meaning, as they represent unity, infinity, and perfection. This further strengthens the religious allusions present in this piece. Divine order becomes the driving force behind the work as a whole, and is philosophically hinted at more prominently towards the end of the observers experience with the piece. This selection of words is connected by two extremely thin parchment-colored lines, reminiscent of a lightning bolts, that shoot both upwards and downwards in order to connect the oval with “sorrow/ materials” above it and “the emotions of men” below it. In context, divine order becomes the unifying concept between all “sorrow/ materials” and all of “the emotions of men”. This reveals to the observer that when viewed through the eyes of a higher power, it is his/her own human nature that causes their own pain and suffering. Diction is also important here, as the blame is only placed upon the emotions “of men”, or in other words, those emotions that correspond to the darker side of humanity. Interestingly enough, these are the same emotions that are connected to the color blood-red.

Descending from “the emotions of men” is another off-white line which juts sharply downward into the black background before forking into two separate lines, each terminating at another piece of text. The eye’s descent down the page is both literal and figurative, as it also represents the descent into the darker realms of existence. One of the paths terminate in a simple phrase, which sounds more like an observation than anything else. Here, the observer learns that “hell is/ torments”, immediately being faced the horrible consequences of their darker “emotions”, which are prescribed by the divine order embodied by the number XXX. Ironically, the second pathway leads to a second observation, stating tersely “tongs, supplied”. Tongs are tools used by blacksmiths to manipulate metal at extremely high temperatures, like those associated with the burning fires of hell. The ironic message transmitted here is that thankfully, although a soul has found itself in hell, tongs are “supplied” so they do not burn themself.

Finally, at the very bottom of the page, is a block of text that is completely isolated. Fittingly enough, this text is “separated/ once for all”, and indeed it is the only text in the entire piece that is not connected to any other block of text. It is the lowest object on the page, and the last thing that the eye is drawn to. It reflects on the divine order theme hinted at by the roman numeral XXX, as well as eliciting a tone of quarantine and preservation.

It is here that a philosophical reason for hell is suggested at as well. When a person’s dark passions overtake them and they are sent down to hell, shown by the downward progression of the words on the page, they are effectively “separated/ once” from the rest of creation “for [the sake of] all”. Here is where the entire rest of the piece is put into perspective; where the cause (“the emotions of men” and all “sorrow/ materials”), the effect (placement into “hell”), and the reason interrelating the cause and effect (separation “for [the sake of] all”) is revealed.

Dante's Inferno, Post 2

PART A:
I would now like to comment on perhaps the most graphic and visually disturbing image that I have seen in this book. For some reason, Dante's vision of the Second ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell is extremely pertinant in my mind. As explained, this circle contains all those who have committed violence towards themselves (aka suicides). Their punishment seems very fitting in my eyes, as their bodies have been transformed into all kinds of thorny bushes, trees, and other coarse plants. The reasoning behind this is that since they had forsaken their bodies in life, they did not diserve a body in the afterlife. The punishment fits the crime quite nicely, in my eyes.

Now comes the disturbing part. To add insult to injury, throughout this dark wood of suicide-trees runs other tormented souls who are being pursued by all kinds of wild creatures and beasts, including swarms of ravenous insects. Unknowing that the trees were actually people in tree form, Dante broke off a branch from one of these trees. Immediately, Dante describes:

"As from a sapling log that catches fire/ alone one of its ends, while at the other/ it drips and hisses with escaping vapor,/ so from that broken stump issued together/ both words and blood; at which I let the branch/ fall, and I stood like one who is afraid."

This is an extremely descriptive and graphic image of a hissing bloody tree; all that's left of a person who committed suicide. For some reason, this is one of the most memorable moments in the book for me. It's so gruesome, but it's one of my favorite moments in the book. What did you guys think about this scene? What was your favorite scene so far?

PART B:
To respond to Cynthia's question as to why this story became so popular, I think it's most likely because of the time in which this was published. This book was written, according to different sources, sometime between 1306 and 1321 AD. In this time, the world was FAR more religious than it is now. People placed great weight on religion, and the fact that this book shed so much insight into such an abstract and forbidden zone probably intrigued many people. Also, I think the combination of ancient Greek mythology and Judeo-Christian references in this book caused a great deal of controversy during that time period, which made the story both famous and infamous. It's in-depth exploration of the torments of hell both terrified and intrigued both the people of his age and the present age.

Chuck Close: The Photorealistic Window to His Mind

Chuck Close is a contemporary artist who has become globally famous for being a master of the photorealistic style of painting. His full name is Charles Thomas Close, and he was born on July 5th, 1940 in Monroe, Washington. Throughout his childhood, he struggled with learning disabilities which caused him great hardship in the classroom environment. Additionally he has been described as being a clumsy and un-athletic child, and possessed no affinity towards playing sports. His personal struggle with dyslexia coerced him into the artistic environment, and he began displaying various types of artistic expression from a young age. At the tender age of four years old, Close declared that he wanted to become an artist. When he turned five years old, his father built for him an easel, and gave him his first set of oil paints. In order to make friends and “get kids to be around [him]” (Marmor) when he was a child, Close drew and painted. The magnitude of his artistic skills soon became extremely apparent.

When he was eleven years old, his home life was devastated by a barrage of tragedies that directly affected both him and his family members. The first of these tragedies was the passing away of his father, who had constantly been in ill health throughout Close’s childhood. Soon after, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This led to a foreclosure on their house due to their inability to afford the medical bills, and forced them to move. Soon after, his grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and Close himself was bedridden for a large amount of time because he had contracted nephritis; a severe kidney infection. In order to cope with the unbearable anguish, Close looked towards his artistic talents for security and release.

These artistic abilities continued to develop and manifest throughout his secondary school education, and in 1958 Chuck Close enrolled in the University of Washington, Seattle. Over the next four years, Close studied art and graduated in 1962 with a B.A. degree. He then continued to attend grad school at Yale University from 1962 until 1964, where he earned his M.F.A..

After graduating from grad school, Chuck Close taught art for three years at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, until he decided that he would leave this teaching job in order to pursue his own personal art career in 1967.

Severe tragedy struck again in Close’s life on December 7th, 1988, when he was forty-nine years old. He suffered from a spinal blood clot that left him quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair. When asked about his primary concern during this dark moment in his life, Close is quoted to have declared that he was afraid “since [he’ll] never be able to move again, [he] would not be able to make art. [He] watched [his] muscles waste. [His] hands didn’t work.” (Close) Thankfully since then, Close has indeed been able to continue his artistic career with the use of various technological aids to compensate for his lack of mobility. He currently utilizes a brush-holding device which is strapped to his wrist and forearm to make up for his inability to grip the brush physically, and the enormous canvases that he works on are set up on hydraulic lifts in order to be moved around. Although he is confined to a wheelchair and unable to stand, the canvases themselves are rotated, lifted, and lowered so that he may reach any part of them.

During his life, Chuck Close has revolutionized the artistic genre of portraiture. Originally starting out a practitioner of more expressionistic paintings, he decided to break away from that style in order to “find [his] own voice,” (Close) and began creating enormous portraits in the photorealistic style of painting. His success with this new photorealistic style of painting stemmed from two distinct psychological forces- his difficulty retaining memories of what people’s faces looked like and Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies that arose as a direct result of his chaotic and tragic childhood. After suffering from the spinal blood clot that left him quadriplegic, he was no longer able to physically work using the photorealistic style of painting, and because of this his personal style of painting shifted towards a more abstract and minimalist style. This registers as a noticeable and fascinating change in the structure of his paintings, as well as a change in the palette of colors he chooses to employ. These post-hospital paintings could be described as surreal or almost bizarre, and like their predecessors they contain key psychological clues that point towards Close’s subconscious scrambling to regain control of its external environment. Because of Chuck Close’s intricate and complicated personal psychology combined with his creative and artistic abilities, he has undoubtedly revolutionized portraiture and become one of the world’s most famous contemporary artists.

Perhaps one of Chuck Close’s most famous paintings is his self portrait entitled Big Self-Portrait, which was completed in 1968. This monstrous piece of artwork was completed in his signature photorealistic style on 107.5 X 83.5 X 2 inch canvas. It was created using a mixture of black acrylic paint and water, and applied using an airbrush. Final details were created by carefully scratching off layers of the paint with a razor blade. This painting is so incredibly detailed, that at first glance it appears to be nothing but an enormous photograph. The painting features a young, shirtless Chuck Close with thick black-rimmed glasses standing in front of a plain white background. He is displayed only from just below the shoulders up, with his head tilted slightly back and facing directly towards the viewer. His hair is long and unkempt, and spidery lengths of chest hair protrude upwards towards his face from the bottom of the canvas. He sports a rather thick mustache, and in his mouth he holds a smoldering cigarette. His gaze is distant and unfocused, and his two front teeth are just barely visible from behind slightly pursed lips. The overall countenance of the portrait gives off a distinctively edgy aura.

While the overall portrait itself is not exceedingly creative at first glance, what captivates viewers the most is the sheer amount of detail that Close put into this piece of work. When viewed from afar, it appears to be a legitimate photograph taken with a high-quality camera. Only when viewed from close-range can the painting even be recognized as such.

Keeping in mind Close’s lack of control over intellectual information and three-dimensional memory due to his Dyslexia, it makes sense that Close would compensate for these disabilities by exerting obsessive control over his artistic media. This psychological control complex undoubtedly developed out of feelings of inadequacy that were created by his childhood problems with Dyslexia, as his focus shifted away from things that he could not control (his learning abilities or memory) towards things that he knew he could, such as his artwork. In this way his desire to exert control over his environment amplified his pre-existing artistic ability, and gave him a sense of security. To this day, he claims that “inspiration is highly overrated,” (Close) favoring artistic development through personal experience and hard work.

It must not be ignored, however, that there is sufficient evidence to propose a more sinister source to his spectacularly detailed painting style. During interviews, Close has admitted that each and every “tone is the result of a conscious effort,” (Close) creating artworks that embody a “level of perfection that is only [his].” (Close) Putting artistic pride aside, he seems to display an obsessive fascination with perfection. Claiming that “most of the pleasure [in painting] is in getting the last little piece perfect,” (Close) Chuck Close could be the perfect embodiment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, disguised as almost superhuman artistic ability. Interestingly, Close may demonstrate a self-induced, and subconsciously controlled, psychological disorder used to compensate for another disabling psychological disorder, and to cope with the traumatic events that plagued him during his eleventh year of life.

At a young age, Close’s battle with Dyslexia combined with the barrage of multiple, uncontrollable tragedies during a relatively short time span in his childhood may have planted in his subconscious a burning desire to regain control over his environment. This could potentially manifest itself as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder later in his life. When his three-dimensional memory began to fail him later on in his life (possibly an extension of his childhood Dyslexia) and he was having difficulty remembering the faces of individuals, it can be theorized that his subconscious would recall this sense of helplessness from his childhood and urge him to correct it. Therefore when he created portraits of individuals close to him in order to remember them, he would not only be moved by the desire to remember the faces of these people but he would be obsessively urged to control the media in which he worked by his subconscious, and in doing so be able to obsessively, and metaphorically, control them and keep them close to his heart and life- something that he was unable to accomplish with his father, the health of his mother or his grandmother, a secure, dependable home to live in, or his own health. Due to his chaotic childhood, it wouldn’t be hard to grasp that Chuck Close developed OCD which categorized him in the form of an “arranger;” (Helpguide.com) someone who is “obsessed with order.” (Helpguide.com)

If the theory of Chuck Close having a form of Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is to be taken seriously, there must be present both obsessive patterns of thought and compulsive behaviors that coincide with these thoughts. Fortunately for the point of this paper, there is such evidence. If Chuck Close were to be plagued by obsessive and reoccurring desires to control his environment due to childhood trauma, and this were triggered particularly by the creative and artistic processes in his brain, it makes perfect sense that this would manifest as an “excessive need to do things perfectly” (Cushman) in regards to his paintings. Additionally, the disorder would go largely unnoticed and completely undiagnosed if it were to only manifest in the art studio, catalyzed by the artistic processes in Close’s mind.

When Close suffered from a crippling spinal blood clot on December 7th, 1988, he was left quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair. Now, in addition to being unable to control his mind fully, he lost nearly all control of his physical body. His fine motor skills were obliterated, requiring the use of a mechanical device strapped to his forearm in order to even hold a paintbrush. In order to reach every part of the enormous canvases that he was used to working on, he required them to be set up on hydraulic lifts by other people, and rotated and moved around frequently. Understandably he would no longer be physically capable of continuing the incredibly detailed photorealistic work that he had been so accustomed to producing, and this would be another crippling blow to his psyche in regards to its desire to control his environment.

In a haunting rendition of his own face, Chuck Close’s 2003 Self-Portrait reflects the psyche of a man whose subconscious mind is scrambling to regain control of a life that has suddenly left its comfort (and control) zone. At close range, the painting appears to be nothing more than a mass of incoherent squares and blobs of white, black, values of gray and ashen blue. The forms seem to flow and writhe, ever-elusive and ungraspable like water. When the painting is viewed at a distance, however, Close’s mastery of hue is displayed as the “random” forms unify into a stunning portrait of an aged Chuck Close, eyes transfixed intensely on an unknown object behind the viewer. Close’s ghastly pale countenance seems to almost float in front of a dark background, with the contrasting colors and “restless abstract shapes” (Friedman) accentuating the spectral feel of the piece. In this and similar pieces, Close strove to utilize a “creative process that could be interrupted repeatedly without . . . damaging the final product, in which the segmented structure was never intended to be disguised.” (Close) This painting, like much of his post-blood clot paintings, displays an underlying but distinctive grid-like structure that both divines and unifies the painting. Coincidentally, or perhaps not-so-coincidentally, the same could be said about his spinal blood clot. The “curiously liberating” (Close) experience, although certainly traumatic, seems to have “absolutely accelerated what was already happening,” (Friedman) in the sense that it further unlocked and amplified Close’s creative abilities. His spinal blood clot forcibly loosened his iron grip of control on his life. Post-hospital, Close’s paintings seem to be “much more than objective exercises in technique,” (Friedman) as they give invaluable insight into the psychological battles being waged deep in his subconscious.

Following the theory that constant childhood struggle and tragedy caused Chuck Close to develop OCD, it would be easy to suggest that a similar response would be triggered by his spinal blood clot and subsequent loss of use of his arms and legs. Due to his physical inability to utilize such a tight photorealistic painting style, he would hypothetically need to find some other aspect of painting that he could exact obsessive control over in order to satisfy the urges emerging from his subconscious. He was virtually forced to adopt the “grid-and-blob” style that did not require the same amount of fine motor control, as it allowed him to paint in bold monochromatic shapes that did not need to be created using minute, accurate movements of his hand. It is apparent in his post-hospital artwork that the object of his obsessive control became the very hue he used in order to create these pieces of artwork. In order for the individual shapes of color to have the proper hue and effect when viewed from afar, Chuck Close needed to produce layers upon layers of paint that took the form of concentric rings, squares, and other shapes when viewed at close range. By combining multiple rings of different colors and shapes, he created the perfect hue and amount of detail needed for the observing eye to read the desired form.

These Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies are strikingly apparent in his 1997 Self-Portrait, whose forms are made not from mixtures of black, white, and blue, but instead in full-blown color. Even the so-called “whites” of the eyes are “actually composed of many hues: blues, pinks, ochres, almost everything but pure white.” (Friedman) Close examination of the “skin tone” used on this painting reveals concentric rings of various tints and shades of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and violets. His facial hair contains dark browns, light blues, and even aqua colors. The highlights on his face including the ridge of his eyebrows and his cheekbones contain a distinctly larger concentration of golden or light-yellow colored shapes, while the lowlights and shadows on his face and neck are formed primarily out of concentric rings of forest green, brown, and shades of red. “Solid” figures such as the rims of his glasses and the outer edge of his face and head are fragmented by and integrated into the hues and figures that are behind them. The whites of close’s eyes are formed by alternating concentric rings of pink and blue tints, with a relatively small amount of white.

Although not a self-portrait, the 2002 portrait of his niece Emma displays an even greater advancement in this new artistic style. Although it is based off of a diagonal grid, the painting contains significantly large sections that do not fit into the diagonal grid, but are also made up of layers upon layers of different colors that blend together and form a coherent and descriptive painting when viewed from far away. In order to create specific curvatures that are not easily apparent using the angular grid method, Close painted specific regions of the painting using multi-layered ovals or banana-shaped sections. Additionally, on the baby’s forehead there are strange shapes that resemble amoebas and regions of color that resemble either boomerangs or capital L’s can be seen sparingly scattered across the background.

The background of the painting and the skin of the face are made up of multitudes of unusual colors that one would not expect to see on a person’s face. The skin, in particular, is made up primarily out of varying hues of red, orange, yellow, purple, green, and peach. The highlights of the baby’s face are created from grid boxes that are filled with primarily layers of yellow tints, while the shadows on the baby’s face are created by primarily using tints of violet. Interestingly, because violet and yellow are complimentary colors and the combined nature of these hues produce a dark and neutral tone. Mid tones on the baby’s face are created using primarily green and orange, which are (more or less) analogous to yellow on the color wheel, and are equidistant from both violet and yellow in comparison to each other. From far away, the baby’s eyebrows are apparent but when viewed from up close they are almost indiscernible. They are formed from combining primarily hues of orange and violet, and when viewed up close they seem to blend and dissipate into the myriad of chaotic colors that fill up the grid, making discernment of their form impossible. There does not seem to be any brown used in the painting except in very small amounts in shaded areas, as opposed to his 1997 Self-Portrait in which the skin contains a significant amount of brown. The eyes themselves are made up of primarily blue, teal, and aqua colors, but also include purples and pinks in order to provide contrast and to neutralize the blue tones.

In order to create white areas such as the whites of the baby’s eyes or the white stripes on the baby’s shirt, combinations of extremely light tints of varying hues, but never pure white, are employed in the same concentric ring style used in the rest of the painting. The only amount of pure white noticeable in the painting is in the form of small, circular dots baby’s eyes, which serve as sources of reflected light. Pure black can be found only in the pupils of the eyes and in various parts of the hair.

Analysis of the color composition of the portrait exposes a general omission of shades of green. Although there is an abundance of red, blue, violet, yellow, and orange shades, the only location that shades of green may be found is in the upper left hand corner of the background, and the darkest shadows under the baby’s chin on the viewer’s left side. Interestingly, within each gridded diamond or shape contained within this portrait there is no less than three different rings of color that blend together to form a single hue when viewed from far away. No single diamond-shaped region has any less than three entirely different hues in it, either. There are often multiple tints or shades of the same hue within a single region, but they are never the exact same hue.

Viewed chronologically, Close’s Emma serves as a stylistic bridge between his 1997 and his 2007 self-portraits. It contains an even larger usage of unusual and exotic colors than in his 1997 self-portrait, and contains a proportionately larger underlying grid structure. The larger grid structure has allowed Close to create portraits that have been increasingly abstract, and with a larger numbers of layers or rings per subdivision. The larger grid structure can also be seen in his 2007 Self-Portrait, in which the fluidity of the painted image and number of un-gridded abstract shapes has also increased. It seems only logical to predict that in the future Close will continue to employ a progressively larger grid structure in his paintings, as well as utilize a larger number of colors per division in order to create even more abstract and interesting pieces. It might even be speculated that in the future, the general public should be expecting Chuck Close to produce artwork in which the image is not based on a grid at all, but on conglomerations of completely abstract shapes. It should also be expected of Close that he will continue to paint portraits of himself and others around him, as dictated by his psychological needs.

Close’s habit of using only “the purest intensity”(Close) and “the purest saturation” (Close) in these paintings and others such as these satiates his subconscious desire for order by exacting complete control over the hue that he uses in order to compensate for his inability to create perfect form. This is further exemplified by noting the range of colors Close chose to use in the creation of such pieces. He admits to using only “a very simple palette of red, yellow, and blue” (Guare) in order to “build [his] own colors.” (Close) By rejecting the use of anything but the primary colors, Close demonstrates not only mastery of color-mixing techniques and color theory but his psychological desire for control, as he chooses to restrict himself from using pre-made colors in order to build them himself. These incredibly captivating and revolutionary works of art stand as a testament to the powerful release offered by creative and artistic endeavors, and she sheer creative power of the human mind.

Close’s “psychological qualities inherent in his self-portraits” (Friedman) have become increasingly apparent in his post-hospital years. When viewed with a keen eye, these “painting experiences” (Close) contain such multitudes of information that it makes it almost impossible to not “conjecture that some form of self-revelation is taking place” (Friedman) within Close’s mind. Close has admitted that when painting self-portraits, he “always referred to it as ‘him’” (Close) and that he found it exceedingly difficult to “deal with the fact that [the person being painted] was [him.]” (Close) This statement holds great weight, especially when it is applied to a comparison between his older self-portrait, the 1968 Big Self-Portrait, and his more recent 2003 Self-Portrait. The older self-portrait, depicting a crystal-clear image of an unkempt, almost sneering man clashes greatly with the indistinct and fluid shapes that form the spectral image of a post-hospital Chuck Close. This new style suggests an almost desperate attempt to regain control, as the grid-like structure of the painting tries, and fails, to contain the flows and ellipses of color that make up the ghostly visage. Close may be suggesting, through this haunting rendition of himself and others like it, that he is not ready to admit that he has once again lost control over yet another keystone aspect of his life.

As a psychological case study, Close is an extremely interesting individual whose artwork seems to be fed and driven by the interaction between various psychological influences. He was both “pushed” towards art by his inability to excel at intellectual endeavors due to Dyslexia, and “pulled” towards it as a way for him to gain security through love, friendship, and desire for attachment as a child. Once the seeds of creative expression were planted in his psyche, they were greatly amplified by his Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies that were a direct result of previously having little to no control over his life, and the lives of those he loved around him. His OCD manifested itself through the only psychological outlet Close possessed - his artwork - and thus allowed him to create fantastically detailed portraits of those whom he held dear. Attachment again comes into play, as the monumental likenesses of these individuals served as a way for Close to forcibly ingrain the faces of those he wanted to remember into his mind, which up until this point had been almost impossible due to an unknown psychological issue inhibiting his retention of three-dimensional memory (presumably an extension of his Dyslexia, although this is not a scientifically recognized symptom of Dyslexia). In an effort to overcome this limitation, it appears as if Chuck Close subconsciously called upon the Obsessive-Compulsive urges for order and control generated by his chaotic childhood in an effort to understand the structure of his subject’s faces down to the minutest detail. When he was again subjected to influences out of his control in the form of a crippling spinal blood clot, Close re-revolutionized portraiture by again channeling his OCD through his creativity. Although his body was no longer able to perform the precise movements needed to continue his stunning photorealistic portraits, he compromised by inventing a new painting style- one that relies on strict control of hue instead of on shape, and in the process of doing so revolutionized portraiture and became one of the forefathers of the photorealistic movement in the United States.

Dante's Inferno Blog Discussion - Post 1

PART A:
Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love this book! One of the things that stood out to me right from the get-go was the integration of various different faiths into a single storyline. In the first Canto, References are made to religious figures from both the Jewish and Christian traditions (Rachel and Beatrice, respectively), and place them within the same context and zone: a Judeo-Christian heaven. Furthermore, Dante finds himself standing on the shores of a river which marks the passage to the afterlife, where the figure Charon pilots a craft across to transport him and his guide Virgil to the outer ring of hell. Charon, his occupation, and the river itself are all borrowed from ancient Greek religion, and are interwoven into this story with a Judeo-Christian backstory. I find this extremely interesting and ironic. Furthermore, in response to the realm of Limbo, I find it interesting that Virgil admits to only seeing souls delivered from this realm of in-between on a single occasion. He states:

"I was new-entered on this state/ when I beheld a Great Lord enter here;/ the crown he wore, a sign of victory./ He carried off the shade of our first father, of his son Abel, and the shade of Noah,/ of Moses, the obedient legislator,/ of father Abraham, David the king,/ of Israel, his father, and his sons,/ and Rachel, she for whom he worked so long,/ and many others- and He made them blessed;"

Presumably, this "Great Lord" is meant to be taken as Jesus, who pulls the souls of many Jewish holy people out of the realm of people who "did not worship God in fitting ways." I think it interesting that not only is there a Heaven and a Hell, but there is also an in-between world of saddness and silence.

PART B:
Finally, I would like to pose a question for the rest of the group. I may have missed something, but what had caused Dante to begin this journey in the first place? I thought it said that he had simply been walking and he had gotten lost, is that a correct reading?

Also, I would like to pose the question, "What is Dante's original faith?" It seems to me that he was most likely Christian, but he seems to have extensive literary and mythological knowledge of many greek myths as well. The Inferno references numerous creatures from greek mythology such as minotaurs, gorgons, harpies, and other such creatures. Do you guys find it odd combining ancient Greek and Judeo-Christian references? I find it to be a relativly seamless integration.