Theatre of the Sublime: May 2012

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Anne Sexton (1928 - 1974) - Poet

photo by, Rollie McKenna

Admonitions to a Special Person

Watch out for power, for its avalanche can bury you, snow, snow, snow, smothering your mountain.
Watch out for hate, it can open its mouth and you’ll fling yourself out to eat off your leg, an instant leper.
Watch out for friends, because when you betray them, as you will, they will bury their heads in the toilet and flush themselves away. Watch out for intellect, because it knows so much it knows nothing and leaves you hanging upside down, mouthing knowledge as your heart falls out of your mouth. Watch out for games, the actor’s part, the speech planned, known, given, for they will give you away and you will stand like a naked little boy, pissing on your own child-bed. Watch out for love (unless it is true, and every part of you says yes including the toes), it will wrap you up like a mummy, and your scream won’t be heard and none of your running will end. Love? Be it man. Be it woman. It must be a wave you want to glide in on, give your body to it, give your laugh to it, give, when the gravelly sand takes you, your tears to the land. To love another is something like prayer and can’t be planned, you just fall into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief. Special person, if I were you I’d pay no attention to admonitions from me, made somewhat out of your words and somewhat out of mine. A collaboration. I do not believe a word I have said, except some, except I think of you like a young tree with pasted-on leaves and know you’ll root and the real green thing will come. Let go. Let go. Oh special person, possible leaves, this typewriter likes you on the way to them, but wants to break crystal glasses in celebration, for you, when the dark crust is thrown off and you float all around like a happened balloon.
-- Anne Sexton

Friday, May 18, 2012

Nancy Berry ~ For the Dance of the Light

Nancy Berry: For the Dance of the Light – Friday, May 18

· Posted By: Kathy M.Y. Pyon

· Posted On: 8:32 a.m. | May 12, 2012

· VENUE:
Pacific Design Center

· VENUE LINK:
http://www.pacificdesigncenter.com/

· VENUE LOCATION:
8687 Melrose Avenue, Suite B315- 3rd Floor , West Hollywood, CA 90069  

· VENUE TIMES:
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

· VENUE DATES:
Friday

· VENUE ADMISSION:
Free

"Nancy Berry was a highly successful music industry executive who only began making photographs six years ago. Completely self-taught, she has turned her sense of style and exploration into a visual journey of experimentation. The body of work presented for this one-day show at the Pacific Design Center was created with natural light and her creative sense — and all in camera, rather than by manipulation after the image is made. The craziest process that Berry applies is what makes me screech with delight. By her sheer confidence and boldness, she actually destroys whatever element she has utilized to create the lighting effects. I don’t know if I could do such a thing.

The pieces are beautiful and whimsical. And some are haunting while being beautiful and whimsical."

Caption: Have You Seen the Saucers, 2012 by Nancy Berry

Courtesy of the LA Times.

It was an esteemed honor to be invited to Nancy's opening last night. Beautifully located at the PDC commonly known as the "Blue Whale," nestled in the heart of West Hollywood. I arrived only minutes late and unfashionably early for LA. meeting a beautiful friend there not wanting to keep her waiting. We were guided to the terrace offering gorgeous views of Cesar Pelli's 14 acre design planked against an amazing LA sunset.

I've always been a fan of Nancy's work exchanging thoughts with her on Flickr for the past three years but I wasn't prepared for the immense feeling that came over me when I entered through the glass doors. You first see "After Midnight" a gorgeous and explicably grand 60x44 archival Giclee print framed to perfection. Because I was so unfashionable this allowed Jane and I to walk throughout the gallery before most of the guests arrived. 167 flawless prints on canvas and archival giclee of a mermaid like goddess of un-mistakable courageousness. Each displayed in 7 rooms and one side room.

I first saw Nancy in the Yellow Room filled with canvas's of "In Rainbow Shadowed Trees," with her shoes kicked off beside her. I was struck by her beautiful humility and her warm radiance. I resisted the urge to hug too tightly as I was swept by the energy and excitement in the room.

While in the Blue Room I had an ethereal urge to smell the salt of the sea once again. The boldness and romantic feel, the intricate and flawless use of light left me astonished that these were the images I once saw on Flickr.

The party began to fill with the art world from actors to writers to painters to musicians and photographers. I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming for surreal was the atmosphere and the vibe.

The Black Room in which Nancy's "Koln Diaries," were displayed - my favorite series from her trip abroad last year, over flowed with a sea of brilliant people mostly dressed in their best trendy blacks all there to give their loving support of her.Their backdrop a menagerie of vivid and sensuous black and whites. It was a pleasure meeting some of them, an experience I'm not likely to forget.

After saying goodnight to my lovely friend Jane and buzzing from the magic of the evening I began my decent home. Getting a little turned around, around San Vicente Blvd. I looked for my familiar spot of La Brea turning down a side street, a car erratically turned in front of me crashing into a tree. Before I could reach for my iPhone they sped off leaving their bumper and debris behind them. Any other night this would have been the event I suppose but I rarely breathed a word of it today reeling from Nancy Berry's extraordinary event.

Her exhibit has been extended to Sunday and if you are in the LA area I highly recommend you take a trip to the Pacific Design Center on Melrose Ave. to soak in the astonishing visions of this remarkable woman.