Dali on Religion & Faith as Expressed in Art

Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubist)

The Basket of Bread

He spent his life as a radical, disruptive, innovative and brilliantly extravagant artist. His life style was equal parts showman and creative genius. Many thought him mad but he was crazy in the best of ways; “like the proverbial fox.” You might think that such a man in death would be quietly at peace…not the surrealist master; Dali! His body was exhumed just this past Thursday (his famous mustache remaining gloriously intact.) It seems a sixty plus year old woman believes she is Dali’s child. She is looking to be compensated; hoping to find a DNA match. The Great Salvador Dali continues to stir up the world, even in death he rises.

Pardon me for changing gears to a point; but my original intention for this blog was to make note of the of the man’s religiosity as expressed in his art, particularly in his paintings. He excelled in his efforts like no other of his generation. There were others including Marc Chagall, Emil Nolde and Stanly Spencer that painted Christian themes among their works, yet Dali achieved a power that remains unmatched. 

The Dream of Christopher Columbus

His painting’s subjects and themes include The Crucifixion of Christ; The Holy Virgin, The Madonna and Child, The Last Supper and even the religious zeal of Christopher Columbus. Dali’s work “Basket of Bread” was considered in his mind to be his most surrealistic endeavor. It spoke to the Eucharistic as expressed in The Holy Communion. Life as journey is allegorically viewed in his painting “Phantom Chariot” the message is akin to John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.”  Again; his crucifixions were literal and technical interpretations of the event of Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection. These works; as masterful and as great as any from time immemorial.

Phantom Chariot

The Old Testament’s Book of Ecclesiastes 3 talks about the importance of time as it unfolds within the span of our human life and physical existence. It states there is a time and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

Melting Clock

                                                   

 Dali first addressed the passage of time in one of his highly referenced and signature works “The Persistence of Memory.” Among the most striking elements of the piece is the inclusion of the melting, lilting clocks and watches. These can likely be viewed as an interpretation of the temporal, declining nature of life. When asked about their meaning Dali replied “…the soft watches were inspired by the surrealist perception of a Camembert (cheese) melting in the sun. Life is as much as anything a series and process of gradual and eventual decay and finality. Dali would return to images of “melting clocks” on numerous occasions as surreal expressions along with other multiple symbolic imagery. 

Christ of St. John of the Cross

Salvador Dali continues to amaze and inform as we discover freshness to his life and works. We await his latest verdict as we applaud his grand visionary performances. The Magnificent Dali; the Eternal Dali, the Servant Dali.  

                                                

Salvador Dali Quotes

“Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.” 

“A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.” 

“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” 

“Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy —the joy of being Salvador Dalí— and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?” 

Donald Trump N.S.S.B.

His complaints, animosity, lying and rude vulgarity began in the presidential campaign and went into full blown anarchy on inauguration day. The size of his crowd as compared to that of President Obama’s became an issue. The popular vote loss as compared to Hillary Clinton’s numbers he raised as yet another question. The rounding out for day one was and remains; press coverage. This United States President would lead one to believe he hates the press, that it is unfair and false; but to the contrary he consumes the news (limited to television coverage) with an unbridled passion. Donald Trump is a "dangerous mind," a threat to himself and humanity and very much a ticking time bomb of a man. 

After reaching his one hundred day mark he had no real accomplishment. He had gotten his Supreme Court nominee appointed; but it took a major change in the decades old rule of a clear bi-partisan majority. He also won some favor for the bombing of Syria. There has been no follow up are any coherent plan of action or policy on the Syrian Civil War. By the same token his Muslim Travel Ban remains blocked and he is to date unable to replace and repeal affordable health care. He has multiple appointments yet to be made and his people remain under investigation for collusion with the Russians. Trump lives in the White alone and tweeting in the early morning hours. His weekends are lavish retreats to his ritzy Palm Beach, Florida digs. He spends his time golfing and gorging alone without his wife and young son.

Who gets it next???

Donald Trump having just returned from his first trip abroad; a venture very mixed in tone and accomplishment. He made an arms deal with the Totalitarian Saudi Monarchy. They sang each other’s praises and danced to world repressive and dominance.  He went on to bullying, insulting, boasting and mis-representing almost every protocol and diplomatic standard in the remainder of his trip. The European allies were little impressed with the man, especially Germany and France. This whiles his son-in-law; Jared Kushner becomes part of the Russian query, North Korea defiantly steps up their long range missile testing and his communications director’s sudden resignation. Trumps latest and biggest blast is his decision to drop out of the Paris Climate Accord. This is an incredibly bad move for the USA and the world at large. He may not recover as he has continually spiraled downward from his administration’s outset.

Mr. Trump; those in the Russian Government are not your or our friends (they are laughing at your ineptitude.) The press is not your enemy (it is the corner stone of and essential in a free republic.) With your tweets you are hurting yourself (Twitter is a form of social media not intended as a means of governing.)  Listen to Ivanka; you say she wants you to be a better person/leader. Mr. Trump; by every measure, you are failing miserably. Don’t make The United States a “Loser Nation” following the paths you consistently and irrationally seem compelled to take.

The "Zootopian Art" of Walton Ford

King Kong: Skull Island, Disney’s The Jungle book and Zootopia are all recent movie releases that I’m certain Walton Ford loves. Ford the accomplished contemporary artist; has a MFA in filmmaking and creates works as a fine artist that feature and reflect the creatures of nature and the natural world as his primary subjects. There is no possibility that he could not have loved these fore-mentioned films each possessing an uncanny resemblance and affinity of a definitive purpose and respect of commonality. Ford’s art could have been the basis of each films pre-production design and story-boards. Ford’s extraordinary depth and rang is unpatralled in his times for their achievement in the advancement of a form that has been largely ignored for decades. His lush, detailed, richly colored, exuberant pieces adorn many museums around the country and homes of the uber-rich.  

At first look Ford is a naturalist artist in the grand tradition of the likes of John J Audubon. He has painstakingly studied; primarily at the Rhode Island School of Design, New York’s Museum of Natural History and most importantly from “Mother Nature” herself. He parts from the traditionalist in his treatments of his subjects and places them often in very unnatural situations. He adorns his pieces with unusual texts; sometimes written in Latin that many times over are comedic, ironic and timely. 

The scale of Walton Ford’s art is also worthy of note. I have been fortunate enough to have seen his water-color representation of an Aurochs Bull on several occasions at Washington, DC’s American Art Museum. The dimensions of the work are 95” x 132.” It is divided into three sections and having first seen the work scaled down in the pages of “Art in America” magazine it remains a shockingly interesting as well as astonishingly beautiful experience to see this much larger than life master piece!

Ford remains ever and increasingly engaged in his work. He has recently done portraits of Kong, a commissioned Rolling Stones’ album cover and now depicts human beings in his paintings (usually as background embellishments.) Walton Ford thrives in his own “Zootopian World” as we benefit from his skill, devotion and Herculean extravagance of forms.