Happy Friday the 13th, says Roger
Our readers here may remember when we ran Roger Ballen with I fink ur freaky, and in our BURN.01 book. On this Friday the 13th, with great pleasure, we present again stunning new work… enjoy!
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Related:
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/die-antwoord-roger-ballen-horror-film-asylum
Me neither, Lou, me neither.
https://youtu.be/kTcRRaXV-fg
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=ramesh+mario+nithiyendran+ceramics&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixrNmtidjMAhUBoJQKHTTdCtoQ_AUIBygB&biw=1024&bih=681
sadly I am not artistically intelligent enough to comment on this work.
The sound design was incredible. Brilliant in fact. Good stuff.
JOHN GLADDY
ha ha…well the best thing to do in a case like that is just to say “pardon me, but this just isn’t my cup of tea” or more to the point “i hate this shit”…..well i’m not artistically intelligent enough to comment either, but well i have always been a huge Ballen fan…I’ve watched I Fink Ur Freaky dozens of times….cut beautifully, masterful work all around….Ballen sticks to his head..marches to his own drummer…brilliantly works his way into your head..you don’t know if his playing with you or tricking you or himself, but it doesn’t matter …he’s got you…the man is a giant…but of course not for everyone….
hey John…it’s Magnum London time end of June…if you are in town let’s do the Magnum party again….they haven’t thrown you out yet….hope to see you my friend….
cheers, david
Love Ballen. Freud with a camera. And Dante’s Virgil as his guide. Brilliant.
They made a movie of the theatre of my mind, but it’s not nearly as interesting.
DAVID. I seem to remember that at the last magnum do in London you left very quickly with a …friend.. (with fantastic eyes i remember) and left me with Thomas bregulla drinking cognac chasers at $30 a shot. Whether I got thrown out or not, I have no real memory of most of the night after that until waking up in a kebab shop near my home so it is entirely possible.
Regarding Mr Ballen; I too am a huge fan (of his early work mainly) but my comment here is what he said to me when I challenged his last piece (boarding house) in Burn magazine. I thought the ‘ART THEORY’ aspect of that work was somewhat up its own ass and it seemed just an extension of the previous book.
I am unwell at the moment, and have been for quite some time, also my mother has recently died and we are sorting out the estate, which is hard for me, but i would be honoured to go and it would be good to catch up face to face. let me know the details somehow.
John Gladdy…
I’m very sorry about your mother. I still clearly recall that powerful photo of your mother’s wrist you shot in colour as she lay in hospital. It stopped me in my tracks.
Take great care and get better as soon as possible, I want to new work from you.
Regarding Roger Ballen the first time I ever encountered his work I automatically assumed this was the work of sone screwed up tortured soul. These days I think he’s quite the opposite and I seem to see a very smart man who knows very well how to market his art. I still don’t get his work, although I’m beginning to enjoy it…
https://youtu.be/sieUlqQIxT8
PAUL.
we are animaled in. in ten seconds all is nothing.
this is
the interior décor of Erewhon.
we feel like children
with intellectual measles,
mumps,
(not right).
the shark’s an inflatable bath-tub toy
not scary, no, a cartoon
pickled in its frame,
a grey antipasto.
the wallpaper
has measles.
the sun has diarrhoea but the medicine’s a glassed-off
placebo.
he could not choose
between Beuys and Warhol
so the wanton boy’s
‘A Thousand Years’
is a bluebottle Treblinka
more Aryan than millenarian
and butterflies are mass-produced
to colour the nothingness blue.
at the puddle of gunk by the cow’s head, a fly laps the fake marrow
then lifts his dark matter into the air
to try his luck with the insect-o-cuter
which glows
ever-ready as a bourgeois smile.
the cow’s head smiles too
smaller than when I last saw
it, sucked to the skull.
the charade is so thorough, so honeycombed
with hype and money,
that throats will swallow it
(pharma
ceutically)
but we’d wish the flies to smash
out
of their deathcamp,
shape-change into critics
to land
and deposit
invisible
comments
on the
pollyfilla
showroom:
‘we are exhausted by this
onus, this opus… aren’t you?
your day out is our life’
Thoughts on damian Hirst retrospective
By Niall McDevitt
read the article that follows the poem here. (International Times)
http://internationaltimes.it/lord-of-the-flies-2/
Although I am not certain, it seems to me there is a way out of the mind and we all inevitably take that way out.
John, I hope things get better. Such a struggle, this life. My condolences regarding your mom.
John, my condolences on your mother’s passing.
ALL. Thank you.
John Gladdy…
Ouch! Loved the review and that poem was brilliant, perfect for Ballen. I used to think the same of Tracy Emin, but after seeing her nudes I had to change my mind. The woman can paint.
Being able to paint has no bearing on the construction of conceptual pieces.
it’s been about 3 or 4 years since ive been by.
hello everyone.
still on night duty.
PAUL. And just to clarify, I am not knocking Mr Ballens work itself. It is self evidently fantastic and striking photography (obviously the early early stuff like Boyhood ( very very average pictures of lots of young boys) is not included in that assessment). It is the (cod) Art psychology and grandiose proclamations that I am suspicious of. (as evidenced by the above video)
BTW. I agree with your analysis regarding smart marketing…but that is the name of that game for those that want to join the club.
If you really dont get his work I suggest getting a copy of Outland or Plattland from a library or somewhere and just sit with it for a couple of hours. Dont try and read anything into it, just look at the pictures. They need no over complication with meaning or story.
Hey Gracie….but its daytime here :)
Hi Gracie :)!
John Gladdy…
Same here, no criticism on Ballen’s work. In fact the more I look at his imagery the more I enjoy it. Not that I get to understand it any better, but still maybe that isn’t the point. I’ll take your advice and find Outlands and Plattland.
https://youtu.be/2hNqmuTvbik
Saying hi, Gracie
John, condolences and best wishes on the current state of your health.
Regarding the gist of Ballen’s work, I don’t see any big mystery. Seems to me his images represent an existential inquiry into the human condition, or perhaps just the artist’s condition, through symbols of madness, disfunction and deformity. The Magic Theater, to quote Wikipedia, is a place where the character experiences the fantasies that exist in his mind; where the concerns and notions that plague his soul disintegrate as he interacts with the ethereal and phantasmal.
Or I’m missing something huge beyond the seemingly obvious? Wouldn’t be the first time.
Anyhoo, just because the larger concept is unoriginal doesn’t mean it’s not good. More likely, the Theater of the Mind is one of those ur-stories told throughout the evolution of humankind that resonates at some deep level in the human psyche. Nothing wrong with retelling them, just a question of how innovative one is about it.
When I was much younger, I liked grisly black and white stuff like this. Nowadays I more often prefer color versions such as the one I linked to above. But that’s just me and says nothing about the quality of anyone else’s aesthetic.
Regarding the “you just may be an artist” video, I liked it and the insights Ballen expressed about photography therein.
JOHNYG.
From all the BURNIANS …keep farting,keep smiling …we LOVE you !!!!
And remember,civi’s house is open 24/7…
Oh,my crazy chickens,oime…MY GRACIE is here…yohooo,BURN is the place to be!!!
Love you ALL…and Thank you !!!
And the question of the day :
You may be a photographer BUT are you a BURNIAN ?
Reminds me of my brain the first time I tried Zen meditation. Flinging poo in the cage that is my head and jumping around. Dig how he edits and presents his work.