ISOM SYMBOLIC ART: philosophy

Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

A recent art exhibition at Grafica.

One of my satisfied buyers.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Hidden knowledge.

The dragon is a symbol of evil, in both the chivalric and Christian traditions. In the Orient, it symbolizes supernatural power, wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge. In most traditions, it is the embodiment of chaos and untamed nature.

Don't count your chickens.

"People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately."

- Oscar Wilde.

Friday, February 18, 2022

Plays at Belleville East.

I began my twenty-eight year teaching career at Belleville East High School in 1966. It was a new school and several of the campus style buildings were still unfinished and the art room was not equipped and ready for use. Art classes were held in a regular classroom without art tables or supplies. We were told that everything should be ready in a few months; t was about three months before we move to the new art building. Those three months help form my teaching philosophy at Belleville East. My mantra became manipulation of materials at hand and creative problems solving. We made projects out of building scraps and and found objects. We used copy paper and number two pencils to created our art work on typical school desks. Those early exploration into creativity continued even after all the equipment and supplies arrived.

In addition to teaching art I began to work on school plays. I was the faculty technical director for over fifty productions. My skills manipulating materials was really challenged. The beautiful new school did not have an auditorium or theater. There was a building used as a lecture hall that could be divided into three separate areas and it was used primarily for study halls and meetings. It had a few theater type seats and a raised lecture are made of concrete. The space was about twenty by thirty feet with no wing space, curtain or back stage areas. It also had to wall on each side that narrowed the space even more. This remained as the only performance are until after I retired when a new theater was built. A few plays were put on in the gym until the principle asked me if I could use the lecture space for productions. That first play was a challenge. No lights, no curtains, no dressing rooms, no tools just a bare concrete area. I purchase a portable light dimmer and had it wires to a small utility room. The dimmer had to sit in isle and was operated without a booth. We bought a few lights and the custodian attached a pipe to the ceiling and we had minimal lighting. We also bought a follow spot and positioned in the back of the room. I built flats in the hallway and made a few sandbags to support them. It was lucky that the first play was “A midsummer nights dream” and we got by with a few flats and some platforms. The student bathrooms in the hallway served as dressing rooms. I owe a lot to that first play and it taught me the value of creative problem solving. For the next thirty years I technical directed over fifty plays. Each play added more creative additions to that lecture center. The wall were removed a wood floor was added a light booth was build. I watch a small unusable space become an intimate proformance area. My only regret is that I did not get the opportunity to use a real theater.

Sunday, February 13, 2022

From the expanse of space to the microscopic view of structures.

The primary influence on my work is the natural world, from the expanse of space to the microscopic view of structures. I am not interested in reproducing what I see. Instead I am seeking a way to go beyond the world of nature and into the place between what we can see and what we cannot.

My interest, at either end of this spectrum of this reality, continues to feed my imagination.

Friday, January 28, 2022

Altered book

What sets art apart from other technological endeavors is not the innovative use of technology, but a creative misuse of it. To use a tool as it was intended, whether a screwdriver or spreadsheet, is simply to fulfill its potential. Misusing a tool by peeling off its ideological wrapper and applying it to a purpose or effect that was not its maker's intention-artists can exploit a technology's hidden potential in an intelligent and revelatory way.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

At ubi materia, ibi Geometria.

“Where there is matter, there is geometry.” Johannes Kepler

Monday, January 17, 2022

Natural world

My interest, at either end of this spectrum of this reality, continues to feed my imagination.

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Imprinting

“With sons and fathers, there's an inexplicable connection and imprint that your father leaves on you.” Brad Pitt

I am not a psychologist but I play one in daily life. Observing human behavior is a cottage industry in the world of aging. There is no better way to observe how we have become who we are than by the observation of our children. Observing the imprinting of our offsprings behavior gives us clues to what was meaningful and sometimes what was detrimental. I am imprinted by my mom and dads child rearing techniques; some good and some problematic. I have the perfect case study in my youngest son Lowell. Moving to Webster Groves to be near him and my grandchildren was fortuitous in many ways. Getting a chance to see him make his way through raising a family and developing a career is a wonderful learning experience. I have also given thought to my other four children and they also provide examples of imprinting by my wife and I.

Small things that were not particularly traumatic seem to be imprinted, in some cases, more indelibly than major emotional events. In my case, my fathers harsh techniques and personal emotional problems did not take root as much as his love for building and inventing. Those traits served me well for seventy-five years. It is also evident in my son Lowell. I was not aware that he was observing my every move as tried to keep the family home repaired and constantly remodeling to improve our living conditions. Observing him rehabbing houses and raise his family I can see subtle reminders of our relationship. I often catch my self repeating one of my father’s aphorisms and it is astonishing to hear my children use the same worn out sayings.

Monday, December 27, 2021

Enlightenment.

“A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.

Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song.”

― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

There is a lot of hand wringing and whining on the internet regarding gun violence, police brutality, bullying, torture, religious violence, prejudice and in general the brutal nature of society. I am not a scholar or a social scientist but it is evident to me that all of these things have been part of human experience for some time. My introduction to this behavior was subtle a first and it just became part of my life. Early on my father used teasing, spanking and bullying as a way to disciple me and “teach me a lesson.” His techniques were not unique, many of my friends during the nineteen forties and fifties had the same experience and few were “spared the rod”. In Catholic school we were told of the horrors of hell and that we would be tortured for eternity if we did not shape up and “fly right”. We also were served a daily dose of quilt and the need for repentance. Our playground was a hot bed of teasing and bulling. We also all played cowboys and indians and killed a lot of “redskins” and played with cap guns, our weapon of choice. We had lot of violent toys, bb guns, tomahawks, slingshots and many of my friends killed birds and some use their bb guns on animals and humans. Saturday theater matinee’s were filled with good old western justice with shoot outs and an occasional hanging. Before I had a family, I witnessed two wars and saw scores of war movies that glorified killing. My children were brought into the world during the Vietnam war and a new batch of war toys was given to the public. As I write this I can hear that old refrain that the good old days produced strong adults with a good sense of right and wrong and the kids of today are coddled and spoiled. We complain that video games are making them violent and they have no respect for authority. If your parents were raising you now, vs. decades ago, they’d be subject to these influences, too.

It is evident to me that most Americans like or tolerate violence in some form. You might enjoy the quarterback throwing a “bomb” or a great tackle rings a players bell. Perhaps you like secret agents dispatching a few bad guys with explosives. Watching a boxer get his “brain rotated” might be something you enjoy. A vengeful pitcher “beaning” a player to get even might be your cup of tea. You may also get your fix of violence and bigotry from soap operas, reality shows, or police dramas. Some simply enjoy bad behavior over and over on U tube. I can’t forget about videos of racing accidents that are often slowed down so we can see someone die in slow motions.

What a surprise. Everyone is now decrying the violence of society. At seventy-five, I am becoming resigned to the fact that we cannot overcome the propensity for violence,

revenge, and prejudice. I do not believe marches, committees, religion, as it is practice today, or science will help us climb out of our prehistoric cave into the light of knowledge. We are already serving time in Dante's hell. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.

Our journey of of the dark cave of despair and toward our god and the rejection of violence, will only happen with enlightenment and leadership. Like the enlightenment or Age of Reason, from the 1650s to the 1780s, the cultural and intellectual forces in Western Europe emphasized reason, analysis and individualism rather than traditional lines of authority. It was promoted by philosophers and thinkers and it challenged the authority of institutions and practices that were deeply rooted in society; there was discussion of ways to reform society with tolerance, creativity, cooperation and reason.

Human cooperation, even more necessary than violence for survival, has evolutionary roots as deep as those of human conflict. Groups may fight because of environmental pressures or resource scarcity, they may also have strong incentives to expand trade relations and build alliances that benefit both parties. The capacity for peaceful and cooperative relationships was surely more essential for the survival and success of the species than bellicosity. Violent resource competition and population density certainly influenced human evolution, predisposing us to competition and violence. But those same pressures can predispose us to cooperation as well.

Competition and Resource Scarcity

And NUH is the letter I use to spell Nutches,
Who live in small caves, known as Niches, for hutches.
These Nutches have troubles, the biggest of which is
The fact there are many more Nutches than Niches.
Each Nutch in a Nich knows that some other Nutch
Would like to move into his Nich very much.
So each Nutch in a Nich has to watch that small Nich
Or Nutches who haven't got Niches will snitch.

Dr. Seuss - On Beyond Zebra (1955)

The total cost of violence to the U.S. was conservatively calculated to be over $460 billion while the lost productivity from violence amounted to $318 billion. California was found to have the highest state burden of violence at over $22 billion per year while Vermont has the lowest at $188 million. For each state taxpayer, the total economic cost of violence varies greatly, from $7,166 per taxpayer in Washington D.C. to $1,281 for Maine taxpayers. [2012 US Peace Index, Institute for Economics and Peace] - See more at: http://peacealliance.org/tools-education/statistics-on-violence/#sthash.pbVoLVs9.dpuf

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Covid Series. Drawings made while I was in hospital. August 2020.

"Things hidden in my head" Copyright 2013 © Ronald D. Isom, Sr.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Visual circus series. 2017 ©

Thinking organic series ©

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Monsters among us.

“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Tears

Tears. “rain upon the blinding dust of earth” Ink drawing/ collage image. 2015 ©

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.” ― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations