DaVinci on Drugs

What would Leonardo DaVinci’s art look like if he did drugs? Exploring the visionary art by Alex Grey at alexgrey.com may just provide an example of what that might look like. The site features Grey’s works ranging from early drawings and self-portraits to his more recent psychedelic and visionary style paintings. Under the paintings tab, viewers are free to explore several of Grey’s series including his early works, progress of the soul, and his most recent project titled “The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.” The paintings in the progress of the soul section combine aspects of the physical world with symbolic representations of the spiritual and metaphysical worlds clearly influenced by a strong dose of LSD. Human bodies are portrayed in a strange style centered heavily around interior anatomy and feature skeletal structures and elements of the circulatory and nervous systems much like the scientific works of Leonardo DaVinci. Multiple levels of the spiritual chakra including the third-eye and the aura are also explored and represented through vivid coloring and mystical lines surrounding the beings. The backgrounds and settings of the paintings are also brightly colored and are based on complex geometric patterning. This series of Grey’s work includes several different events in the journey of human life including pregnancy, birth, nursing, copulating, healing, and death and are all painted using this same combination of the physical and the spiritual. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors features all of the human physical and spiritual systems as well, but in this section there is a separate painting devoted to each of them. Grey’s physical and spiritual vision and understanding are astounding and the deep detail and symbolism that he has been able to incorporate into his art can easily keep a viewer engaged for hours.

Mental Institution or Prison?

Currently on exhibit at Roosevelt University’s “Gage Gallery” in Chicago, photographer Eugene Richards’ exhibit entitled “A Procession of Them: The Plight of the Mentally Disabled” is sure to draw emotion out of even the most callous of souls. According to Roosevelt University’s website, Richards began his career as a journalist and then later became a volunteer for the human rights organization Mental Disability Rights International. During this time, he toured mental institutions across the countries of Mexico, Argentina, Armenia, Hungary, Paraguay, and Kosovo he compiled a gallery of images that are not only extremely artistic in their quality, but are also very powerful in their message.

The overall mood of the images is very dark as they convey views of mentally ill patients in their prison-like environment conjuring images in the mind that will easily remind viewers of the dark days of World War 2 and the Holocaust. The photos are all presented in a black and white color scheme adding to the tension and lending an old-world quality to the images being portrayed. One of the major themes of the gallery is imprisonment as many of the photos illustrate patients being held behind bars with their glassy eyes holding just a small glimmer of hope that they might be able to span beyond the gap of mental illness and one day connect with the rest of humanity. Another theme revolves around the heavy drugging of these patients through the gut-wrenching images of patients being held down and injected with various psychiatric pharmaceuticals. The power contained within these images is very astounding and one cannot help but feel the temptation to be magnanimous and humane towards these people. Through this gallery we are allowed a glimpse into the horrid lives to which these patients have been contained, but we can also see that they too are human and deserve better treatment than they are being granted.

To view the gallery visit: http://www.roosevelt.edu/gagegallery/

Addicted to Parenting

With the launch of the fourth season of The Learning Channel’s reality TV series “19 Kids and Counting” eventually one must beg the question, “How many children is too many?” The series, formerly known as “17 Kids and Counting” and later, “18 Kids and Counting,” follows Arkansas couple Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar along with their massive herd of children through their activities in everyday life. Jim Bob, a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, is a hard-core right-wing conservative Christian who believes strongly in a foundation of good morals and values accompanied by an extreme faith in God. Michelle, who met Jim Bob during her conversion to Christianity, has also become a devout believer in God, which she credits with her decision to discontinue the use of birth control. After suffering a miscarriage in the 1980’s, Jim Bob and Michelle decided to allow God to take over in deciding how many children they would ultimately have.

Unfortunately for the Duggars, the decision to allow God to make this choice on their behalf has led them to the staggering number of 19… and counting. Some might call this a blessing, but in today’s society the family appears instead more like a real-life representation of what we would expect from “The Simpsons” favorite redneck “Cletus the Slack Jaw Yokel.” The family’s eldest child, Josh (age 22), has also begun conceiving his own family with his wife Anna who comes from a similar background of a family of 10. Josh and Anna’s first child, Mackynzie, is now 6 months in age and with Jim Bob and Michelle’s most recent child Josie being 4 months in age, Mackynzie now has an aunt who is actually younger than she is. With this startling fact, the Duggar family has now succeeded in completely destroying the lines of generation.

While choosing not to use birth control is a decision that should warrant respect, the Duggar family taken it so far into the realm of the extreme that it has become questionable at best. While they have chosen to share the gift of life with their children, they are also taking away from what a quality life should entail. While Jim Bob and Michelle focus their attention on the youngest of their children, the older ones are then forced to give up the joy and fun of the youth experience because of their inherited responsibility to take care of the middle children who are left seemingly neglected by the situation. We can all hope that Jim Bob and Michelle will eventually see the negativity that their constant child bearing is bringing upon their other children and hopefully they will come to the decision to halt the process so that instead of bringing more meaningless lives into the world they can begin to enrich the ones that are already here.

Chicago's Evolving Skyline

Completed in 2010, Chicago’s residential tower “Aqua” is a rare gem hidden among the otherwise plain and square high-rises of the city’s skyline. The exterior of the building features a square glass substructure accented by shifting and flowing limestone balconies providing the tower with the unique appearance of waves flowing over its surface. When looking up at the tower from below, the edges appear jagged and natural and the tower takes on an almost off balance quality resembling a limestone cliff. Soaring to 819 feet above street level and comprised of 82 floors, it is clearly no dwarf either and it is the twelfth tallest building in Chicago. Designed by architect Jeanne Gang it is also the tallest building in both Chicago and in the United States to be designed by a woman. The primary use of the tower is residential and it includes both condominiums and rental apartments, but it is also the first building in Chicago that will also incorporate hotel rooms in addition to its residential area.

In honor of her extraordinary design, Gang was awarded the prestigious Emporis Award, described as comparable to the Oscars of architecture, given annually for the skyscraper of the year. According to members of the Emporis team, the building was given the award “for its advances is sustainable design and for the imaginative and fascinating architectural effects it achieves.” The group also added, “As the tower starts to loom overhead, it changes shape; straight lines disappear, and a mass of rounded layers stack up vertiginously like a limestone palisade molded by centuries of flowing water.” According to Gang, the idea to use limestone for the balconies was inspired by the topography of the Great Lakes region and is made to mesh well with nearby Lake Michigan.

Aqua is also recognized as one of the more environmentally friendly buildings in Chicago and is expected to receive a silver award from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designs organization because it has “set a higher standard for the next generation of large-scale residential and hotel construction.” Included among the building’s eco-friendly features are a green roof, rainwater collection system, and energy efficient lighting. It also has some other uncommon features such as a fire pit and a running track.

Overall with its innovation in architecture and engineering, Aqua is sure to inspire generations of future architects to build a new Chicago skyline that is not only more visually appealing, but also more environmentally friendly. With the creation of this building, a new age of architecture has been born and an architectural revolution has begun. Through the coming years we can expect to see this building inspire a new breed of architecture which will lead the Chicago skyline into a more unique and cleaner future.