Thank you to Julie Brocklehurst for letting me use her photo in this picture.
:-)
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
15 Sept 2012
Portent
18 Aug 2012
Illicit Editing
Via Flickr:
Thanx to Julie for letting me use her photo in this picture!
:-)
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
12 Aug 2012
Disintegration Point
Via Flickr:
HDR editing and 3D effects on a photo by XstockX (Julie Brocklehurst).
:-)
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
28 Jul 2012
Anatomical Reflections
Via Flickr:
HDR processing, using a photo by Julie (XstockX) and an abstract background I created.
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
16 Jun 2012
Wind Swept Landscape
Via Flickr:
This shouldn't be! I mean, Winter in Summer, Summer in Winter..... Should it? Winter is back in June, or should that be Autumn? Summer curtailed, perhaps or interupted by Northerlies and Easterlies, I mean Winter coats and winter caps, umbrellas and boots in June!
The landscape hasn't suffered though; more dramatic for Autumnal winds, lightning and Continental rainfall; darkness at 4PM and cars surging into pools of water and crashing into one another; the splay of car lights and a swollen Moon like fairground rides twisting in high winds.
The recession bites as Europe riles under artificial, fiscal mechanisms and the distraction of Euro 2012, tennis tournaments, the Queen's Jubilee and, to come the pinnacle of all events, the Olympics! The weather has no remorse nor empathy! Queen Elizabeth was sodden on the Thames but not relinquished! Even in the Ukraine footballers were hurried from the turf, evacuated from rude, electrical storms.... Is all of Europe being blasted by Winter in June? Perhaps us Brits can take some cold and sodden comfort from a continent in meterological turmoil. Perhaps another welcome distraction for politicians, Europe-wide, from another turmoil, yet more chaotic and blunt! Still, we shouldn't knock these "distractions", the arts and sport are noble where politics and business are weak and lacking pragmatism and courage. The Ancient Greeks knew this way before us and fortunately, we retain their intellectual and rich culture that may even protect us from that, that we have no control over whatsoever at all? The savage weather, or could these be thunderbolts from Zeus?
A colourful interpretation of a Windy Summer in UK!
:-)
Simon (Words and Art)
14 Jun 2012
6 Apr 2012
22 Mar 2012
Notes on Gay Marriage
Here's an interesting one. The UK Government is deciding whether to legalise gay marriage. An emotive topic, no doubt and problematic, intrinsically problematic! Civil partnerships and equal rights for gay people (the latter is a must) may raise eyebrows, however legalising gay marriage raises objections that are not based on prejudice (although I'm sure there are those that argue everything that is spoken by a heterosexual individual is prejudiced) but on absurdity!
Whereas all human activity contains elements of politics, there are fundamental realities within societies that are commonsensical. For example, it makes sense to have health care for those who are ill as people get ill. It makes sense to have work for people to do because people require products and services. Reasonable? I thought so. It makes sense to have marriage for heterosexual couples as this acts as a way providing a stable and lasting base to bring up children successfully. Whether people agree with the religious aspects of marriage and the political elements is another matter, but the fundamental argument is reasonable.
Gay marriage is different. Let's clear away the prejudice. Let's say we want equal rights for gay people as fellow human beings. Let's say that we don't want to prevent gay people from getting married because we want power over them and wish to keep them oppressed. OK, so what are we left with? It seems we are left with a situation that is hyperreal; a simulacrum. We are left with an actuality that no longer bears any relation to the original occurrence. This, essentially is a flawed concept that reflects Western, cultural trends and, in doing so adds to the gradual dismantling of Western power. Is gay marriage, therefore, a good idea?
Of course there are arguments that the notion of the heterosexual sex act is somehow flawed in the sense that we are regarding something that is authentic (as a means to have children naturally) as intrinsic to marriage. Authenticity is authenticity. It would not be commonsensical nor realistic to say that a tree is not a tree and doesn't grow leaves! Indeed, if there is a good reason for something to occur, then why change it?
Should surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination and adoption become more commonplace? Surely, commonsensically, these practices should not be considered primary but a way of having children where the usual, natural means has not been successful. If this not the case then we are creating an increasingly artificial society, that leaves the door open for greater use of legislation and governmental control, that increases the hyperreal aspects of contemporary, Western societies, dismantles family life and the Western power base and creates a theatre-absurd, where it is impossible to comprehend any point or justification for the legalisation of gay marriage. The latter is particularly relevant as gay couples can already enter into a civil partnership. Increases in artificial insemination may also pave the way to more genetic experiments on human embryos that could have devastating consequences.
It seems that we should think very carefully before we legalise gay marriage as it may have profound consequences that affect us all.
Whereas all human activity contains elements of politics, there are fundamental realities within societies that are commonsensical. For example, it makes sense to have health care for those who are ill as people get ill. It makes sense to have work for people to do because people require products and services. Reasonable? I thought so. It makes sense to have marriage for heterosexual couples as this acts as a way providing a stable and lasting base to bring up children successfully. Whether people agree with the religious aspects of marriage and the political elements is another matter, but the fundamental argument is reasonable.
Gay marriage is different. Let's clear away the prejudice. Let's say we want equal rights for gay people as fellow human beings. Let's say that we don't want to prevent gay people from getting married because we want power over them and wish to keep them oppressed. OK, so what are we left with? It seems we are left with a situation that is hyperreal; a simulacrum. We are left with an actuality that no longer bears any relation to the original occurrence. This, essentially is a flawed concept that reflects Western, cultural trends and, in doing so adds to the gradual dismantling of Western power. Is gay marriage, therefore, a good idea?
Of course there are arguments that the notion of the heterosexual sex act is somehow flawed in the sense that we are regarding something that is authentic (as a means to have children naturally) as intrinsic to marriage. Authenticity is authenticity. It would not be commonsensical nor realistic to say that a tree is not a tree and doesn't grow leaves! Indeed, if there is a good reason for something to occur, then why change it?
Should surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination and adoption become more commonplace? Surely, commonsensically, these practices should not be considered primary but a way of having children where the usual, natural means has not been successful. If this not the case then we are creating an increasingly artificial society, that leaves the door open for greater use of legislation and governmental control, that increases the hyperreal aspects of contemporary, Western societies, dismantles family life and the Western power base and creates a theatre-absurd, where it is impossible to comprehend any point or justification for the legalisation of gay marriage. The latter is particularly relevant as gay couples can already enter into a civil partnership. Increases in artificial insemination may also pave the way to more genetic experiments on human embryos that could have devastating consequences.
It seems that we should think very carefully before we legalise gay marriage as it may have profound consequences that affect us all.
10 Mar 2012
CCTV [Rotarius/Gyro]
Via Flickr:
Original photo by XstockX, layered, distorted and abstracted. Themes of compromised identity, suspicion, fear and unreality, caused by living our lives via media/the media and continuous observation.
Some of the textures look like watercolours or thick layers of oil paint. However, the picture uses only digital effects and digital paint, layered over a photograph.
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
8 Jan 2012
"Evidence"
Via Flickr:
Taken in England December 2011 on a cold, Winter's day with compromised light. Too early for twi-light, a dull light reflected off leaves and other fauna, creating a cold-looking and misty effect. The naturally occuring "art" of nature often suprises us; here there is a suggestion of some woodland drama that unfolded recently. I can only capture the "evidence" but not the actual event that occured. The tree, keeled over by lightning or the wind, creates an evocative, surreal image that can suggest much more to the human mind than the reality of a fallen tree!
Simon
Reflections on Virtualness
Via Flickr:
Subtle editing on Miss Boux's original portrait, that creates a painterly effect.
:-)
Simon
missboux.deviantart.com
"Ma Corps"
Via Flickr:
Colour version of "Ma Bouche".
"Playing with the strong, natural architecture of Julie's form. Julie's pronounced bone-structure and muscle forms suggested the textures and light/shade that I used to create a quaisi-abstract effect."
www.flickr.com/photos/thecrescent/6655592815/in/photostream
"Ma Corps" also utilised colour which I used in an arbitrary way, at least initially,
then editing layers of textures to create a painterly effect with disparite hues that, nevertheless compare and contrast well together.
Simon
xstockx.deviantart.com
24 Dec 2011
During November 2011 (1. Burning a Poem)
Burning a poem
in love with you
forsooth as
letters fragment a page
to breathe an eye
for an eye
a tooth for a tooth
Sans doute! Yo soy
letters in flight
the flame of tongues
the crackle of spit
the lunge of meaning
perceived by
a sheath of being
This flesh of doing
by shards of letter fall
a glassy perusal
the body in motion;
the enigma of a
sideways glance
one is reminded of an Eastern
dance
for the vines throughout your corps
Tongue by tongue
our lives are handed down
During November 2011 (2. Our Mother Tongue)
Thought by thought
words are welded here
our mother tongue,
turn begin again
Rushing water chances its thumbs
petering gridlock
the motorway is still
folding onto running wind
a copse by chance
a glassy siren
pulsing yellow, brick red
notes
badgering arabesque trees
give way to painterly verde
a scrimmage of
prehensile brushes
make a prose of entwining sky,
an intelligent blur
for your photograph.
Women for moments elapsed
in cars chasing tails
as if
predicting the Cutty Sark,
walking through pitch green
passing food
through fingers by hand
Standing by the night of trees
porous nigh to the welt of sky
a young woman as amassed
as lean
in flickering light her body carved
her face
etched by anger
mute yet visceral.
During November 2011 (3. The Intrusive Poet)
And this! And this!
is reason or something
dissimilar, erudite
or an empty vessel
worthy or meaningless
The truth, a truth
or not a truth at all
or something as strange as
Galilean, as everything
nothing
or something that may not
resemble anything
at all
The Dromedary has one hump and
the Bactrian two and this should
be as clear as it is true!
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