Two "unsuccessful" Kandinskys... Why do I find these paintings unsatisfactory? What does (or what could) such an inquiry contribute to my understanding of these paintings? To my understanding of the art of painting? To my understanding of Kandinsky? To my understanding of myself? To my understanding of Philosophy?

Progression into Abstraction

Pablo Picasso - The Bull, 1945-1946  Series of eleven lithographs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does this tell us about language, conceptual confusion and human understanding?  Click HERE.

New Amazon Reviews of the Invisible Tower Trilogy

An intrepid Invisible Tower trilogy reader has left reviews of all three books.  Click the cover images to view the respective Amazon sales pages.

Echoes 

Fantastic Adventures

I am writing reviews of all three novels in the Invisible Tower trilogy. In this review of the first book, I will introduce the trilogy and review Book One: Echoes.

The trilogy tells the story of Bronson Bodine and the mysterious spy organization he belongs to: the Invisible Tower. There is a manifesto for agents, but it remains unclear sometimes if there really is an Invisible Tower, or if the Invisible Tower is in the heads of its members. This kind of ambiguity characterizes all three books, where often things are not at all what they seem. On the surface the novels tell larger-than-life adventures with aspects of science fiction, fantasy and surrealism. There is also a lot of satire. The manifesto of the Invisible Tower has been written by an espionage mastermind named Eddie Allan, who is Bronson Bodine’s best friend. Eddie is moreover the alienated stepson of John Allan, a mad scientist trying to take over the world. Eddie Allan and John Allan compare to Edgar Allan Poe and his step-father, John Allan, with whom Edgar had a very bad relationship. The theme of dysfunctional family relationships is very important in the trilogy.

Echoes is a collection of stories about Bronson Bodine and his field assistant, Eskimo Nabnak Tornasuk. Set in chronological order, some of the stories are very short—little more than a page—but there are also long short stories and a novella. Bronson Bodine and his fellow spies go on adventures ranging all around the world: the Middle East, the American West, the South Pacific, Antarctica, the Marianas Trench, computer-generated virtual worlds, and so on. The science fiction elements are described in great detail and are very believable. I got so wrapped up in the amazing and “fun” stories that I was sometimes shocked to realize that I was also believing some things that were actually impossible and dream-like. This really is a work of art, and when the surrealism and satire kick in things are so believable that you don’t fully realize how really really bizarre everything is. One moment I was reading a kind of wild spy story, and the next I was looking up from the book and going, “Man, this is really weird!” However weird things get, the narrative has a strong logic suggesting that Bronson and his fellow spies are in control—until the last story, when they return to the “real world” of a civilization in rapid decline. The world is about to melt down.

 We Reign Secure

The End of the End of History

The Second Book of the Invisible Tower Trilogy is very political, but the nature of political organization and “political consciousness”—politicians, news media, institutions, celebrities, entertainment, education, law, economics, culture, and so on—is very unclear. The point seems to be that this confused state is very much like the real world—maybe! In the novel, the military-industrial complex has taken over society and culture, and rather than government a number of private corporations (which function like spy bureaus) are in control, or are anyway fighting for control. People live in an environment of constant propaganda, competing billionaires, drugs, electronic “mind control” fields, planned and managed poverty, environmental devastation, and so on. But however crazy things get, as in the first novel the narration is fluent and very detailed. The most impossible situations and people are very believable. Even the mad hallucinations and delusions of many of the characters are believable. Meanwhile, Bronson Bodine is the focus of what could be described as a 300-page chase scene stretching from Lake Superior to Niagara Falls to… Well, I don’t want to spoil anything. Everything that happens in this novel is suspect—and later in the novel you find out things were not what you thought they were at first, so describing any plot event in detail runs the risk of being a spoiler. Things move very quickly, and to keep things moving (and they do move!) there are plenty of submarines, fighter planes, hydrofoils, aircraft carriers, commandos, gangsters, drugs, go-go dancers, pirates, mind-control satellites, fake news networks, child soldiers, religious fanatics, con artists, anarchists, commie stooges, fake foods, semi-trucks, motorcycles, bikers, gun fights, fist fights, and so on.

The Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus

The Mystery of the Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus

The blub on the back cover of the novel asks, “Can you solve the mystery of the Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus?” This question is indeed the crux of the matter, and the novel is full of “clues” that suggest an answer. The “real” answer, however, is something like students in a lit class debating the “real” meaning of Moby-Dick. The mystery and the answer to the mystery could be anything. Like Book One and Book Two, it is hard to describe this novel without spoilers. Very simply, Bronson Bodine and his fellow spies from the Invisible Tower are seeking to preserve (or re-establish) civilization, but the real meaning of the novel is the story itself—or the telling of the story. There is a lot of detail, lots of action and adventure, and the “plot” is very clear, but the deeper themes of the novel are pieced together in a hallucinatory flow of impressions, images, historical allusions, comic situations, and hard-edged satire. There are also a number of rather savage insights into the human condition that are both frightening and philosophical. Here the author really demonstrates his literary powers. Like the first two novels in the trilogy, The Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus makes readers see and feel, but the novel also makes readers think very very deeply, and in new ways. The result is pure art.

T-Class: climbing the technological trajectory, an innovative British submarine of WWII

"A Madcap Blonde and Her Reckless Lover Challenge a World of Rollicking Chaos"

Richard Powers cover art for Hell's Pavement by Damon Knight

 

The back cover blurb reads:

"Here is a brilliant new novel of adventure in a maddened age, where the human brain is crammed with devils and angels, the world with temptation and revelry--and the women with fury and fun."

"We reached the end of the defile, entering upon a wide space. Near the entrance a number of the plant-creatures stood and tended amazingly complicated keyboards."

Wonder Stories, Artist: Frank R. Paul

Possible allegory of expressive genius: implications for considering a moral ambiguity in the deceptive nature of representational artifacts?

artist unknown

 

 

 

 

 

“‘You were the seal of perfection,
    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
¹³ You were in Eden,
    the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
    carnelian, chrysolite and emerald,
    topaz, onyx and jasper,
    lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
    on the day you were created they were prepared.
¹⁴ You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
    for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
    you walked among the fiery stones.
¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways
    from the day you were created
    till wickedness was found in you.

                                       - Ezekiel 28:12-15

"Birds Film Part 1" by Egle Saka, 2024

Filmmaker's statement

BIRDS is about observing:

the slow glitch hum

electric murmurations

fluttering distortions

underwater winds

 

Video and sound design by Egle Saka, London

"Surface and Layers" by Nobxhiro Santana

#250402-01 「表層とレイヤー」

JAPAN AIR 2025 で私が展示している作品です。

この作品はアルミフレームとアクリル板で構成された立体投影装置のインスタレーションです。

このシステムではプロジェクターでAIのサポートによるイメージを投影しており、所謂外部世界の現実が投影された表層と層間を同時に鑑賞することが出来ます。s

#250402-01 "Surface and Layers" is a work I am exhibiting at JAPAN AIR 2025.

This work is an installation of a stereoscopic projection device made of an aluminum frame and acrylic panels. This system projects images with the support of AI using a projector, and you can simultaneously view the surface and layer on which the reality of the so-called external world is projected.

 

 

 

 

 

Nobxhiro Santana has regularly appeared in Emanations since he made cover art for Octo-Emanations in 2020.