Flat-Out Fantastic 2

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

More 'Pop-Cubism' courtesy of the 'roadkill' finds, this drawing being another example processed from (stilled but active-&-fugitive-surfaced) life (& very occasional reference to an 'aesthetically-distanced' photocopy), more 'manufactured morte', the found object again displaying a quite elegant combination of folds in its reformed state of rest.

Soundtrack:


Public Image Ltd 'First Issue'/'Metal Box' highlights
'Radio Spiritworld'
Elliott Smith 'From a Basement on the Hill'

In amongst the music, 'Radio Spiritworld' (brought to my attention through the good & ever-reliable offices of Mr Reynolds' peerless 'blissblog') warrants a mention as a most entertaining & amusing way to spend 30 minutes a-listening: as a radio programme produced & broadcast in The Afterlife, & created in nostalgic style with a delightful sense & ear for the nuances of archive recordings, it's a fabulous conceit, brought to you through the ether by the learned gentlemen responsible for TV's equally inventive, period & genre-spoofing 'Look Around You'.
Returning to the music, the first Elliott Smith listen in a while was inspired directly by his earlyish & excellent song 'Needle in the Hay' gracing the soundtrack of - & in particular a significantly dramatic scene (where the character of the melted-down ex-tennis pro Richie suddenly attempts suicide) in - the as-seen-on-TV (again - & on this occasion recorded for posterity & further reference) Wes Anderson-directed movie 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. It's a film to much enjoy at a leisurely pace, slow-burning, sharply witty & poignant, with both a lightness of tone & complementary air of ennui, perhaps best described as a 'melancomedy' (featuring the incorrigibly conniving attempts of the paterfamilias to ingratiate himself back into the family from which he has become alienated - his long-suffering wife & 3 children, former prodigies whose lives have each & variously taken downward curves into adulthood), not least to be admired for its visual aesthetic, of gorgeous warm earth colours from ochres to reds & plum, & the rose pink & polished woods of the interior of the Tenenbaum household, complemented with greys & blues: ravishingly beautiful in its subtle, subdued way. Top soundtrack too, also featuring Nico & Nick Drake in addition to Elliott Smith, so one might be able to appreciate something of the quiet melancholy atmosphere of much of the proceedings that yet becomes life-affirming in the narrative's resolution.

Coincidental to the series of 'roadkill diptychs' of which this is but the most recent example, & the left hand half of each specifically, a song on the Elliott Smith album, 'Don't Go Down', makes lyrical reference to a character 'seeing her own body outlined in chalk', which is perhaps a little spooky in itself...