Circus Danny

In my last post I presented my latest piece Healing Is Not Linear: a concrete poem, sound poem and experimental video combined, where I mentioned the origins of the phrase and the difference in which it has been presented.

I created the phrase as part of my submission to a mail art project by my dear friend, Belgian artist KasjaNoova titled Letters By Post.

The image you see is part of the short film I created.

The stark difference between the first and second version evoke very different thoughts.

For me the first version has an almost iconographic quality to it, a pleasing range of colours, a relatability with human images and the feeling of reassurance from the religious imagery. There is an impressionist feel to the aesthetic of the text.

The second version is quite the opposite, there are no human figures, imagery, spectrum of colours and is almost overwhelming with the large amount of text and shapes. Interlocking circles bringing to mind the intersection of time and the moving forwards and backwards through time.

What makes this a striking image for me is the use of red, white and black only, which calls to mind playing cards, alchemical colours and can be a paired down symbol for existence and how we experience the world (ironically in a linear and dualistic fashion):

White - Day

Black - Night

Red - The liminal times of sunrise and sunset

or

White - Life

Black - Death

Red - Birth

or

White - Mother

Black - Father

Red - Child

or

White - Health

Black - Disease

Red - Inoculation

or (in relation to the phrase)

White - The Present

Black - The Past

Red - The wound that separates

John Lennon and Cynthia Lennon at the Peppermint Lounge in New York, 9th February 1964