Erin Crawford & Book Reviews
Artist Statement
As a self taught artist, my paintings are a celebration of my love for dance and music. They have been a remedy for a broken heart and a crippled mind. My style speaks to my appreciation of street art: specifically, graffiti and the struggles of the human condition expressed therein. In short, my paintings visually communicate the rhythm that moves my heart and soul. Art is freedom.
by Erin Crawford
On Erin Crawford’s Work
And into
The hooves
(of)
The sacred imagery
(mirrors)
Versus ghosts
(tone)
Versus the teeth
Of texture
(the blankness)
Of silence
(versus)
Ancient old masks
Of color
(& reveals God)
In the frozen
New echoes
by John Aiello
DALI: MASTER OF FANTASIES. Jean-Louis Gaillemin. Abrams.
Salvador Dali, who died in 1988, was an artist born in the idea of diversity, and his great body of work is a living testament to this: ground-breaking pieces in different mediums include stunning paintings, drawings, book illustrations and cinema sets (to cite but a few examples). More than anything, Dali’s work was steeped in the invisible heat of dreams, and he purged the wealth of his subconscious daily in an effort to draw the sweet milk of the muse from the holy muscle of his being.
Sometimes, Dali’s images were dark and stricken with a secret horror; and at other times, they were angelic and softly translucent (torn by the sudden contradictions of this life). Dali, in the midst of the great bridge, routinely pitted good versus the impulse of evil, pitting the dark of night against the silky evening walls of the light – his work becoming what the mystic poet William Blake once referred to as “the marriage of heaven and hell.”
Heaven and hell was indeed Salvador Dali’s territory — that hidden place between reality and coma smoke, that house where the painter Hieronymous Bosch once dwelled, chasing ghosts through the thirsty mirrors of moonlight. Make no mistake: this is Spielberg’s world of celluloid fantasy reduced to its primitive form on canvass — the images whipping us with an undeniable realization: without the roads that Dali had suffered to build, many of the science fiction films and cartoons that have come to embody the complexion of 21st century America would not have been developed.
In this pocket-sized book, art-historian Jean-Louis Gaillemin has presented a different kind of study: rather than lean on the typical and tired analysis of Dali’s structure and technique, Gaillemin focuses on the private power of the artist, exploring the way Dali would use his ‘state of mind’ to construct his pieces — part poet and part architect — building artfrom the poison rubble and perpetual motion of the human psyche.
Appropriate for both art historians and novice students of Salvador Dali. Recommended to both college and libraries as a general reference – the writing here is at all times crisp and sharp, revealing much new information on what made Dali an artist who would change the shape of expression for countless generations of painters.
To order go to amazon.com, or go to abrams.com.
Also of Note From Abrams
JOHN PAUL II: A POPE FOR THE PEOPLE. Heinz-Joachim Fischer. Luigi Accattoli. Arthur Hertzberg. Hansjacob Stehle. Marco Politi. Abrams. Pope John II has been a sometimes controversial figure in the annals of The Catholic Church — an erudite and complex leader whose personality is both insightful and naturally deep, directing his parish through the heart of this troubled era. And John Paul is the first book we’ve seen that strives to capture some of this man’s many facets – a tidy union of essay and photograph:
“The Pope therefore recommends a return to Europe’s Christian roots, which encourage the priority of law over force, and respect for the rights of individuals and nations. But he also reminds us, as none of his predecessors ever had, of the contributions of other cultures to the Christian European tradition – Roman, Greek, Germanic, Slavic, Jewish, and Muslim. To counter the ‘deep crisis in values’ in present-day Europe, he does not recommend a return to the ‘confessional state,’ but rather a Christian ‘humanization of society.’ “
Pages 56-57 (by Stehle)
The 139 plates collected here (111 in color) give those readers who’ve never had the chance to see the Pope in person an opportunity to get the know the man through pictures. What’s best about the text is that is does not just center around his work at the helm of the Catholic Church, but instead chronicles John Paul II’s whole life, giving us a taste of how the consciousness of this enigmatic leader was actually shaped.
Serves as an invaluable resource for all Catholics and followers of the church. Would further be recommended as a general reference in public sector libraries as a religions of the world title.
To order go to amazon.com, or go to abrams.com.
Electric Review 