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Fantasticonglomeration, issue 1, March 1944
Page 4
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A VISION INTO THE BOUDLESS - By 'Paul' Digested from Pertinent, June 43, Australia [Illustration: Nude woman tanglight with a giant spider. Text: Repro fron litho. Signed Rosaleen Norton] Modern art, as I know, is not all it's cracked up to be. Most of it, particularly the 'modern art', which gets all the publicity, has always been somehwat of a mystery to me; and though, in many a surrealist work, I cand find colour or lines worthy of sincere admiration, the pictures as such mostly remain meaningless to my eye, and unjustified to my mind. But Rosaleen Norton's work, though contemporary, is not modern in that sense at all. It is, in fact, no way tied to our age, nor does it mirror (materialistically) our conceptions of life and civilization. When I first looked at Norton's pictures, many appeared unpleasant because they are representations of evil. But, moreover, many disgusted me, and if I am to analuse this feeling quite honestly now, I find only one explanation; "to the impure all is impure." There is nothing disgusting about them, not even those which depict horrible, terrifying, even repulsive ideas or images. One and all, the drawings are perfect in design, and even where they remain somewhat sketchy due to the subjects used, they are well balanced, considered and complete. Tje artist is one of those people who are very interested in occult and psychic phenomena and, from a practice of self-hypnosis, developed a most exceptional ability to actually enter the psychic sphere, to transport her personality to other planes than the physical one, and to, sensually perceive what, to most of us, remains for ever hidden or at the best, becomes divined by some unclassified instinct. Psychic manifestations of hte most indescribably beautiful and, on the other side, of the most inhumanly frightening character, became visible and actually material to her; and she essayed, with the inadequate tools given to us, to portray them and thus convey them to the rest of us who are debarred from first-hand knowledge. These manifestations of good and evil are models not commonly used by earthly artists, and this alone would make the work shown exceptionally valuable. But, past and over this, the paintings are good, quote out of the ordinary run of shows altogeter. They are not modern in the sense of the surrealists, no more than occult science is modern or novel. They are timeless, and naturally so, since, in the psychic sphere, time appears to be non-existent in our sense. Co-existence there takes the place of consecutiveness. Many were the visitors to the exhibition who came to understand the idea and purpose behind one or the other of her pictures; many also were those who, too utterly prejudiced, or too cowardly to understand, wnet away without a glimpse into the hidden worlds thus exposed to us. (Thanx to DREvans for mag from which above copyd.)
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A VISION INTO THE BOUDLESS - By 'Paul' Digested from Pertinent, June 43, Australia [Illustration: Nude woman tanglight with a giant spider. Text: Repro fron litho. Signed Rosaleen Norton] Modern art, as I know, is not all it's cracked up to be. Most of it, particularly the 'modern art', which gets all the publicity, has always been somehwat of a mystery to me; and though, in many a surrealist work, I cand find colour or lines worthy of sincere admiration, the pictures as such mostly remain meaningless to my eye, and unjustified to my mind. But Rosaleen Norton's work, though contemporary, is not modern in that sense at all. It is, in fact, no way tied to our age, nor does it mirror (materialistically) our conceptions of life and civilization. When I first looked at Norton's pictures, many appeared unpleasant because they are representations of evil. But, moreover, many disgusted me, and if I am to analuse this feeling quite honestly now, I find only one explanation; "to the impure all is impure." There is nothing disgusting about them, not even those which depict horrible, terrifying, even repulsive ideas or images. One and all, the drawings are perfect in design, and even where they remain somewhat sketchy due to the subjects used, they are well balanced, considered and complete. Tje artist is one of those people who are very interested in occult and psychic phenomena and, from a practice of self-hypnosis, developed a most exceptional ability to actually enter the psychic sphere, to transport her personality to other planes than the physical one, and to, sensually perceive what, to most of us, remains for ever hidden or at the best, becomes divined by some unclassified instinct. Psychic manifestations of hte most indescribably beautiful and, on the other side, of the most inhumanly frightening character, became visible and actually material to her; and she essayed, with the inadequate tools given to us, to portray them and thus convey them to the rest of us who are debarred from first-hand knowledge. These manifestations of good and evil are models not commonly used by earthly artists, and this alone would make the work shown exceptionally valuable. But, past and over this, the paintings are good, quote out of the ordinary run of shows altogeter. They are not modern in the sense of the surrealists, no more than occult science is modern or novel. They are timeless, and naturally so, since, in the psychic sphere, time appears to be non-existent in our sense. Co-existence there takes the place of consecutiveness. Many were the visitors to the exhibition who came to understand the idea and purpose behind one or the other of her pictures; many also were those who, too utterly prejudiced, or too cowardly to understand, wnet away without a glimpse into the hidden worlds thus exposed to us. (Thanx to DREvans for mag from which above copyd.)
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