Tuesday, November 15, 2005

A Distant Thunder, In Progress #2



Okay, here's a better interpretation in progress of Jonathan Flora's A Distant Thunder, to which I'll devote a longer blog post when the image is completed.

An illustration such as this, which is meant to both stand on it's own and also reference back to a different piece of art (in this case, Jonathan's) works best when it develops the outer edge of a theme, rather than serving as an echo of what has already been stated. Jazz musician Bill Frisell recorded his lovely The Sweetest Punch at the same time that Burt Bacharah and Elvis Costello collaborated on Painted From Memory, working independently but from the same sheet music. The result was an album which expanded the 'universe' of the original. Those familiar with the highway mural project during the Los Angeles Olympics can take that as another example.

It helps when the original inspiration possesses magnitude. In this case the power belongs to Mr. Flora's film, which is itself an artistic reaction to the great personal devastation caused by abortion; specifically the horror of partial birth abortion.

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