The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone, Explained

Here's yet another psychologically stimulating painting by Dylan interpreter Daniel Botkin. Read Botkin's commentary below then click image to enlarge.

"The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone." The Hebrew text at the top of the parchment says emet, the Hebrew word for “truth.”

Emet is a combination of the first letter, the middle letter, and the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. If you have only aleph + mem, you have the word em, “mother,” which is where life begins. If you have only mem + tav, you have the word met, “dead,” which is where life ends. Therefore emet, “truth,” is a blend of the beginning of life (em, “mother”) and the end of life (met, “dead”). This truth is our inconvenient truth. The two words em and met (read from right to left) appear below the word emet.

The alphabet above the baby is the Hebrew alphabet in its ancient and modern fonts. The alphabet below the baby is the Greek alphabet in its lowercase and uppercase forms.

The cursive Hebrew text around the innocent flesh of the baby in the amniotic sac is Isaiah’s prophecy, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. There shall be no end to the increase of his government and peace upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:6f; 9:5f in Hebrew Bibles).

The painting is done in yellows and browns, but I painted one letter in Isaiah’s text bright pink and enlarged it to draw attention to it. That letter is a closed mem in the word l’marbeh, “to the increase.” A closed mem is supposed to be used only when it is the final letter in a word. If mem is at the beginning of a word or anywhere inside a word, it is written with a small opening in the lower left corner. (See how em and met and emet are written at the top of the parchment.) Yet Isaiah defied the rules of Hebrew orthography and wrote a closed mem in the prophecy of this special child. Why? See my article “The Mystery of the closed Mem” in the Article Archives at gatesofeden.online.

A silhouette of a pregnant virgin appears on the horizon in the upper right corner, below the constellation Virgo the Virgin. The cursive Hebrew text coming out from between the feet of Virgo and pointing toward the descending arm is the opening verse of Isaiah chapter 53, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

The silhouette of a cross on a hill appears on the horizon in the upper left corner, below the constellation Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder and Healer, who restrains Serpens, the Serpent who tries to obtain Corona, the crown that is worn by the one who rules. Ophiuchus’ foot crushes Scorpio the Scorpion, thus fulfilling Genesis 3:15.

To contrast the idea of innocent flesh on the bone, in the bottom left corner Galileo’s math book is thrown at the worthless Delilah, who sits laughing and holding scissors in her right hand and Samson’s seven locks of hair in her left hand as a trophy. The carnal Samson, blinded by his enemies, is forced to push the grindstone for the Philistines in Gaza.

In a nod to Leonard Cohen’s song "Hallelujah," Samson is also pictured tied to a kitchen chair above Delilah, as a precursor of King David’s fall when he was tempted by Bath-sheba. Also in a nod to Leonard Cohen’s song "Last Year’s Man," “the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled far past the stems of thumbtacks that still throw shadows on the wood.”

Satin Prints on 24” x 30” x 1.5” stretched canvas available, $285 plus shipping.

Related Links

An Introduction to the Story of Samson and Delilah

Daniel Botkin's Riddles for Fans of Bob Dylan: Riddles and Trivia All Rolled Into One

Flowers Are Red: A Very Sad Song

The other night I was talking with a group of people when the topic of conformity came up. I shared how I'd written about this theme more than once, and mentioned one of my blog entries from a couple years back about coloring outside the lines.

In response another fellow, we'll call him Tony, told us about the Harry Chapin song "Flowers Are Red." Tony said that when you get to the end it's one of the saddest songs ever.

Naturally, I had to scribble a note to myself to look up the lyrics when I got home, which I did. And indeed, it's a very sad song. A statement about conformity, about our education system and about life...

Singer/songwriter Harry Chapin's life was cut short at an early age but his songs live on. You most likely know him best for his song "Cat's in the Cradle." Here's another of the songs he left us.

Flowers Are Red
The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

Well the teacher said.. You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And all responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one

But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.

The Reincarnation of Paul Revere's Horse

Here's another recent painting by Daniel Botkin titled The Reincarnation of Paul Revere’s Horse, based on a line from Dylan's "Tombstone Blues." Botkin adds the following explanation regarding the symbols assembled here.

No, I don’t believe in reincarnation. The title is not meant to be taken literally. It has to be interpreted.

     What is the interpretation thereof? If you buy the painting, or a full-color print on canvas, you can interpret it any way you wish.

    When I took this painting to get it professionally photographed at the company that makes my art prints, it generated lots of conversation among the people who work there. When I came to retrieve the painting, some of them wanted to interrogate me. They recognized the rider with the bloodied ear and raised fist as Donald Trump, but they did not know what to think of that, or what to think of all the other details in the painting.

     “Does the yellow serpent surrounding the clock have something to do with the brass serpent that Moses made?”

     No.

     “Do the three sixes at the bottom of the clock have something to do with the 666 Mark of the Beast in Revelation?”

     Well, the serpent is a symbol of evil, and the 666 is right above the serpent’s head, so I suppose there is a connection.

     “Why is there a mask on Trump’s face? Are you suggesting he is a super-hero, or a hypocrite?”

     If you buy it, you can understand it whichever way you prefer.

     Here’s the real reason I painted the mask. While painting Trump’s face, I had trouble getting the eyes and nose to look right. I painted and repainted the face several times, but I could not get the eyes and nose to look like Trump’s. Finally I decided to just cover the eyes and nose with an orange mask. Problem solved.

     I had been planning to do this painting for quite a few years, but I did not know that Trump would be the rider of Paul Revere’s horse. The idea for the painting came from a line in “Tombstone Blues,”  a Bob Dylan song from the 1960s: “The city fathers are trying to endorse / The reincarnation of Paul Revere’s horse.”

     Some of Dylan’s lyrics do not make much sense, but they provide ideas for interesting artwork. I planned to place Paul Revere’s horse at the 12 o’clock position, based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” Then I planned to show the horse gradually deteriorating into a pile of bones at the 6 o’clock position, then gradually being reconstituted.

     Last summer I bought a 48” x 48” canvas and started looking online to find a photo of a horse and rider that I could use for a model. I was frustrated, because I could not find a pose that I liked. Then Trump was shot in the ear. I looked at the news, and lo, I beheld a photo of Trump standing with his bloodied ear, his fist raised in the air beside the American flag, and I knew I had the perfect pose for the rider of Paul Revere’s horse.

     Some of the details in the painting are derived from Longfellow’s poem. There are lanterns in the church belfry, “one if by land, two if by sea.” I borrowed the church building from Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Longfellow’s poem mentions graves in the church yard, so I added some blue tombstones by Van Gogh’s church. Longfellow’s rider was “booted and spurred,” so I shod the rider with spurred boots. Paul Revere arrived in Lexington at 1 a.m. and in Concord at 2 a.m., so I put the city signs at those positions. There was a “gilded weathercock” in Lexington, which I included there.

     I put a tricornered MAGA hat on the rider, then decided to put MAGA on the horse’s forehead as well. A Trump-hating Facebook Buddy of mine posted a photo of a red MAGA hat, accompanied by some text that suggested that wearing MAGA on the forehead is taking the Mark of the Beast. Since the Bible speaks of the Mark of the Beast being not only on the forehead but also on the right hand, I added a MAGA bracelet on the horse’s right hoof. That in turn gave  me the idea to add two additional sixes at the bottom of the clock, connecting 666 with the serpent below the VI VI VI, and with the bones of Paul Revere’s dead horse, Brown Beauty, whose blue tombstone is positioned in Tombstone, Arizona.

     And as Paul Harvey used to say, That, my friends, is the rest of the story!

Prints on 32” x 32” stretched canvas available, $350 plus shipping.

See more of Daniel Botkin's Dylan-themed artwork in his book: https://www.lulu.com/.../hardcover/product-45qjwn2.html

The Vandalization of the Ghost of Electricity

The Vandalization of the Ghost of Electricity
--click to enlarge--

There seems no end of artists inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, including myself. Two of the most imaginative visual interpreters of Dylan's catalogue whom I've gotten to know are Claude Angel BONI and Daniel Botkin, whose work is displayed here from time to time. 

Here's the backstory for The Vandalization of the Ghost of Electricity, courtesy Daniel Botkin.

Last fall my daughter Emily told me that Bob Dylan was doing a concert in Chicago. Emily said it might be her only opportunity to see Bob Dylan in person before he gives up the ghost. So I told her we could go. As we drove North on Interstate 57, the dry Illinois prairie was dotted with electric power lines.

"When I was a little kid, I always thought those electric power lines looked like goats," Emily said.

I looked at the electric power lines, and lo, I beheld them. The goats. The goats of electricity. Nay, the ghost of electricity, as it is written, "The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face" (Visions of Johanna 2:9). So after I got home, I painted the goats of the ghost of electricity, with myself vandalizing the sign at the bottom of the painting. The title of this painting is "The Vandalization of the Ghost of Electricity," oil on canvas, 30" x 40".

Disclaimer: If any paranoid people are disturbed by this painting because they think that goat heads are Satanic, let me remind you that God, not Satan, created goats as part of His "very good" creation. Furthermore, God declared goats to be acceptable for sacrifice, even on Yom Kippur, and kosher for food. There is nothing wrong with goats. They are acceptable for sacrifice, food, and artwork. 

See more of Daniel Botkin's Dylan-themed artwork in his book: https://www.lulu.com/.../hardcover/product-45qjwn2.html

Susie's Tree Spirit Masks on Display at Wussow's for the Month of March

This coming Thursday, March 6, Susie will be having an opening reception at Wussow's, 324 No. Central Avenue, for her show titled "We Wear the Mask." Susie began making masks back in the days when she did pottery. Though we no longer have a kiln, the mask theme has evolved and her work is quite remarkable. Here are a few examples, plus a bit of. backstory on the show.

* * * 

1. What prompted you to create your series of Tree Spirit masks?

 

Susie: I have lived in the country most of my life.  I have been making various kinds of masks for many years. The Tree Spirits came about more recently as an expression of my enjoyment of nature and a way to use various things I find outside in our woods and my garden such as moss, pinecones, seed pods, gourd pieces, and more.

2. You have made a variety of masks over the years. When did you start and What do you enjoy most about making masks?
 

Susie: Making masks as an artistic expression particularly resonates with me. I first began making ceramic masks almost 20 years ago. Around that time a widowed woman I knew died unexpectedly leaving her five children orphaned. I had been mentoring the youngest, a 6 year old girl, and I was shocked and heartbroken.

 

Faces can both hide or express many emotions. I began to include teardrops in one eye on my masks to express the universal sadness in life but I also include a small star in the opposite eye as an indication of hope.

 

I find enjoyment in the whole process, but giving them a name at the end is particularly fun.

 

3. Your masks are truly original. Where do you get your ideas from?

 

Susie: I don't necessarily start out with a specific idea. I begin making a face and it develops a life of its own as I go along. Sometimes I look at books of African or South American masks for ideas. Some masks may express my horror at world events, or personal angst. Others express joy that the earth and sunshine offer.

 

Wussow's is located next to Zenith Bookstore on Central Avenue, across the street from The West Theatre.

We Wear the Mask

A poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872-1906,

whose parents had been enslaved, has always been

a very compelling source of inspiration to me.

 

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

 

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

 

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask