July Flying Carpet 2017

Hats  Off and On 

in Fanta Se  (Santa Fe)!!!!!
At Folk Art Market

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And at Spanish Market 

 

 

 

 

Love from The Mad Hatter

June Flying Carpet 2017

In June the Flying Carpet flew to extremes...

in both Florida and New Mexico...
a world of contrasts:

 

Slithering rain
veiling hazy palm fronds
 

 

Fierce cactus
penetrating the crystal air
 

 

Day-glo heliconia
dripping a viridian raindrop
 

 

Fragility blossom
nestling in a prickly bed
 

 

Drenched waterlilies
glistening upon an inky pond
 

 

Dusty semperviviums
unfolding an invincible spirit
 

 

palm fruits
jazzing a sinuous trash dance
 

 

Pastel echeveria
basking in the radiance
 

 

Dedicated to Henry

Special thanks to Maia

May Flying Carpet 2017

The Light in the darkness  

Zooming in April through  

rural France, Barcelona, 

Lisbon, Sintra and Paris  

has left even The Flying Carpet  

a bit breathless for the last month.  

In La Chartres-sur-le-Loire  

where light and shadow coexist

 Sunbeams are focused 

and imagery magnified
through translucent glass filled with water
in a a brocante that looks like all my dreams

In Montmirail...

spiderwebs capture dawn in the graveyard
 

windows capture iridescence in the gloaming

In Vendome

prisms sparkle in The Church of the Trinity 

In Sintra at Monserrate

light on white on white
 

In Lisbon at Pavilhao Chines
toy airplanes swirl around the ceiling light
 

In Giverney 

 waterlilies luminesce against dark water

light floods the incomparable YELLOW kitchen

Frank Gehry's ship navigating
dimly lit clouds 

at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris
 

If only time would multiply like these reflections
 

 Many years of thanks to Zack

April Flying Carpet 2017

In April The Flying Carpet
hovered in astonishment
over Barcelona

Bizarre!!!
Whacko!!!
Inventive!!!
Organic!!!
Transcendent!!!

In Barcelona where the Dragon reigns supreme
Amidst the feral parrots
the Flying Carpet flew up
to meet the natives at the Palau de la Virreina

flew into candy shops 

like time capsule stage sets

flew past the kindly doorman 

into the elegance of
Casa Sayrach
 

 flew in and out the gargoyles
of the ancient cathedral of Barri Gòtic

flew surfing the waves of Gaudi's La Pedrera

flew trippingly amidst the bejeweled facade of Casa Batló

with its idiosyncratic quirk 

of costumed actor tour guides

and its shimmering sea of stained glass

flew into the molten majesty

of Gaudi's unfinished dream Sagrada Familia

 ascending into the heavenly light

Gratitude boundless

March Flying Carpet 2017

In March
The Flying Carpet inspires you
to a celebration
of the work of inquiry and imagination
in this current phase of repression and squelch 

“Science tells us what the world is
but art is able to frame
how we feel and think about it.
They certainly share the same enemies...
the agents of
ignorance superstition and prejudice.”
-- Mark Dion*

Science and art intersect in
The Cabinet of Curiosities**

or as Lawrence Weschler calls it,
" a complete debauch of marvel"

When The Flying Carpet saw
a stuffed alligator
hanging from the ceiling of room one
of Gigi Bon's studio in Venice
and started a conversation about
Cabinets of Wonder
an invitation to her inner sanctum followed
 

The Curiosity Cabinet transformed itself into
Natural History Museums
Art Museums
and Museums of Everything Imaginable***
 

Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia
the dust covered archives of world exploration
when Venice was Queen of the Seas
 

Period Rooms

The Museu da Farmácia in Lisbon, Portugal
 

The Collector's Hut
Brooklyn Botanical Garden

The Artist's Studio

One could could use the term “pilgrimage”
in the presence of :
the painting desk of Freda Kahlo
in Mexico City at La Casa Azul

 

 

 Atelier Brancusi in Paris***** 

Kawaii Kanjiro's studio in Kyoto

Shuren Sakurai
revered Noh Mask Carver

in his home and  studio
Nanzen-ji Temple, Kyoto
 

Do not become dispirited or immobilized... 

This is dedicated especially to dear friend Dana

and also all the creatives

who must persevere in this time 

*From field guide to Dr. Fairchild Kampong laboratory... 

**the Cabinet de Curiosités
 de Joseph Bonnier de La Mosson,
  a part of what was once
  the most celebrated curiosity cabinet
  of 18th century Paris
  which the Flying Carpet saw and photographed at the
   médiathèque of the
   Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris

 ***www.atlasobscura.com

**** “the notion of transforming space   

from a didactic taxonomic exhibit of objects

 into an environment 

which contextualizes elements” --- Mark Dion
From field guide to Dr. Fairchild Kampong laboratory...
see also: Marvelous Museum 
Orphans Curiosities and Treasures

*****In his will, Brancusi bequeathed his entire studio
to the French state.
An exact reconstruction of this was made in 1997
on the piazza opposite the Centre Pompidou.