R A I N C H E C K
love
dad
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Greece
B E L L I D O L
S E V E N T H C E N T U R Y B C
Looks like an animated character you would find
in Tim Burton's film, Nightmare Before Christmas.
These are clay figures. Their legs dangle from
within the bell-shaped skirt. Maybe they were
toys for kids.
They were found in the graves of children and
women. They could have been votives -
a physical symbol of a promise made or a vow
of one's loyal devotion. In return, may the spirits
protect us from calamity for all our days through life.
C A L F - B E A R E R
M A R B L E 5 7 0 B C
A man carries his calf for religious offering.
This is as it should be. Bless Athena.
Have mercy upon us. May your spirit
illuminate and benefit us all with
your magnificence. And may no one
swipe this offering. For the sake of humanity.
The farmer's eyes are missing.
Colored rock chosen to represent eyes
have long ago fallen from their sockets
providing a ghoulish touch
atop the farmer's natural stance.
M A I D E N S P O R C H
L A T E F I F T H C E N T U R Y B C
The columns of the temple honoring Athena
portray six various women just hanging out,
relaxing in drapery carved from stone.
The illusion succeeds. The weight they wear
balanced on their heads is nothing more
than that of a hat made of fruit salad.
The Erechthelon Temple is one among others,
gathered here to form the Acropolis, a
crowning achievement that best symbolizes
the Golden Age of Athens.
B E R E N I C E I I
Q U E E N 2 0 0 B C
Wife of Ptolemy III, ruler of Egypt.
It is a mosaic found in Mendes, Egypt.
What's with the eyes?
Is this the stare of an all-seeing mystic or is she just
insane? There is nothing divine about this look.
The artisan of the work provides his fanciful
judgment on the subject.
Stay clear of her.
She intends to avenge your betrayal of her
that must have occurred somewhere, somehow...
whenever.
Who cares?
Off with your head.
E K P H O R A
F U N E R A L P R O C E S S I O N 7 5 0 B C
The process of carrying the body to its grave
is depicted here in geometric forms on this
monumental vase. The human figures have
a triangular torso with sticks for arms and
small, circular heads. Their gestures convey
grief. Chariots and foot soldiers arrive.
Warriors with shields look like walking
hourglass figures.
We are all gathered here to honor the memory
of an upstanding visionary of our community,
a man to be long remembered for his
outstanding deeds.
May his soul be well received in the afterlife.
L A O C O O N
T R O J A N W A R M Y T H
This statue was unearthed in a vineyard on
Esquiline Hill in Rome. The year was 1506.
Michelangelo was witness to this discovery.
His patron, Pope Julius II, acquired the sculpture
and had it placed in the Vatican.
Laocoon and his two sons are being attacked
by a sea serpent - divine punishment for his
treacherous attempt to warn the Trojans
against accepting the Greek's Trojan Horse.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Ancient Egypt
P Y R A M I D o f D J O S E R
This pyramid, the oldest in Egypt, was designed
to be the Pharoah's stairway to the North Star.
Crumbling mud bricks were eventually replaced
with blocks made of sturdy limestone
when building future pyramids.
It meant spending an additional fortune to construct.
Screw it. Go with the luster.
The grandeur lasts forever.
S P H I N X
Devine guardian of the Pharaoh Khafre as
he makes his journey to the land of afterlife.
The Pharaoh's own head placed on the shoulders
of this mythical lion, painted with vibrant color,
symbol of royalty.
About six hundred years ago the Great Sphinx
of Giza lost its nose to a Muslim, furious over
this enormous public expression of idolatry.
S O U L o f P E
The falcon-headed figure above strikes its position
of praise, welcoming another deceased king into
the kingdom of afterlife. Egyptian pharaohs are
protected by powerful ancestral spirits, taking the
form of the falcon-headed deity, Horus - ruler of
Egypt, god of the sky.
It is the god Horus that rules us all in life
through his all powerful representative
here with us now on Earth...
our beloved Pharaoh.
A M E N H O T E P I I I
This serene depiction of Amenhotep III reflects his near
forty year rule of peace and prosperity in Egypt.
He was a master diplomate and maintained Egypt's
superpower status by forming strategic alliances,
avoiding military conflict. His principle advisor
was his wife, Tiye, a commoner, with a talent for
overseeing affairs of state.
T U T A N K H A M E N
Death at the age of nineteen ended the ten year
reign of King Tut. His main accomplishment was
to reverse his father's conversion to monotheism.
The country once again returned to their long
revered personal gods, the one's giving them
comfort and protection.
Tutankhamen repaired his father's damage to
Egypt's social fabric and its economy.
Then King Tut died. There would be no pyramid
built in his honor. His tomb was anonymous,
tucked away somewhere in the Valley of Kings.
Tut was forgotten; his tomb never discovered
by looters.
No one even knew of King Tut's tomb until
it was finally stumbled on in 1922.
It was the jackpot. Here was a royal
storage unit containing over five thousand
items, unmolested, from over four thousand
years ago. Tut's sarcophagus was included,
and with Tut inside.
It was a Macy's Department store Christmas
fantasyland. On display for everyone to see
was the world's best merchandise, all for the
use of a dead, superpower pharaoh.
R A M S E S I I
Still living the dream.
Yul Brynner played the dashing Rameses II
in Cecil B. DeMille's 1958 epic movie
The Ten Commandments.
Ramses' wife, Ann Baxter, falls for Moses -
the powerful lawgiver from out of the Sinai.
Moses, as played by Charlton Heston,
parts the Red Sea to free the people of Israel.
Ramses II went on to rule Egypt for 66 years.
His was the Golden Age of prosperity and
monumental construction.
Anne Baxter chose a new country home in Thebes.
Ben-Hur took on the Romans.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Ziggurat
Z I G G U R A T o f U R
The base of this temple still exists in southern Iraq,
near the Euphrates River. The Sumerians built
the tower more than four thousand years ago.
Mud bricks were dried in the sun, then stacked
to a height of nearly one hundred feet in order to
provide Nanna, the Sumerian Moon god, her
earthly residence in royal style.
G A T E o f I S H T A R
The Ishtar Gate was entrance to the ancient city of Babylon
and was constructed with glazed brick about 600 BC.
Around 1900 a German archeologist excavated the Gate's
remnants and reconstructed the site at a museum in Berlin.
Three animals adorn the Gate's wall in relief and they
all represent gods. Ishtar the Lion is goddess of war,
love and fertility. Adad the Bull is the god of weather,
providing both beneficial rain and destructive storms.
The patron deity of Babylon is the dragon, Marduk -
the god that triumphed over chaos and rose
to become Babylon's chief god.
U R F A M A N
Unearthed by road construction in southeastern Turkey,
this statue of a man stands over six feet tall and dates
back eleven thousand years, making it the oldest known
life-sized statue to exist. This sophisticated limestone
sculpture predates writing by six thousand years and
the pyramids of Egypt by four thousand years.
The artist has the man using his hands to hide
his genitals. Urfa Man is provided a head with
eyes, nose and ears, but curiously, is left
without a mouth.
B U L L f r o m T E L L A L - U B A I D
It was 2600 BCE and the civilizations of Mesopotamia
were busy developing their written languages to relate
their stories... their hopes and dreams set in print for
their own distant posterity to read.
The Sumerians fashioned this bull with plates made
from a copper alloy that would be cutting edge
metallurgy for its day. The thin plates were secured
to a wooden core using both nails and bitumen -
a natural tar. It still stands sturdy despite the fact
the wooden core has long since rotted away.
S A R G O N o f A K K A D
About the time the Sumerians were crafting
together their copper bull, Sargon was creating
the world's first empire made up of diverse
culture, language and nation states.
His ideas on governing were groundbreaking,
establishing a central authority that became the
model for political command and control.
He was made for politics and leadership.
His rule of the Akkadian Empire was legendary.
Someone took a legendary whack of their own
at the copper likeness of Sargon, his Magnificence.
H A M M U R A B I
He wrote the book on law. Literally.
His Code of Hammurabi set down in writing
282 rules that must be followed in resolving
disputes and crimes against society.
Retribution is the solution for malfeasance and
crime. An eye for an eye. If the house you built
collapsed, crushing the homeowner's son, then
you too, must suffer the death of your son.
The words of the Old Testament made for
enlightened reading by comparison.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Saturday, November 8, 2025
Abstract
W O M A N 1 1 9 5 0
W i l l e m d e K o o n i n g
For two years de Kooning struggled with
how he would go about portraying a woman
using bold colors and broad strokes - his own
personal method of painting.
Great painting. Too bad she looks like the
stone age Venus de Willendorf and not
something to be found on a cave's man wall.
She's too predatory.
It's Round 8 of a domestic dispute.
B R O A D W A Y B O O G I E W O O G I E 1 9 4 2
P i e t M o n d r i a n
Mondrian fled the Nazi takeover of Europe and
found himself willy-nilly amidst the bustling streets
of New York City - the Great White Way!
Neon lights everywhere, turning nighttime streets
into day. Here was where jazz was played.
Piet loved jazz.
Here was all his needed inspiration poured into
a few short blocks.
E L E G Y T O T H E S P A N I S H R E P U B L I C 1 9 7 1
R o b e r t M o t h e r w e l l
Lament for those who lost their life fighting
the Nazis during the Spanish Civil War.
People from all around and all walks of life
came to help defend Spain's fledgling Republic.
It was a lost cause.
Robert Motherwell once said the black ovals in
the painting reminded him of hanging bull testicles.
Whatever they are, they are blocking the view.
You are being crowded by bullies.
What are you going to do about it?
C O N V E R G E N C E 1 9 5 2
J a c k s o n P o l l o c k
It was only black and white initially, but Pollack
didn't like the results. It was glum.
Time to sling it some color.
Give it rhythm.
Giddy up.
Actually, it's more like Frank Sinatra crooning
Fly Me to the Moon.
It's fanciful topping on a splash of sober.
W H I T E F L A G
J a s p e r J o h n s
Here is the white of a weathered fence.
Jasper Johns created the textured effect
by suspending pigment in hot wax.
It becomes a painting of small, unexpected
pleasures mixed into this overall effect.
It's understated old school.
It was a time when people thought
wrinkles make the man.
Sort of.
N O . 4 6
M a r k R o t h k o
No narrative. Just color.
You supply the emotion.
Walk up to it real close.
It's eight and a half feet tall.
Rothko intended it to envelope you.
Is this art for art's sake or your shrink
playing the cello?
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
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