M A R M A L A D E
H A P P Y A N N I V E R S A R Y !
J e s s i c c a & K y l e
l o v e
dad
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
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Saturday, November 1, 2025
Self Portrait
M I C H E L A N G E L O
1 5 4 1
Which of these gents in this Sistine Chapel painting
is the famous Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo?
At the top of the painting we see Christ rendering
his last judgement on the fate of souls on this
final day of time; Mary at his side.
That is Saint Bartholomew sitting on a cloud,
to Christ's left. He holds a knife in one hand
and his own flayed skin in the other.
Bartholomew was martyred by being skinned alive.
The drooping face on the skin is that of Michelangelo.
There is no triumph in the manner of his own depiction.
He has been tasked with portraying the divine.
Now he is in despair.
I am not worthy.
F R I D A K A H L O
1 9 4 0
It's a necklace of thorns she wears.
A dead hummingbird hangs near her neck.
The monkey over her shoulder busies itself
pulling her neckless, which increases her pain.
Here is Frida's desolation from a love gone bad.
She fell in love with the celebrated muralist,
Diego Rivera. The attraction was mutual
and they married. How could two people
made for each other screw things up so bad?
It was a tumultuous relationship, with each
having numerous affairs and revenge sex.
It all ended in divorce.
Temporarily.
A N D Y W A R H O L
1 9 6 3
"I think somebody should be able to do all
my paintings for me."
Warhol wasn't into chasing for nirvana.
It wasn't in his DNA. He'd bring his own brand
of perfection. He found his inspiration in
soup cans, publicity shots of Marilyn Monroe
and corpses sprawled across scenes of highway
fatality.
You're looking for a painting to go over your sofa
but you don't have a lot of money to spend.
No problem.
I'm going to take an ordinary Bazooka bubblegum
wrapper. Blow it up to around thirty times its
original size. Now all I need is a sturdy backing
and a frame. No long hours will I spend fighting
the eccentricities of oil.
It's about appreciation.
Take something mundane. Present it
in a manner that has an air of intrigue.
Now you're seeing the world as a child would -
for the first time, and once again.
All for $49.95. Free shipping.
F R A N C I S B A C O N
1 9 6 9
Vulnerability.
He faces himself at a time when his longtime lover
has died. One of those what's it all about moments.
He is uneasy about the future but he remains
contemplative. He is content, but with great
emotional intensity.
L U C I A N F R E U D
1 9 8 5
Lucian always looked for unvarnished truth.
It had to express reality; not just in physical likeness
but also by providing some expression of the subject's
inner life. Here we see senior citizen Freud
in all his blemishes and wrinkles, skillfully rendered
with thick impasto strokes of oil.
C H U C K C L O S E
2 0 0 3
Close was never healthy. His childhood was
a struggle with physical ailments of all sorts.
And he was dyslexic. At that time people mistook
his disability for just being slow.
Despite these setbacks Chuck Close became
a portrait artist of note. Then he was struck down
by a neurological condition that left him paralyzed.
Unable to use his arms Close gripped a brush
with his teeth to apply his paint. His portraits
evolved into a grid of squares, each in its
own fashion, to add life to a face.
Chuck Close became wealthy and famous.
He traveled between two splendid households
situated outside New York City. He socialized
with a wide group of friends. Life was good.
Then it wasn't. Suddenly Close walked away
from it all - his homes, his friends. His address
was now in a maze, sprawling with anonymous
apartments. He spent himself; frantic.
Painting self portraits, one after the other.
Life was a mosaic he needed to catch.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
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