Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Iconic Realism

(Photo from Washingtonpost.com)

I post this every year on 9/11, and will continue to bring it back on the anniversary of that horrific day. No, we will never forget:

The memorial in Washington, D.C. for the Pentagon victims of 9/11 as an abstract object represents each person who died at this location in the terrorist act that day.  The designers, Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman, have created the memorial with objects, which appear on the lawn as granite benches, which one would normally associate with comfort and relaxation. They also have the appearance of airplane wings, jetting out of the ground. However, the one hundred eighty-four objects, juxtaposed to the lawn outside the Pentagon serves as a reminder of the great loss of life that day. The dedication of this memorial states:

The Pentagon Memorial contains 184 memorial units, each of which is dedicated to an individual victim by its unique placement within the collective field. The field is organized as a timeline of the victims' ages, moving from the youngest, three-year-old Dana Falkenberg to the oldest, John D. Yamnicky, 71.

Each memorial unit is specifically positioned in order to distinguish victims on board American Airlines Flight 77 from victims within the Pentagon. The memorial units representing the 59 lives lost on American Airlines Flight 77 are positioned so that a visitor to the park will face the sky when reading the name of the victim to whom that unit is dedicated. When standing at a memorial unit dedicated to a victim who was inside the Pentagon, the visitor sees the victim's name and the Pentagon in the same view. The simple but elegant memorial units are at once a glowing light pool, a cantilevered bench and a place for permanent inscription of each victim's name.

Through each season, the maple trees' beauty will contribute to the park's atmosphere of peace and remembrance, enhancing each visitor's personal experience of the memorial. (from the Pentagon Memorial website) [1]

The iconic realism of this memorial provides the visitor to this site an opportunity to reflect on the magnitude that this event has had on the culture of the United States of America and the world, in general.

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[1] Pentagon September 11 Memorial. 2008. http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2008/0708_memorial/memorial.html

Gary Russo, NYC Construction Worker, and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view Mr. Russo singing.)

photo from Google Images

Those who visit any major construction site in Manhattan instantly become aware of the resilience that is needed to persevere in rebuilding an area of the world with millions of eyes attending to every detail. Cameras installed at the Ground Zero construction site monitor every movement of the rebuilding process there. These multi-sensory experiences in lower Manhattan: the cacophony from construction crews, visual monitors, and the many artistic renderings of the human reaction to the process of rebuilding, all create a living example of the semiotic theory of iconic realism.

In particular, one construction worker at the 2^nd Avenue subway site demonstrates this theory. His name is Gary Russo, and he has made it his mission to bring awareness of the beauty of music right in the midst of the barrage of sound associated with the machines involved in this subway reconstruction. Passersby experience his crooning with recorded big band musical accompaniment, and soon their sensory bombardment is melodically soothed with the songs of the musical icon, Frank Sinatra.  

       Iconic representation of art within any community develops from that community’s awareness of the connection between artist endeavor and human awareness. When the community understands that each artist is contributing to the possible transformation of consciousness, fresh ideas offer the possibility for growth in the potential for change. Thank you, Gary Russo!

Goethe's 'Dr. Faust, The Tragedy' and Iconic Realism

Photo from Google Images

In his play, Faust: The Tragedy (Faust. Der Tragödie), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe provides an illustration of iconic realism in that he places an iconic character, Mephistopheles, representing the complexities of evil/negation in the presence of the realistic, emotionally charged character, Dr. Faust, who struggles with his own perception of a quality human experience.

The disguised Mephistopheles makes a deal with Faust, and cultural lessons unfold. In the end, through the interactions of the feminine character, Gretchen, Mephistopheles, and Faust, an unlikely trio, Goethe elucidates his audience of redeeming cultural virtues of honesty, integrity, and perseverance.

William Butler Yeats' "Easter 1916" and Iconic Realism

 

I took this photo whilst driving into the town of Sligo, Ireland.

Easter 1916

by William Butler Yeats

(To hear Liam Neeson read this poem, click HERE.)

I have met them at close of day   

Coming with vivid faces

From counter or desk among grey   

Eighteenth-century houses.

I have passed with a nod of the head   

Or polite meaningless words,   

Or have lingered awhile and said   

Polite meaningless words,

And thought before I had done   

Of a mocking tale or a gibe   

To please a companion

Around the fire at the club,   

Being certain that they and I   

But lived where motley is worn:   

All changed, changed utterly:   

A terrible beauty is born.

That woman's days were spent   

In ignorant good-will,

Her nights in argument

Until her voice grew shrill.

What voice more sweet than hers   

When, young and beautiful,   

She rode to harriers?

This man had kept a school   

And rode our wingèd horse;   

This other his helper and friend   

Was coming into his force;

He might have won fame in the end,   

So sensitive his nature seemed,   

So daring and sweet his thought.

This other man I had dreamed

A drunken, vainglorious lout.

He had done most bitter wrong

To some who are near my heart,   

Yet I number him in the song;

He, too, has resigned his part

In the casual comedy;

He, too, has been changed in his turn,   

Transformed utterly:

A terrible beauty is born.

Hearts with one purpose alone   

Through summer and winter seem   

Enchanted to a stone

To trouble the living stream.

The horse that comes from the road,   

The rider, the birds that range   

From cloud to tumbling cloud,   

Minute by minute they change;   

A shadow of cloud on the stream   

Changes minute by minute;   

A horse-hoof slides on the brim,   

And a horse plashes within it;   

The long-legged moor-hens dive,   

And hens to moor-cocks call;   

Minute by minute they live:   

The stone's in the midst of all.

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.   

O when may it suffice?

That is Heaven's part, our part   

To murmur name upon name,   

As a mother names her child   

When sleep at last has come   

On limbs that had run wild.   

What is it but nightfall?

No, no, not night but death;   

Was it needless death after all?

For England may keep faith   

For all that is done and said.  

 

We know their dream; enough

To know they dreamed and are dead;   

And what if excess of love   

Bewildered them till they died?   

I write it out in a verse—

MacDonagh and MacBride   

And Connolly and Pearse

Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly:   

A terrible beauty is born.

Specific poetic elements within Yeats’ poem, Easter 1916, illustrate my theory and explore the individuals specifically mentioned in his poem: MacDonagh, MacBride, Connolly, and Pearse. He lists these individuals to emphasize the political relevance of each person in the historical year, 1916. Yeats employed iconic realism within the multiple analogies contained within the lines of this poem, illustrating the cultural transformations that concerned the Irish citizens during the decade:1913-1923.

Throughout Easter 1916, Yeats places ambivalent characters in roles that align with various specific cultural hierarchies to elicit a challenge for his reading audience to align their mind-set with revolutionary deliberation. His characters possess multiple symbolic implications in his effort to fortify his stance on the duality of consciousness within Irish culture in 1916.  

Thus, Yeats places iconic illustrations of simplicity while he alludes to ancient complexities. His connections produce poetry that both inspire and enflame. Moreover, his revolutionary speech originates in his characters, who speak in terms with which most of his reading audience would be able to comprehend, terms that deal primarily with nature and its course. Finally, Yeats weaves his poetry to blend the linguistic patterns and cultural customs of his homeland in Sligo, Ireland, with the political events of 1916 and ancient cultural icons as he repetitively states, "A terrible beauty is born."

September 8: The Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Nativity of The Virgin,  c.1400-1405, painting by Andrea di Bartolo

housed at the National Museum of Art

I was searching for a painting to honor the Nativity of the Blessed Mother, Sept. 8. Looking through a number of gorgeous paintings, I decided on the one above because it was intriguing to me, and I liked the color and movement within it. I posted it on Facebook, and someone asked if it were an example of iconic realism. After studying it carefully, reviewing the various symbols of art during the early 15th century, i came up with the following information and conclusion: 

Color usage in paintings: 

Red: passion, power, and nobility, often associated with the Catholic Church. 

Blue: The Virgin Mary, purity, piety, and wisdom

Green: youth, fertility, and nature

Yellow: the sun (divine), commonly used in textiles of the Middle Ages.

Black: the color of mourning.

Joachim sits outside the main event with another man, completely overwhelmed. 

All women are inside with Mary as the focal point. 

Anne recovers from the birthing process on the bed, is served water, poured from pitcher, as in the Mass (washing of the hands). Woman pouring water is wearing black (foreshadowing Christ’s death, perhaps?)

Two women one in yellow (Divinity?), one in pink, a young noblewoman, play with a strong infant Mary, who already can stand on her own two feet after having just been born. 

Another woman in blue enters with bread and body of dead chicken to sustain Anne (another foreshadowing perhaps of the Bread of Life?)

Overhead, red molding extends throughout the entire scene and red curtain, power oversees the event, and possibly foreshadowing Christ’s death. Since it also delineates three distinct rooms, the molding could symbolize the Great Schism of the Catholic Church (1378-1417)

At the highest point, one sees the heavenly firmament: Divinity in charge of all. 

Now, to answer the question: 

Is it iconic realism? Yes, we have little, infant Mary, in the center of this wealthy family into which she was born, displaying internal and physical strength at birth, who will eventually give birth to Jesus the Christ, who gave up all of His possessions and life for humanity. This juxtaposition illustrates the importance of the human need to transform greed and abundance to humility and compassion. 

Thank you, Charles, for helping me to realize this example of iconic realism.

References: 

https://www.britannica.com/event/Western-Schism

https://knightstemplar.co/unraveling-medieval-times-colors-and-their-significance/