Elephants and Art

Elephant Fact #6: Elephants spend about 16 hours a day eating.

With today being Anzac Day, we’ve been given a day off from hell school. Of course, rather than spending it by the poolside sipping on piña coladas or whatever floats your boat, I’m writing on why the garlic constituent allicin is such a great antibacterial.

Yeah, baby.

I also thought I might update my drawing wars with my friend:

She sent me:

And I was like, “Bring it.”

So she did this—it’s a pretty funky pillow…

…but also pretty badass hair.

Wish I still knew how to draw properly. Before I turned to writing as a creative outlet; drawing was my number one. Ever since I was younger, I’d always admired art—but proper art, not that crazy lines-and-blobs-of-paint diarrhea-mush.

Sorry, personal opinions are intruding. I hate abstract art. People say it represents emotions, thoughts or feelings—I say that someone was just too damn lazy to get off their ass and draw anything recognizable.

Them: “Oh, it represents the unity of life and the never-ending cycle of consciousness and free will—“

Me: “Bitch, that’s a circle.”

It can’t be just me. I even did a TOK presentation on this at one point, I’m so worked up about it—how did we ever get from this:

To this:

To this.

What is this I don’t even—no. Just no.

Pardon the bitterness of this post. This is just my personal opinion and by no means is it the correct one—everyone has differing perceptions of what is ‘beautiful’ or ‘fascinating’ and they all reserve the right to express their opinions without fear of ostracization or negativity. Some people prefer landscapes, scenes of nature that evoke feelings of peace or tranquility.  This is The Harbour at Argenteuil by Claude Monet.

Some prefer surrealist pieces, that creates the sense of the ‘dreamlike’ and ‘fantastic'. That’s Enigma profunda by Salvador Dali.

And me? I like the technical stuff, I guess. Art that has people as a subject, that is anatomically correct, that has strong emotions behind it. The following is Dante and Virgil in Hell by William Bougereau and is one of my absolutely most adored artworks—

--no, they’re not secksing; they’re in the Fifth Circle of Hell, a place reserved for the wrathful. It’s adapted from The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, which follows the author on his journey to Hell. There, it takes the phrase “the punishment should fit the crime” in its most literal sense, which is why those in the Fifth Circle—who have wrought their physical wrath on others while they lived—are left to suffer eternally by, and I quote, “tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth”.

Cool, huh? Better than any ridiculous circle, or so I think.

Anyway, my procrastinating time is over—have to get back to French homework.

The Unlucky Elephant

References:
Woman on shell—The Birth of Venus, by Botticelli
Crazy-ass hallucination of naked women—Les demoiselles d’avignons by Picasso
Stupid circle—To Martha’s Memory by Yoshihara.