Monday, September 8, 2008
in the past, the defining burning man moment for me has generally resided in a successful image capture of flames and, perhaps, the errant, left-over firework going off as the man becomes fully engulfed in flickering shades of yellow, orange and red
... last year i didn't go to the burn because i was fed up with both being sick on the playa and with what i perceived as a weird vibe throughout black rock city... this year i chose not to watch because i had already had my burning man moment for 2008 while it was still light out... as you may know, dust and wind were major factors this year with brownouts on monday, saturday and sunday... in delivering the mail for the brc post office, i was out in the middle of saturday's dust up and as the afternoon progressed, the wind got stronger and the waves of powdered lake bed bits turned from white to gray to brown.... as i stood and contemplated the prospect of making a few more deliveries by crossing the expanse of open playa at the center of the city, i first turned and looked back, and there it was, pretty much all i needed to take away from burning man this year... it was the metaphor of the art- in this case a return sculpture from last year but in a different context... the whole retread thing, along with the overall lack of dramatic art pieces, was a disappointment voiced around the city... but the work of this artist through the years- i can't remember her name at the moment- has always been amazing- welded bits of metal forming over sized human anatomical wonders- this piece is actually at least 30 ft. tall.... the context for it last year was as a worshipper in a group of six or seven figures, bowing and praising the god of oil represented by an enormous wooden oil derrick.... but now, with that structure having been consumed in a gigantic ball of flames last year and now, with the simple insertion of the inverted old glory, the pose was shifted from one of praise and subservience to one of pleading..... there is something terribly wrong with this country....help....what can we do...?... as the dust drifted by and as the late afternoon sun was both obscured and allowed to shine through, it's tempting to say that the words- "...oh say can you see..." came to mind... that would not be the truth....instead, it was more like....wow....get the camera out... i did....this is what i caught....more later........
... last year i didn't go to the burn because i was fed up with both being sick on the playa and with what i perceived as a weird vibe throughout black rock city... this year i chose not to watch because i had already had my burning man moment for 2008 while it was still light out... as you may know, dust and wind were major factors this year with brownouts on monday, saturday and sunday... in delivering the mail for the brc post office, i was out in the middle of saturday's dust up and as the afternoon progressed, the wind got stronger and the waves of powdered lake bed bits turned from white to gray to brown.... as i stood and contemplated the prospect of making a few more deliveries by crossing the expanse of open playa at the center of the city, i first turned and looked back, and there it was, pretty much all i needed to take away from burning man this year... it was the metaphor of the art- in this case a return sculpture from last year but in a different context... the whole retread thing, along with the overall lack of dramatic art pieces, was a disappointment voiced around the city... but the work of this artist through the years- i can't remember her name at the moment- has always been amazing- welded bits of metal forming over sized human anatomical wonders- this piece is actually at least 30 ft. tall.... the context for it last year was as a worshipper in a group of six or seven figures, bowing and praising the god of oil represented by an enormous wooden oil derrick.... but now, with that structure having been consumed in a gigantic ball of flames last year and now, with the simple insertion of the inverted old glory, the pose was shifted from one of praise and subservience to one of pleading..... there is something terribly wrong with this country....help....what can we do...?... as the dust drifted by and as the late afternoon sun was both obscured and allowed to shine through, it's tempting to say that the words- "...oh say can you see..." came to mind... that would not be the truth....instead, it was more like....wow....get the camera out... i did....this is what i caught....more later........
Labels: burning man 2008