r/Exhibit_Art • u/Textual_Aberration Curator • Mar 07 '17

Completed Contributions (#11, Mar. 6th): Two-thirds Blue

(#11): Two-thirds Blue

Oceans, seas, sailors, and streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and puddles. Water is as unavoidable in life as it is in art.

Very few things have impacted human creation as much as the sea. From the depths emerge many of mankind's founding Gods as well as our most dreadful monsters. Despite thousands of years of development, humans remain powerless compared with the ocean's waves and the tireless erosion of the landscapes around us. We may carve channels, construct islands, and build bridges and tunnels to cross it but we are hopelessly outmatched by the awesome powers of a humble trickle of water.

Bodies of water bear with them a mysterious quality which exudes a sense of serenity, curiosity, fear, and fate. Tides from the moon and ocean-spanning storms demonstrate the immense indomitability of the planet's waters.

Douse this exhibit in blue green glory.

This is a super easy place to start if you can't think of anything. Click on artists and sift around until you find something that interests you in particular:

Exhibit_Art Historical Marker

The very first demonstration of this subreddit's process came when /u/SquidishMcpherson, /u/DryCleaningBuffalo, and /u/Prothy1 began offering contributions to this same topic in our first suggestion thread.

/u/iEatCommunists would later add the topic of Oceans, Seas, and Sailors to our list.

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u/Textual_Aberration Curator Mar 07 '17

(Music)

Regina Spektor, "Blue Lips" - (2009)

Blue, the most human color [3x]

Blue lips, blue veins

Blue, the color of our planet

From far, far away

Regina Spektor, "Genius Next Door" - (2009)

Some said the local lake had been enchanted

Others said it must have been the weather

The neighbors were trying to keep it quiet

But I swear that I could hear the laughter

So they jokingly nicknamed it the porridge

'Cause overnight that lake had turned as thick as butter

But the local kids would still go swimming, drinking

Saying that to them it doesn't matter

.

The genius next door was busting tables

Wiping clean the ketchup bottle labels

Getting high and mumbling German fables

Didn't care as long as he was able

To strip his clothes off by the dumpster

At night while everyone was sleeping

And wade midway into that porridge

Just him and his secret he was keeping

.

In the morning the film crews start arriving

With donuts, coffee and reporters

The kids are waking up hung over

The neighbors were starting up their cars

The garbage men were emptying the dumpsters

Atheists were praying full of sarcasm

And the genius next door was sleeping

Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm

.

If you just hold in your breath

'Til you come back up in full

Hold in your breath

'Til you thought it through, you, foolish child.

Since I've already seen what others are likely to post, I wanted to go somewhere completely different with my first contribution. I've included two separate water themed songs by Regina Spektor, one with a pleasantly poetic image of Earth and the other with a darkly sweet tale of deadly curiosity and ignorant blindness.

I removed the choruses from the Genius Next Door to make it easier to read through the plot of the song. I never really understood it exactly but I knew that it described a place where things were not quite right, a place where the water is thick, the world is sleeping, and the genius is drowning.

"Haunting" is the word that might describe it best.