In 2006 photographer Suzanne Opton took a series of photographs of soldiers at Fort Drum Army base in New York.  These soldiers had all completed tours of duty in Iraq and/or Afghanistan and were awaiting redeployment.  For the photographs she asked each soldier to lay his/her head on the table and look at the camera.  No other directions were given.  It’s unusual to see a soldier portrayed in such a passive, vulnerable position.  The resulting images seem both intimate and disquieting.  These are soldiers with their guard down.  Looking into their eyes, one can only wonder about the toll the war has taken on these young men and women.  I find the images to be hauntingly beautiful and a reminder that while we as a nation may choose to quickly forget and move on, the memories of war will linger with those who fought for much, much longer.

You can see more of Suzanne Opton’s soldier photographs here.

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it.  What seems conceit,
bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign
of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on
down there where the spirit meets the bone.

“Slow Room” is an art piece by Jonathan Schipper in which a fully furnished room is slowly pulled through a hole in the wall.  What the time lapse video doesn’t convey is that this process happened over the period of a month.  In real time the destruction is occurring so slowly, you don’t even realize it it is happening before your very eyes.

While in Miami a couple of weeks ago during Art Basel Miami Beach, I attended the collective project space Seven and got to see a piece by this artist.  By the time I viewed the piece, the room was nearly demolished.

A few years ago I saw another work by Schipper at the NEXT art fair in Chicago.  It was entitled “Slow Inevitable Death of American Muscle” and featured a Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am crashing into each other in slow motion over the period of six days.  Again, the demolition was happening at such a slow rate, one didn’t realize it was happening.  I find this artist’s work very intriguing.

Recently my cousin introduced me to another website that plays around with an old comic strip favorite:  3eanuts.  3eanuts alters the classic Charles Schultz comic featuring Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang by simply omitting the final frame of the comic—the frame that usually carried the punch line.  Again, what’s left is a rather bleak world of despair.

I love the idea of taking something familiar and tweaking it just a bit to make it into something new and different and rather odd.  If you know of other altered comics like this, post a comment and let me know about it.

I found this video of an unusual performance in Vienna.  The aria is sung by countertenor Bejun Mehta.  I know nothing about this production but feel it conveys in a non-traditional way the passion and suffering of the rejected Christ.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Johnston has struggled with mental illness through much of his adult life. The story of his life and music was featured in the award-winning documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston.  Aside from his music, Daniel is also a gifted artist whose unique drawings have become collector’s items. 

Here is a great video from Austin City Limits of Daniel performing one of my favorite Daniel Johnston songs, “Life in Vain,” accompanied by The Swell Season and a children’s choir. 

Last night Daniel was backed up by the Kansas City-based band Capybara.  I’ve become a big fan of Capybara recently and also had the chance to see them perform at the Fest.  Here is a clip of their song “The Wimp.”