Susan L. Aberth

Even if the text for this by Susan Aberth had been shit (it wasn't) I'd still love this bk just for the repros of the paintings. I wdn't exactly call the writing 'inspired' but I'd give the author credit for certainly revealing plenty about Carrington. I was particularly delighted to learn that Alexandro Jodorowsky (of "El Topo" etc fame) staged Carrington's 1957 play "Penelope" in Mexico City. I'd like to read a whole bk just about that - the one foto's very enticing. Was there music for show more it? If so, by whom? If Conlon Nancarrow did it (unlikely I suppose) that wd be enuf to push me over the edge. It looks like something that shd be restaged w/ music by Liz Downing.

ANYWAY, the paintings: overflowing w/ animism, humor, esoteric symbolism - about the latter: I don't even necessarily care about what it MEANS, it still resonates w/ MEANING.. no matter what. The paintings are utterly convincing that there's life behind life on top of life in parallel dimensions to life in death, in, in.. IN other words, the work strikes me as truly visionary: the product of a seer, of a mind so open that it SEES even the invisible w/ intense accuracy. Some of them, "Chiki, ton pays" eg, are so detailed & finely wrought that they easily rival their precursors amongst the alchemical illustrations in the magnificent Taschen "Alchemy & Mysticism".

Many of the works are in private collections. If I had one of Carrington's paintings in my home I'm not sure I cd bear it. It'd be almost impossible to not look at constantly, it's presence wd be so powerful that it might burn me out like a surge in an unprepared circuit. Looking at a Carrington painting, even in reproduction, is like finding what you didn't even know you were looking for during an acid trip.. & then being unable to absorb its lesson. Nonetheless, even having the experience at all is enuf to make a profound impression.

But, then, do you ever wonder? WHY?! I mean the odd spirit intensely channels so many potentials in life, crosses astounding borders & abysses, creates such wonders as these paintings.. & THEN? dies. But then I wrote earlier "there's life behind life on top of life in parallel dimensions to life in death". I can only hope that Carrington manages to burn so bright in many ways & shape-shiftings unto & beyond 'til death do us part.

A (wo)men. show less

Beautiful and plentiful reproductions, with informative-enough accompanying text. The latter is without art, however, as unremarkable and shallow as the average undergrad's final paper in a course on women's art. It wasn't terrible writing but, in the end, it would have been preferable to read a stale encyclopedic entry of the same length than to be drowned in all the unsubstantiated assumptions Aberth weakly makes here. Definitely worthwhile for the prints and the simple facts about show more Carrington's life that are rather hard to come by in English language coverage (she's quite popular in Mexico). show less

A nicely written biography of Carrington with a nice sampling of her work with extensive analyses of selected works. If you like surrealism, then this a great read.

Brilliant, strange, mesmerizing, and wonderful.