Through the Eye of Time

Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (i.e. 11th - 14th Dynasties)

a Talismanic, Flat-Openwork Bangle [British Museum no. EA24787]

circa 2055 - 1650 B.C.

     Cradled within a one-registered weave of soldered silver and gold, an orderly procession of ‘amuletic' animals and symbols fixedly parade within their ancient pride of place. From dashing hares and all-seeing wedjats to watchful, ever-alert hawks, each icon stoically tunnels within its allotted slot among its dignified comrades, securely encased by two mirrored eaves of hammered gold. Their unified purpose is one of protection and power, an energy with which they positively imbue their wearer. On his or her behalf, they fight off the dual-faced cunningness of evil; they guard one’s unassuming wariness with the fidelity equal to that of [wo]man’s best friend; and in rotational turn, each banishes the unrelenting daemons borne from within the human soul itself, again and again, like warriors within a dimensionless battle. Additionally, in terms of aesthetics, it is said (by an anonymous member of the British Museum (London)) that both the bangle’s tapering tails are rather ‘clumsily’ hewn, especially in light of the comparative details set inside the band margins. However, is it not a matter of perspective which acts to define the truth behind an individual's impression - an idea which, in fact, may make a bangle such as this nothing less than a pool of collected, many-faceted opinions regarding the certainty of beauty, despite its imperfections? Perhaps the answer lies in the folds of history, waiting to be rediscovered by those imprisoned in a cycle of life that it, and only it, chose to enforce from the start.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton Publishing, Inc. (Dark Horse Deluxe)

Playing Cards

2009

     Fifty-two paper scales of pure quirkiness. From a pin-haired, bad-postured bobble head creature to one whose bulbous green balding scalp boasts of no more than three strands of poorly-coiffed fluff, each illustration offers its card a unique insight into the many-wheeled, illustrious mind of Tim Burton. His drawings are simple; they refrain from overwhelming the otherwise blank space with too much contemporary pretension. Rather like singular leaves floating aim-fully (contrary to what many may assume) on the face of a wide, still lake, the illustrations seemingly bask in bays of calm silence inherent in their cards’ flat shape. They swirl gently within their four-sided realms, lost in thought as they possibly ponder the strange weirdness they see in our, the audience’s, own world. They have purpose; they remain fixedly separate from the over-faceted woes and ways borne from our world. They are modestly confident. They are happy and free, senselessly so, and always willing to play (and win) at their own game.

An Ever-Budding Culture

Leningrad State Hermitage (main collection)

Enamelled Silver Jewellery Box with Lid

circa 1679

     Vibrant, dainty and immaculate. Rather like musical notes eloquently drawn along their registered sheets, each flower head garnishing this box stretches and un-furls in a similar, albeit mirrored, fashion. They sing of a time that is now past; of a lady (or man) whose wearable treasures once happily nestled within the safety of their miniature confines. They silently relate to us their unified story of all that they have yet seen, even though we may only ‘hear’ it through studying and questioning their aged, weathered faces. Sinuous and sweet, the flowers’ enamelled complexions grace the box like twelve separate caryatids, each in its own niche of individual prominence and each, undoubtedly, an invaluable chapter fortifying the memory of s/he whose hands lovingly created the box from the very beginning.