SARAH STONE

Remembering Zap

When I was a teenager there was a pizza place by the train station in New Brunswick (NJ) that sold  really good pizza, almost right up there with Rays. Next door was a magazine stand that sold, among other things, Zap comix and other "underground" fare. The artwork was incredible, the covers especially. R. Crumb influenced my drawing for years. Victor Moscoso's artwork (seen below) made me want to run away and join the circus. Who knew, when we were in the middle of it, that the 70's would be the golden heyday of comix. It was also the heyday of platform wedgies, elephant bells, and wide lapel, gypsy sleeve blouses with 6 button cuffs.

New Group Show at Cactus Gallery, Eagle Rock:

New Assemblages, 9" x 12"

I recently found an old dictionary, from 1947, and began to tear it, burn the pages and generally maul it to see what I could get out of the words and images. I began to put the results together with bits of sculptures and art-parts that were as yet homeless, and these are some of the pieces that I came up with............. ..............The first pieces is titled "Time's Winged Chariot", a line from Marvel's poem "To His Coy Mistress". I always feel that times winged chariot is hurrying near, and all before us lie deserts of vast eternity. But perhaps that's just me. The next piece, Mustard Flower, was inspired by a Thai newspaper I was reading while waiting for food. I cant read a word of Thai, but I loved the colors and graphic quality of the type, which says "mustard flower" in Thai. Having been raised during the era of the Vietnam war, the images and maps and words began to compose themselves into something that resonated from my youth. This pieces is titled Tribal Red Inspiration, created from a photograph of an early painting of mine which was inspired by a pre-historic cave painting of a shaman.

Mandragora

"Mandragora" is the botanical name for the mandrake plant. a rooty, parsnip like plant thought to have mystical and medicinal powers. Apparently a sedative in small doses and an insanity producing narcotic in large ones, in Medieval times Mandrake was thought to provide cures for demoniacal possession.Mandrake roots were thought to resemble little men. Placing a root in your house averted bad luck and brought prosperity. The root only grew under the gallows of hanged murderers, and to dig a root was sure to kill you. Dogs were tied to the root to pull it from the ground so that the shrieks of the angry mandrake would not harm the human.This piece was inspired by the 2006 movie, Labyrinto del Fauno, by director Guillermo del Toro, a very visually inspiring director.

Deep Water

Deep Water came to me after I went through a couple of very disturbing and traumatic episodes in my life during which I had to re-examine strongly held beliefs I had about myself and the people closest to me. One of these incidents was the death of my father, which revealed a lot of dark things. The text in this piece reads: "Mariners use caution when traversing these waters". It is a piece of text copied from a nautical map to indicate dangerous shoals. The piece is largely about the loss of innocence that comes from seeing the weaknesses in ourselves and others, and accepting them for what they are. On a broader level, it is about losing the trust we had in people who were supposed to be taking care of us, like our government. I tried to imagine the most innocent thing in the world, and what came to mind was an infant mermaid- a mer-baby. This is a skeleton of a mer-baby, the death of innocent ideas, beliefs and trusts. How do we navigate the abyss of the soul when we no longer have a boat to cling to? Do we give up, or become better swimmers?

Persephone Rising

Persephone, also known as Kore, is the Goddes of Spring and the embodiment of Earth's fertility. She is a young, beautiful girl, the daughter of the Harvest Goddess Demeter, who, as the traditional story goes, was abducted against her will by the God of the Underworld, the dark Lord himself, Hades. Hades "made her his wife", also presumably against her will, and Hermes, the messenger of the Gods,was sent to  intervene on behalf of Zeus and Demeter to negotiate a hostage release. But Hades wanted Persephone so badly that he tricked her into eating 6 pommegranite seeds, food of the Underworld, which bound her to Hades for 6 months of every year.

In my interpretation, the relationship between Persephone and Hades, or, if you will, Spring and Winter, Life and Death, Light and Darkness, is a relationship of eternal love and interconnectedness. Persephone is bound to her husband, and he to her, as the sky is bound to the Earth, the water to the shore, the stars to the night sky. How could one want to exist without the other? Their love is THE love, that which connects us all and brings all life full circle. Persephone rises to the surface of the Earth, bringing new life, as represented by her full womb and the green branch, while Hades holds her in a loving goodbye embrace, rooted as he is to the core of the world. In her inevitable leaving, she reassures him of her return.

Rapture of the Deep

I did two different RoD paintings, both were inspired by two things which fascinate me: deep sea creatures- the kind that live in the super hot vents and deepest abyssal zones; and the surrealists game "Exquisite Corpse" in which one person creates a third of an image or story, another person creates another third, and the third person creates the last part. This creature came from studying numerous photos of deep sea fish and combining them, a la Exquisite Corpse, to arrive at these strange and whimsical triptychs.

Available at Ten Women, Venice.

Opening party at the Folk Tree

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After several days of torrential rains, the opening "Hearts and Flowers" party at the Folk Tree Gallery in Pasadena seemed like it would be a wash out. But at the last minute, the skies cleared and it turned into one of those amazing afternoons in Los Angeles with crystal clear skies, clean air, cool breezes, and warm sun. The party (from 2pm to 6pm) was a smash, with the artwork beautifully displayed by curator Gail Mishkin. There were lovely snacky things (my favorite: Caprese salad-on-a-stick: grape tomatoes, teeny mozzarella balls, and basil leaves, skewered on satay sticks, drizzled in balsalmic vinegar). At about 4pm the skies became threatening again, but the gallery goers continued to arrive. It's a shame the Folk Tree has to move (rents are going up), so support them while they are still at their Fair Oaks address so that they can reopen in another location.