HB4M — Amelia Akiko Frank

Horse Blinders for Monet

HB4M: Cabinet (Ōno Kazuo)
HB4M: Cher Ami
Stripe (Counting to Zero)
HB4M: Water-Lilies, Reflection of a Weeping Willow, 1916-1919
HB4M: Shipping Fever
Tusk
Whale Fall

Horse Blinders for Monet: Cabinet 1 (Ōno Kazuo), 2024. Graphite on laid paper, MDF, redwood, oil stain, fasteners, magnets. Construction of vision mostly brain’s assumptions —> a composition that cannot be perceived in its entirety —> a “frame” recalling postal cabinets and pigeon coops —> early air mail and carrier pigeons —> WWI communication technology —> distance* —> Monet painting water lilies only 50km from the front lines —> close-up, the composition is abstract —> construction of vision —> construction of culture —> (after apocalypse) —> Monet’s Japanese garden —> butoh, a desperate attempt at building Japanese cultural identity after the atom bomb —> father of butoh Ōno Kazuo performing a dance subtitled “water lilies,” after Monet —> a dance of pure affect and expression —> in contrast to the sober, right-angled cabinet —> its bottom shelf containing three sheets of folded newsprint with references, and notes —> newspaper —> step forward to read the newspaper —> step back to see the face —> piecing together information from the safety of afar and after the fact —> *distance

Horse Blinders for Monet: Cher Ami, 2024. Graphite on canary onion skin paper in oak veneer artist’s frame. Cher Ami, hero pigeon of WWI, third bird to be dispatched (first two shot down) with a message written on onion skin paper (also used in air mail) informing allied troops that 200 men were trapped behind enemy lines and receiving friendly fire, shot down and flew up again, later died from his wounds, awarded an Animals In War & Peace Medal of Bravery in 2019, now taxidermied and on display at the Smithsonian; reference images for these drawings from pigeon shooting hobbyist videos on Youtube

Stripe (Counting to Zero), 2024. Laser print on paper on wall.

Tusk, 2023-24. Graphite on laid paper in MDF with masking tape.

Whale Fall, 2024. Oil and graphite on canvas.

Horse Blinders for Monet: Water-Lilies, Reflection of a Weeping Willow, 1916-1919, 2024. Graphite on laid paper. After Monet.

Horse Blinders for Monet: Shipping Fever, 2024. Graphite on laid paper.

2024