The Sistine Chapel of Insect Art
I am intoxicated with Salsa Invertebraxa, written and illustrated by Mozchops aka Paul Phippen. It will be loved by those who embrace the eerie beauty of bugs as well those who admire great painting. The hard cover book is a high quality, ecologically conscious printing that is one of the best coffee table books you may ever encounter as well as a graphic novel laced together by an unconventional narrative poem. The written text is one part Dr. Seuss, one part Lewis Carroll,and other parts Walt Whitman and William Blake. The images are illustrations in a sequence but can stand alone as works of art by a master of digital painting. Mozchops has a mind as original as Dali or Hieronymous Bosch so his canvasses radiate with unexpected imagery.
The "Salsa" of the title likely refers to the Latin dance. "Invertebraxa" seems to be a combining of `invertebrates' (insects, spiders and other arthropods) and possibly `Abraxas' the deity Jung described as a "God higher than the Christian God and Devil, that combines all opposites into one Being." That would make sense in this depiction of a sun-drenched, flower-filled rain forest that is rich with beauty but also with predators caught up in the victimizing work of survival. Under the bright, prismatic plants and flowers is the dark mulch of death and decay. Many of these images are shadowy depictions of the creatures we fear because of their venom, their fangs and their cunning traps. Others are colorful confections of imaginary creatures we'd welcome at our picnics and might pick up to eat. Of course, there are some dazzling butterflies - the go-to bug of beauty - but one of these has transparent wings.
As elaborate as these images are, the story is a simple one. It's a day in the life of two insect-like creatures who are "scurrilous schemers." One has a sometimes metallic looking shell and a jet-like construction with the flared legs of a Japanese robot and an almost human, scowling face. He or she has antennae that also seem to be wings/rockets. His or her partner is a mosquito-like creature with a long proboscis. For their first prank, they gather up strands of what looks like electrically charged spider webbing and use it to dangle a puppet of a dead caterpillar in order to lure and kill a trap door spider. After they succeed, the spider is seized on by an army of ants, ready to shear it to pieces for a feast.
The schemers return to a porous tree trunk where they store some mysterious booty in a cranny before heading out on their next mission, the theft of insect eggs. They soar through a carnival of hanging flowers, fruit and forest creatures including beetles with antennae that tie into heart shapes as they mate. Below on the ground is a crowded, throbbing parade of termites marching towards a clash with an ant column. These paintings of the social insects are my favorite and recall Flemish Baroque fruit paintings with their dark backgrounds, play of light and exquisite craftsmanship. The mandibles of the flesh-pink ants are large and dramatic and could easily belong to a Pacific walrus while the termites resemble a rushing army of rhinos. Spectacular, as in fabulous spectacle.
Throughout the book are other strange, unexpected syntheses of creatures engaging in human behavior. The cover image is one example, from a sequence where the two schemers subdue fat, candy-colored caterpillars which seem to float or fly. One of the schemers dons the empty shell of a dead insect and transforms himself into a jouster in armor. His mount is one of these caterpillars, clothed in something like horse fittings, and on its head is the elongated helmet of a samurai warrior. Attached to the caterpillar are random, ribbon-like appendages that recall the camouflage of a leafy sea horse. At the book's end, a clump of grass rises up to reveal itself as a bug version of Swamp Thing and riding on its back is someone like Stitch (the other half of Lilo) who has sprouted two pairs of the external lungs of an axolotl.
What does it all mean?
I'm not sure. I'd like to know but I don't really care. What does a Scottish Jig mean or a Spanish Flamenco or in this case, a Salsa Invertebraxa? This book strikes me as a very pure work, the uncompromised vision of a single mind. I don't see in it either the meddlesome intrusions or the helpful suggestions of an editor. It is not an easy narrative to follow and one that takes some re-reading, some study and some careful scrutiny of the images and even then it's all up for interpretation. Salsa Invertebraxa may be one of humanities most elaborate whimsies and it is certainly one of its most beautiful.
Salsa Invertebraxa is available at Amazon.com and will soon be available as an e-book. Excerpts are available at http://www.pecksniffpress.com/titles....
Clark Carlton is an award winning playwright and novelist whose most recent novel is Prophets of the Ghost Ants.
http://www.prophetsoftheghostants.com
The "Salsa" of the title likely refers to the Latin dance. "Invertebraxa" seems to be a combining of `invertebrates' (insects, spiders and other arthropods) and possibly `Abraxas' the deity Jung described as a "God higher than the Christian God and Devil, that combines all opposites into one Being." That would make sense in this depiction of a sun-drenched, flower-filled rain forest that is rich with beauty but also with predators caught up in the victimizing work of survival. Under the bright, prismatic plants and flowers is the dark mulch of death and decay. Many of these images are shadowy depictions of the creatures we fear because of their venom, their fangs and their cunning traps. Others are colorful confections of imaginary creatures we'd welcome at our picnics and might pick up to eat. Of course, there are some dazzling butterflies - the go-to bug of beauty - but one of these has transparent wings.
As elaborate as these images are, the story is a simple one. It's a day in the life of two insect-like creatures who are "scurrilous schemers." One has a sometimes metallic looking shell and a jet-like construction with the flared legs of a Japanese robot and an almost human, scowling face. He or she has antennae that also seem to be wings/rockets. His or her partner is a mosquito-like creature with a long proboscis. For their first prank, they gather up strands of what looks like electrically charged spider webbing and use it to dangle a puppet of a dead caterpillar in order to lure and kill a trap door spider. After they succeed, the spider is seized on by an army of ants, ready to shear it to pieces for a feast.
The schemers return to a porous tree trunk where they store some mysterious booty in a cranny before heading out on their next mission, the theft of insect eggs. They soar through a carnival of hanging flowers, fruit and forest creatures including beetles with antennae that tie into heart shapes as they mate. Below on the ground is a crowded, throbbing parade of termites marching towards a clash with an ant column. These paintings of the social insects are my favorite and recall Flemish Baroque fruit paintings with their dark backgrounds, play of light and exquisite craftsmanship. The mandibles of the flesh-pink ants are large and dramatic and could easily belong to a Pacific walrus while the termites resemble a rushing army of rhinos. Spectacular, as in fabulous spectacle.
Throughout the book are other strange, unexpected syntheses of creatures engaging in human behavior. The cover image is one example, from a sequence where the two schemers subdue fat, candy-colored caterpillars which seem to float or fly. One of the schemers dons the empty shell of a dead insect and transforms himself into a jouster in armor. His mount is one of these caterpillars, clothed in something like horse fittings, and on its head is the elongated helmet of a samurai warrior. Attached to the caterpillar are random, ribbon-like appendages that recall the camouflage of a leafy sea horse. At the book's end, a clump of grass rises up to reveal itself as a bug version of Swamp Thing and riding on its back is someone like Stitch (the other half of Lilo) who has sprouted two pairs of the external lungs of an axolotl.
What does it all mean?
I'm not sure. I'd like to know but I don't really care. What does a Scottish Jig mean or a Spanish Flamenco or in this case, a Salsa Invertebraxa? This book strikes me as a very pure work, the uncompromised vision of a single mind. I don't see in it either the meddlesome intrusions or the helpful suggestions of an editor. It is not an easy narrative to follow and one that takes some re-reading, some study and some careful scrutiny of the images and even then it's all up for interpretation. Salsa Invertebraxa may be one of humanities most elaborate whimsies and it is certainly one of its most beautiful.
Salsa Invertebraxa is available at Amazon.com and will soon be available as an e-book. Excerpts are available at http://www.pecksniffpress.com/titles....
Clark Carlton is an award winning playwright and novelist whose most recent novel is Prophets of the Ghost Ants.
http://www.prophetsoftheghostants.com
No comments have been added yet.
