Avatars

This is Rosemary, Goddess of Herbs, sculpted by Mary Albrecht and erected in October 2000. She watches over the herb garden at the Zilker Botanical Gardens, and I found this to be a very striking piece, mostly due to its abstract quality, with simple planes and lines. Plus ( though not really a danger in a low-pollution city like Austin ), the lack of realistic detail would certainly allow this piece of work to last with little appreciable damage over the years. But what this reminded me of was of a couple of images created by Danish photographer/filmmaker Lasse Hoile. One was a costumed figure with a blank, rounded face, rather like a tree stump, with a vile, Jabba-esque tongue, which appeared in the video for Steven Wilson's "Harmony Korine", the lead-off track from his solo album Insurgentes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BClzBQmZZBc

( It first appears at about 0:27 in the video. )

The second image is very similar to the figure in the video, at least in posture, but the face is...well, a little more detailed. It is a photograph in the CD booklet from Porcupine Tree's latest album, The Incident.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28584265@N06/3927930433/in/set-72157620723805053/

( This photo is actually from the deluxe edition of the same CD, but it appears in the retail edition, as well. )

The "Rosemary" statue is probably supposed to engender a bit of tranquility, like an avatar of a spiritual overseer. I wonder if that says something about my outlook, if the first thing that came to mind was some creature of nightmare from the same guy who revisits the dark and twisted aspects of perception. Some of his visions are...disturbing.

Seriously, check out his portfolio: http://www.lassehoile.com/