Irony

Juan Rexach
St James the Greater and St Giles
ca. 1450-60
tempera and gold on panel
(altarpiece fragment)
Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia

Girolamo Romanino
Virgin and Child enthroned
with St James the Greater and St Jerome
ca. 1512
oil on panel
High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Marcantonio Raimondi
The Painter Raphael wrapped in a Cloak
ca. 1520
engraving
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Pieter Pourbus
Portrait of a Young Clergyman
ca. 1560
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Giovanni Pietro Possenti
Lot and his Daughters
ca. 1640-50
etching
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Jan Anthonisz van Ravesteyn
Portrait of a Man
ca. 1647
oil on panel
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Mattia Preti (il Cavalier Calabrese)
St Mark
before 1669
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Andrea Procaccini after Carlo Maratti
Cloelia fleeing across the Tiber
ca. 1710
etching
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Sebastiano Ricci
Diana and Callisto
1712-16
oil on canvas
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Jonathan Richardson, Senior
Portrait Study of boxer James Figg
1714
drawing
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Johann Baptist Reiter
Portrait of a Man
1838
oil on panel
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Childhood of St Geneviève
ca. 1877
ink on canvas
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands

Hilla Rebay
Solomon R. Guggenheim
1928
oil on canvas
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Philip Reisman
The Bathroom
ca. 1929
etching
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Diego Rivera
Woman and Child in Snow (Moscow Scene)
1956
watercolor on paper
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

John Raye
Carnival at Stop & Shop Plaza
ca. 1978
gelatin silver print
New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut

David Robbins
Cindy Sherman
1986
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

from Hero and Leander

With that he stripped him to the ivory skin,

And crying, 'Love, I come', leaped lively in.

Whereat the sapphire-visaged god grew proud,

And made his capering Triton sound aloud,

Imagining that Ganymede, displeased,

Had left the heavens; therefore on him seized.

Leander strived; the waves about him wound,

And pulled him to the bottom, where the ground

Was strewed with pearl, and in low coral groves

Sweet singing mermaids sported with their loves

On heaps of heavy gold, and took great pleasure

To spurn in careless sort the shipwreck treasure:

For here the stately azure palace stood,

Where kingly Neptune and his train abode. 

– Christopher Marlowe (1598)

Masking

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Florida
1983
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
1978
gelatin silver print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
The Umbrellas, Japan
1991
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #95
1981
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Valley Curtain, Grand Hogback, Rifle, Colorado
1972
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #304
1994
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College,
Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Walkways, Loose Park, Kansas City
1978
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #408
2002
C-print
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California
1976
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California
1976
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #410
2003
C-print
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Trees
Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland
1998
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Trees
Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland
1998
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Stephen Shore
Intermediate Landing, Eastern Approach, State Capitol, Albany, New York
1984
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia
1969
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Sarah Crowner
Opening Violet and Green
2018
acrylic on canvas
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Douglas Coupland
Sworn to Fun, Loyal to None
2011
acrylic on canvas
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York

The song began from Jove;

Who left his blissful seats above,

(Such is the power of mighty Love). 

A dragon's fiery form belied the god:

Sublime on radiant spires he rose,

            When he to fair Olympia pressed,

            And while he sought her snowy breast:

Then, round her slender waist he curled,

And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the world.

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound,

'A present Deity,' they shout around:

'A present Deity,' the vaulted roofs rebound.

            With ravished ears

            The Monarch hears,

            Assumes the god,

            Affects to nod,

        And seems to shake the spheres. 

– John Dryden, from Alexander's Feast (1697)

Art Chantry

Art Chantry
Moods for Mallards
1982
lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Ready for War
at Alonzo Cretini's Salon Politique, Seattle
1982
screenprint (exhibition poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Eleanor Marx by Leonard Angel at the Bathhouse Theatre, Seattle
1984
screenprint (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
him by e.e. cummings
at the Bathhouse Theatre, Seattle
1985
screenprint (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
The Balcony by Jean Genet at New City Theater, Seattle
1985
offset-lithograph (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Required Etiquette
1987
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Teriyaki Asthma
1989
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Flaming Lips: Drug Machine
1989
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
The Derelicts: Don't Wanna Live
1991
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat
1993
offset-lithograph (CD jewel-case with paper liner)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Jack O'Fire
1993
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
Art Chantry at Seattle Art Museum
1993
screenprint (exhibition poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
SIN at the Weathered Wall, Seattle
1-Year Anniversary
1994
 screenprint (dance party poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
The Insomniacs
1994
offset-lithograph (record sleeve)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
The Holidays: "Every Day is a Holiday!"
1994
screenprint (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Art Chantry
An Evening with Kenny G
Kane Hall, UW Campus, Seattle
1994
screenprint (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

from The Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius complaineth, that all things are governed by Gods providence, beside the actions and affayres of men

 

    None from thy laws are free,

Nor can forsake their place ordain'd by Thee.

    Thou that to certaine end

Govern'st all things; denyest thou to intend

    The Acts of men alone,

Directing them in measure from thy throne?

    For why should slipp'ry chance

Rule all things with such doubtfull governance?

    Or why should punishments,

Due to the guilty light on innocents?

    But now the highest place,

Giveth to naughty maners greatest grace,

    And wicked people vexe

Good men, and tread unjustly on their necks,

    Vertue in darknesse lurkes,

And righteous soules are charg'd with impious works.

    Deceites nor Perjuries

Disgrace not those, who colour them with lies,

    For, when it doth them please

To shew their force, they to their will with ease

    The hearts of kings can steare,

To whome so many crouch with trembling feare.

    O thou that joyn'st with love

All worldly things, looke from thy seat above

    On the earthes wretched state,

We men, not the least work thou didst create,

    With fortunes blasts doe shake;

Thou carefull ruler, these fierce tempests slake,

    And for the earth provide

Those laws by which thou heav'n in peace dost guide.

– Boethius (AD 476-524), translated by Michael Walpole (1609)