Human Machine - Art Rock in the Dada mood.

Art Rock in the Dada mood.

Rock, Progressive Rock, Funk, Blues and Jazz from Scandinavia in the spirit of 1980s.

https://vintagenature.bandcamp.com/album/emptyhouse-boogie

Paintings by

Kurt Schwitters
De Chirico
Kawabe Masahisa
Lee Krasner
Max Ernst

The artist Kawabe Masahisa (1901–1990) depicted a human head surrounded by various machinery in his 1924 work Mekanizumu (“Mechanism”).

The functions of the tools, pipes, screws, bolts and gears are difficult to guess, as one’s perception is limited and thus not able to contextualize the individual elements. The cold and grey-colored impression of the machinery is placed in contrast to the skin-coloured head of the human and the red of his dissected throat.

The human parts blend almost naturally with the mechanical surroundings and vanish gradually while screws and gears are being assembled around them. A few mysterious objects such as a small typewriter and a piece of a map beneath the head, and the writing “L’Esprit Nouveau” in capital letters on the upper left side, attract one’s attention.

On closer observation one will notice that these elements are made of actual paper, and they are not the only ones. Kawabe inserted further collage parts, such as small pipes, screws, and bolts, very precisely and with careful regard to the oil paint.

By creating this illusionistic atmosphere the boundaries between the painted and collage elements merge naturally. The striking writing is a reference to the artists’ knowledge and awareness of avant-garde tendencies and movements in Europe; L’Esprit Nouveau was a magazine by the architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965) and the painter Amédée Ozenfant (1886–1966) published between 1920 and 1925 in Paris.