Flex Mentallo

Recently, I saw Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia, a 1993 documentary written and directed by Herzog. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bells_from_the_Deep The second half of the film is primarily concerned with the legend of the lost city of Kitezh. This myth is about a city that was in peril of being destroyed by marauding Mongols, but whose citizens prayed for rescue. Hearing their prayers, God placed the city at the bottom of a deep lake, where it resides to this day. The Invisible Town of Kitezh (1913) by Konstantin Gorbatov

Herzog’s films often feature heroes with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who find themselves in conflict with nature. It is these latter I find most compelling. French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive" and American film critic Roger Ebert stated that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." Above all I admire his lack of compromise, and his willingness to take whatever risks are necessary. [Remind me to tell you the story of Yasna's cat sometime!] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog

In 1971 Werner Herzog was location scouting for Aguirre, the Wrath of God in Peru and narrowly avoided taking LANSA Flight 508 which later disintegrated after being struck by lightning with one miraculous free-fall survivor. His reservation was cancelled due to a last minute change in itinerary. Juliane Koepcke was a German Peruvian high school senior student studying in Lima, intending to become a zoologist, like her parents. She and her mother, ornithologist Maria Koepcke, were traveling to meet with her father, biologist Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke, who was working in the city of Pucallpa. The airplane was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and exploded in mid-air, disintegrating at 3.2 km (10,000 ft). Koepcke, who was seventeen years old at the time, fell to earth still strapped into her seat. She survived the fall with only a broken collarbone, a gash to her right arm, and her right eye swollen shut http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke In 2000 Herzog made Wings of Hope a documentary film that explored the story.

Bells from the Deep This is a tale of miracles, ending with another of my pictures. My paintings are nothing special, [as should be self-evident by now] – there are artists on these boards far far better than I will ever be. But the various intertwining strands surrounding this picture fit the theme of this thread, so I thought it might be of interest.

It also inspired an opera, which I hadnt known about until today - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/arts/music/16manh.html?_r=0

Isabel Bishop (1902-1988) By way of contrast here is Isabel Bishop, another american artist who depicted urban life in the1930's and 40's. Where Hopper deliberately creates an emotional distance, Bishop dives straight into the crowd. Her figures move through time at the speed of light. They live and breathe.