08/01/2009

THE ANCESTORS LiKED iT, WE STiLL DO


Elegance, it would be my greatest pleasure to express, in stone and theme, the feelings which move us to rapture, peals of laughter, tears of joy, and quiet satisfaction. However, this post concerns much darker magic. And so, let’s cast our thoughts to more occult practices, shamanism, and the markets...

Upon close inspection, beyond the mathematics and technical jargon, the markets are filled with rich mythology. The language of magic, superstition abound. A “ dead cat bounce ” happens after a stock has hit bottom, but before it goes completely flat.“ The Bear is the market going down , “ The Bull ” is the market going up. Then there is the “ triple witching hour ”, on “ triple witching day ” , when all hell breaks loose. Face reality, market speculation is a form of gambling; so if you’re going down that path, you will need all the luck you can muster, and the stones to follow the timeless edict, “ buy when there is blood in the street-Baron Rothschild

These carvings in hematite, were made by my hand, using diamonds and water. This bear and bull are talismans, animist representations of the binary godhead of the market. They are carved in three dimensional relief and signed by my trademark. Please note, the peaceful and joyous expressions. Free from the anxiety, which has of late caused the ruin of many traders: the bull is at peace because selling gives one liquid freedom, the bear is happy because the sweetness of the trade is determined at the point of purchase, the good deal.

Since it is levity which is the seed of inspiration, these works make use of visual puns. The bull has maximum scrotal circumference because it takes “ balls ” to work the markets, and when ranchers buy bulls, this is the most important measurement. The bear has a cute bear bum, because sometimes you have to “ cover yours ” if you want to survive. To hold the entire market in the palm of your hand is a powerful value. Name your price Dear Trader, these works are for you to enjoy, in prosperity and good health.

photo credit: Peter Lattimer

robertchaplin (at) lightspeed (dot) ca

Globe and Mail
-Timothy Taylor

-Copy Cats are Dirty Rats

9 comments:

Hobo Divine said...

Beautiful!
Always about the heavy rotation!


~ word

Robert Chaplin rca said...

Hobo Divine,
Thanks for looking amigo.

-postsomnambulatoryantidisestablishmentarian

Hobo Divine said...

You are sooo right!

Black Magic = Black Market
Stock Magic = Stock Market

Now to only have the world on a string...

~ Hobo Divine


P.S. You also write very elegantly.

Hobo Divine said...

"Hey young fella' Dada is not an art movement"

Robert Chaplin rca said...

Hobo,
I think you are right about that.
Dada, not being an art movement.
Dada is a tendency, absolutely respectable, in wild and free range art. Difficult to institutionalize, like sticking pins in butterflies.

Hobo Divine said...

Morrissey once asked a friend to pin and mount him like a butterfly.

Gee, I hope he's okay.

Robert Chaplin rca said...

Me too !
I think he got picked on in school.

The Line said...

Hello, Robert. It has been four years or so, and I owe you an apology, though I am a relative stranger. You invited me to your book launch of Ten Couting Cats (I still have the invite), and I did not make it. Your invitation was impromptu, in Tinseltown, where we met one day when you stopped me and noted that I had a line running all around my body. You said it was neat. I know this only because I wrote it down afterward and now might be making a book myself. That story might be in that book. Seeing what you do and how you approach your art, I would like to find you again, and take the conversation where we left off. You can find a wholly inadequate record of the work (I call it seamline) at my 'blog' The Line. I also want to give my nephew copies of your books, if it is possible to purchase them still. I hope I do hear back from you,
yrs
Julianna

The Line said...

Good gawd, I misspelled the title of your book. Forgive me that, too?