Parnassus Vol.1

parnassus

A Tale of Past and Present

Volume. 1 Kristina Lennon Editor & Art Direction

Marion Nelson-Smith Subeditor

Jenny Beard Illustration

Oriol Angrill Jorda Cover Image

Š 2014 Parnassus Magazine All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the editor. Only exception may be the use of brief quotations used for the purpose of critical reviews and other non commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For contribution quieres contact: editorial@parnassusmagazine.co.uk parnassusmagazine.co.uk Published biannually by PARNASSUS Printed in Great Britain.

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DEAR READER

The present is a time built on unsatisfaction, consumed with racing to places we know little about but where the grass is always greener.

A lack of assertion that I find unsettling on a daily basis. For I am a modern day romantic, a hopeless daydreamer who fantasises about being whisked away by poets and serenaded around campfires. I believe in the importance of knowledge and promoting creativity.

What a sad world it would be if both were to become digitalised and cold, but yet such things are so often taken for granted when we swap books for kindles and concerto for the UK top 40.

Parnassus is a home for fellow lost souls eaten up by romanticised notions of nostalgia, “A flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present� argued Paul in a Midnight in Paris. But this is not a magazine that simply concerns itself with collecting fragments and mournful images of yesteryear, it is about acting and making judgements in the present.

Judgements like promoting the enchantment of literature and art to inspire sucessing generations, and helping those dabbling in such crafts to become recognised in today’s tough modern world.

Our very first issue was influenced by the fortitude of Prometheus, the Greek Titan who brought enlightenment to man, and whilst we do not have his talent for forseeing the future, we can at least help pave a path for the dreamers of tomorrow.

Mind as you go,

Kristina Lennon Editor

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ART 07 11 17 23 29 39 45 51

Liz Clayton Fuller Ruin Lust The Space Between Sebastien Zar Gypsophila Oriol Jorda Travis Chapman Monique Goossens

LIFESTYLE 57 61 65 71 77 81

Viktor Wynd Handy Steps To Better Living Appropriation Japan In Motion Remedios Vincent Foureyes

LITERATURE 81 95 97 102 105 113 115 117 122

Tyler Kent White Etymology 5am Whisky Fictiophilia Lost Mail Inspi’reis(e)n Bibliophile Amy Nelsom Prometheus

Art by Andreas Nicolas Fischer

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Art by Andreas Nicolas Fischer

ART “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” -Pablo Picasso

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LIZ CLAYTON FULLER NASHVILLE BIRDS OF PARADISE “I enjoy putting my viewers face to face with the natural world around them, staring eye to eye with beings they may never see in such an intimate setting” Nashville born and raised rising artist Liz Clayton Fuller has an exceptional gift for capturing the exact likeness of the natural world, especially when it comes to ornithology, a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. She took time out of her holiday to speak to Parnassus about her influences, being an old soul, and her aspirations for the future.

Despite being an anomaly in her family as the only artist, Liz has harboured a deep intrinsic love for art and nature as long as she can remember. A love that led her to study illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. “It (painting) was something that came very naturally to me that I never grew tired of and became increasingly fond of,” she begins. “I have always had a great fascination with and love for the natural world. I am an animal lover through and through and thus they have always been my favorite subject matter to paint.”

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Inspired by the world around her, even places as simple as her own backyard, Liz has come to perfect a striking and meticulously realistic style of naturalist painting that she has achieved through lengthy research and observation of her subject. “For me, painting a certain species of plant or animal is getting to know that creature personally. I study my subjects closely and learn as much about them as I can.

Sometimes I am able to observe them in the wild, which makes painting them all the more enjoyable,” explains Liz. In recent years the young Nashville artist has developed a strong affinity for birds. Approaching her subjects with the eagerness and wonder of first discovery, which allows her to document them with extreme accuracy in her illustrations, and all the while striving to provide her viewers with a new perspective on wildlife.

“I enjoy putting my viewers face to face with the natural world around them, staring eye to eye with beings they may never see in such an intimate setting.” muses Fuller, for whom art is not a case of escapism, but a vessel with

which to become more connected with life. “The reason I portray my subjects realistically is because I find the world to be a beautiful place. When I don’t paint, I feel as though a part of myself is missing.”

As an artist Fuller’s preferred medium is watercolour due to its characteristic softness and ease of layering colour, which through much experimentation Liz has come to feel comfortable controlling. This has allowed her to become completely at ease when working, conjuring the aura of early naturalist’s like John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson. Along with contemporary artist Walton Ford to whom she greatly aspires, and aims to inspire in her viewers the same wonder that his paintings evoke in her.

“While I enjoy modern art very much as a viewer, I’m not sure I will ever be able to create it myself. I am an old soul and feel strong kinship with early naturalist painters, which is where my aesthetic stems from. I work meticulously to document subjects accurately, which inherently keeps my art traditional,” she reveals.

Liz’s talent is a testimony to the importance of perseverance and staying true to what you believe in.

“There will be times where you feel like you will never be as good as those at the top, but you are not them, and your work is unique. As long as you keep creating, your work will evolve and improve. Push through your insecurities and keep working,” she replies when asked what advice she would give to aspiring artists just starting out.

She herself admits that she is yet to reach the pinnacle of her expertise and career. “I want to be a well known naturalist painter. I hope in five years time to be working with the Audubon Society [A non-profit, environmental organization dedicated to conservation] creating artwork.

I also aspire to have many shows in the upcoming years, and hopefully some of those will be held in natural history museums,” contemplates Fuller regarding the future. “I have a vision of a series of watercolour birds the size of a window, larger than life with every feather painted in detail. My heart starts pounding when I think about it,” she delights in telling us, and Parnassus certainly looks forward to seeing it with much anticipation.

Prints are available for purchase via www.lizclaytonfuller.com

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“While I enjoy modern art as a viewer, I’m not sure I will ever be able to create it myself.

I am an old soul and feel strong kinship with early naturalist painters” 9v

Top: photography by Jane and Louise Wilson, Bottom: painting by John Martin.

RUIN LUST OR GOLDEN AGE THINKING? Ruins, the remains of structures that were once complete and the objects of desire for artists and writers alike. “Rome is also built on ruins,” wrote the American poet Eliza Griswold, an indictment of our transient existence and the need for perseverance if ever there was one. Regardless of whether you perceive such relics as mere curios of a bygone age to loiter amongst and photograph on your holidays, or as foreshadowing the future collapse of the culture we’ve grown accustomed to, our lingering fascination with ruins is built on a foundation of iridescent beauty and devastation.Tate Britain explores this in their recent exhibition entitled Ruin Lust, a journey through over 100 works that look at the depiction of ruins in art from the 17th century to the present day. Covering everything from the likes of Turner and Constable, to Paolozzi, and Whiteread.

Divided into eight rooms, each representing its own element of ruin fancy, the journey embarked on as an onlooker at times felt disjointed and rocky with the placement of some images notably arguable. John Martin’s 19th century depiction of The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, hung somewhat awkwardly a wall across from the Wilson sisters’ 21st century photograph of the German Batterie d’Azeville in Normandy, the other side of which was Constable’s 19th century Hadleigh Castle. All in all a display that can only be described as a bold move by co-curator, art writer

and critic, Brian Dillon or in other words it stuck out like a sore thumb.

However, the appeal of seeing duo Jane and Louise Wilson’s black and white photography first thing upon entry far outweighs that of both Martin and Constable despite their best romantic sentiment.

Hunched atop a grass-clad landscape, the cobbled remains at Normandy are alluring in their abandonment. Walls weatherworn and unsymmetrical from erosion, it is as if the ruins themselves have succumb to grief, the harsh concrete so seemingly out of place, yet its towering scale unapologetic.

In contrast Martin’s Pompeii, one of 11u

his most famous works, presents the viewer with a sense of detachment from the potent red hues and perilous expressions that one finds unavoidable when struck by artistic interpretations of such catastrophe. It is hard to comprehend such stories that we were taught early on at school, as true in the modern age, their timelessness almost fantastical. Painted in the very much classic Victorian aesthetic, like Constable’s Hadleigh Castle, it is rich in dramatic undertones, whether it the grieving widow cupping the face of a lifeless corpse or the silent circling of gulls over a desolate plane.

What all three of these

“For those already predisposed to romantic notions, such as artists, the plague of nostalgia can prove an unshakable addiction” works, along with the others in the exhibition, share in common though is the original appeal they stirred in their creators, one that appeared absent from the retrospective despite its supposed exploration. It is an appeal that can at the least be pinned psychologically to humanity’s complex embroilment with nostalgia, the “denial of the painful present” as famously argued by Paul in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. Ruins, like vintage clothing and retro diners, are the epitome of golden age thinking, an “erroneous notion” within postmodern society that openly encourages the act of looking to a bygone era in the belief that it is somehow better than the one one is living in. For those already predisposed to romantic notions, such as artists, the plague of nostalgia can prove an unshakable addiction.

Giovanni Ballista became infatuated with the notion of ruins “wasting away under the ravages of time”. He exaggerated viewpoints

in his engravings to ensure the experience of maximum grandeur when observed, as they would have first possessed when built. Much like the visionary architect Sir John Soane, the man behind the creation of the Bank of England. Sloane commissioned Joseph Gandy to produce a bird’s eye view of the building some couple of hundred years in the future once it had been demolished by time.

A curious response from the man behind one of the finest architectural examples in the country, but who wanted nothing more than to see his own work resonate the same ageless seduction as exhibited by the ruined temples of the ancient world that had initially inspired him.

Archaeologist Norman Fahy explains this morbid fascination as a primordial reflex to man’s want and inability to comprehend time, “Ruins provide a link with our past and may give an insight into the future, ancient sites provide a central PARNASSUS

point in time and space to which we can return endlessly - call it an historical ‘comfort blanket if you wish”. In the process of attempting to comprehend this notion, reality is often romanticised and selective fragments popularised enlightens

Painting by Joseph Gandy

Fahy, “People forget that archaeology is about people. Ancient monuments represent a form of stability in a time of uncertainty which is often bypassed artistically”. He believes that there was never a ‘Golden Age’, pointing out that life was in fact far harder

in previous times, “I blame modern cinema for portraying a ‘glossy’ image of the past” observes the archeologist.

In the aforementioned presentations there is a blatant absence of man being the guilty party for the demise of the civilisations in question. The blame is 13t

passed onto nature and time; which are presented almost as almighty deities that beyond our control prime examples of the glossification that Fahy speaks of.

Bringing us on to consider the flip side of the coin, the wrath of

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Lithography by James Boswell

Photography by Gerard Byrne

man, responsible for such things as war and greed, the creators of many a ruin. James Boswell’s naive World War lithographs present an interesting juxtaposition of man the creator taking on the role of destructor. His 1933 depiction of The Fall of London: Museum presents architecture at its most vulnerable: cold and defenseless as it stands betrayed by those who had once marveled at its beauty.

“Destruction is equally important as renewal in art,” observes art critic and gallery owner Valentina Staradubets.

“In order for renewal and progress to occur, we must first observe and learn from decay, something which artists whom have seen the ravages of war are especially good at, but with time more and more contemporaries also” she remarks.

Contemporaries like Irish artist Gerard Byrne who provides a modern twist on ruination through the mediums of photography and video.

His series 1984 and Beyond 2005-06 reimagines a future that might have been, presenting a re-enactment of a discussion published in a 1963 issue

of Playboy, in which science fiction writers – including Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke speculate about what the world might be like in 1984. Byrne’s photographs in particular are silent and mournful; a dusty rack of shoes in a shop window, the silhouette of a woman absently gazing out at skyscrapers – a depiction of the deterioration of people within a seemingly visually complete society.

“Working with magazines has been a way to work with how time is constructed as a coherent experience through the media industry. If we’re looking at something from twenty years ago it becomes palpable that certain things that have happened subsequently were unclear or could have gone differently” commented the artist in an interview with Tate Etc in regard to his influences.

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of nostalgia in his work, remarking, “Recent art that is engaged with the recent past feels nostalgic and really wallows in a certain kind of retro chic”. And who can blame him, the fact of the matter is that nostalgia has become as soiled a concept in art and society as that rail of denim jackets in Rokit. Society has once more become preoccupied with the new after the intense commercialisation of nostalgia in the last decade, so much so that even an exhibition on the archaic subject matter of ruins requires “gloss” in order to be palatable upon reception. “Nostalgia tries to slow down time, to resist progress,” says professor Svetlana Boym, something that the artists of Ruin Lust can all in some way reflect to regardless of recent contemporary sugarcoatings.

Images courtesy of Tate Britain

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THE SPACE BETWEEN

BY MARC YANKUS Photographer, Marc Yankus, reimagines the Manhattan cityscape with a subtle surrealist twist in his The Space Between series, in which imagination and documentation meet. The photographs present a mix of the detailed and abstract, but all serve to rebuild and honor the buildings while making a statement about altered perception, reality, and past preservation within contemporary society.

Yankus is drawn to the majestic nature of classical historical buildings, many of which now linger behind the shadows of new architecture. These historical fragments scattered amongst the modern landscape urge him to make whole again the historic buildings he sees.

“In my mind’s eye, I’m rebuilding my own imagined vision of the city, in which historical buildings exist as living presences, adding to the fascination of New York,” he explains.

The photographs play off of the rigidity of the almost hyperreal perspectives of the buildings, with a subdued palette that seems to speak of history, memories, and the past.

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SEBASTIEN ZAR SCULPTING THE MUSE OF PARNASSUS “Her beauty goes beyond her looks. She embodies strength, courage, femininity, a fascinating intellect, and more.”

In Greek mythology Mount Parnassus was the home of creativity and the illustrious three muses who personified knowledge and the arts, especially literature, science and music.

French sculptor and self-confessed entrepreneur Sebastien Zar holds these ideas dear to his heart, describing his style as timeless and sensual.

At the start of Parnassus’ conception, Sebastien contacted us with an intriguing proposition that would involve a collaboration to create a unique Parnassus inspired sculpture. Never ones to miss out on a creative opportunity, we of course couldn’t turn down something so exciting so early on in our existence and what better way to commemorate the release of a first issue. “I’m glad our paths crossed with such a perfect timing. Before

our connection I had spent the winter exploring ideas in different mediums such as sculpture, drawing, and oil painting, in order to find a way to express my art in a stronger, clearer way,” says Zar. Until 2004 he had spent his career creating designs for clients such as Playstation, Sony, and Ferrari, admitting that whilst the money was good, the intense deadlines were impossible, and he didn’t feel as if his creativity was being utilised to its full potential.

“Our ongoing discussion has opened my eyes on an element of my work I hadn’t given the importance it deserved: timelessness. And what better vector than mythology to express it?” he explains. “For this project the idea was to express my vision of the modern muse, linking what makes all of us dream about these ancient legends

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“Creating

beauty is not enough. Creation should be the vector for ideas. Art has this power of communicating strong messages without boundaries, it’s our universal language”

within today’s world, trying to rediscover and capture their eternal qualities in a world that is moving so much faster.”

245 man-hours later and the result is The Muse of Parnassus. As scale play is very important to him the female bust, made from a hefty 100kg worth of clay, is larger than life size measuring 75cm high. “Universal concepts deserve larger than life scale, in my opinion.

Even though larger pieces represent many challenges, they are definitely worth the effort,” adds Zar.

The sculpture itself is based on the face of Greek actress, Petroula Christou, whose distinctive cheekbones and feline-esque eyes make up the basis of the image. “I’ve known Petroula for some time, she’s a wonderful actress and her beauty goes beyond her looks. She embodies a broad range of qualities such as strength, courage, femininity, a fascinating intellect, and more: qualities which for me make her the obvious modern muse. The modern muse is multidimensional,” he enlightens.

Ever the perfectionist he confesses that the piece isn’t yet quite finished and that he’ll continue to work on it for several more weeks despite its polished appearance.

“I believe that creating beauty is not enough. Creation should be the vector for ideas. Art has this power of communicating strong messages without boundaries, it’s

our universal language,” muses the 35 year old artist from Bordeaux.

“There is always the risk of overworking a piece, killing its vibe. When you have worked on a sculpture for weeks, it tends to make you lose the notion of time.

It would be very easy to get lost into the piece forever, which is kind of romantic in a way, but dangerous,” he elaborates. But with experience he has learnt to tame such artistic unruliness, now stopping when the clay or stone he is working with turns to living flesh. “In this particular project, the stopping point is when I feel like kissing her,” jests Zar.

For him sculpting is a form of escapism from the mediocrity in our society, allowing him to connect with his inner self, reach a state of absolute truth, and connect with his own reality. “If you embrace your true nature and go completely for it, magic happens. The trick is to go 100%.”

But Zar reveals that even after eight years of sculpting he still feels like a beginner in the field.

“The goal will always be to improve every time I touch my tools. Working on powerful themes, maintaining consistency. Emphasising what’s unique about my work and developing my style.” Zar plans on creating more monumental sculptures, and would like to develop his

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skills working in stone in order to see how far he can go with expressing timelessness in a contemporary way.

“My goal is to make sure my work always achieves a feeling of relevance regardless of time. I live in 2014, my art is a reflection of my experience of today’s world, just like the old masters were contemporary in their time,” muses Zar. “What I’m not interested in is art that follows trends, art that seeks attention without giving us substance.

If there was no money, no fame in it, would they still do it?

I know I would still do exactly what I do,” he discloses.

Zar plans on creating companion sculptures for The Muse of Parnassus, anticipating a masculine piece next to involve collaborations with world-class athletes and top circus performers. He plans on travelling to Europe in the not too distant future to gain inspiration, including a trip to Greece and Italy where he intends to master the art of marble sculpting. “I am also going to propose a series of smaller, more affordable sculptures and fragments so more people can have the possibility to become collectors of my work,” he remarks with purpose and ambition. He is also working on hosting numerous sculpture demonstrations and conferences, outlining that appreciation for the arts comes from education and that sharing the process is an enjoyable way to give back, perhaps even inspiring others to follow a similar path with their own vision.

As for the future of our contemporary muse, Zar plans on investing further man hours into his creation.

She will later go on to be sold for a minimum of €50,000 after a version including 24 carat gold is cast. There will be absolutely no compromise on this vision insists Zar. You can follow the progress of The Muse of Parnassus via Sebastien Zar’s website sebzar.com Photographs by Sebastien Zar. PARNASSUS

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Gypsophila

Photography By Kristina Lennon

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My Mother said, I never should Play with the gipsies in the wood; If I did, she would say, You naughty girl to disobey.

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Your hair shan’t curl and your shoes shan’t shine, You gipsy girl, you shan’t be mine.

And my father said that if I did He’d rap my head with the teapot-lid.

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The wood was dark, the grass was green Along came Sally with a tambourine.

I went to sea - no ship to get across, I paid ten shillings for a blind white horse.

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I up on his back and was off on a crack, Sally tell my mother that I shan’t come back.

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ORIOL ANGRILL JORDÀ BEAUTY AND THE BEHOLDER “I distinguish two kinds of artist; the one who sells concept or stories and the one who leaves a part of themselves in each piece” Spanish illustrator and Saatchi artist Oriol Angrill Jorda has taken the art scene by storm over the last couple of years with his delicate mixed media blendscape creations. These unusual original works typically feature a portrait of a natural beauty that has been interworked with elements of nature such as towering mountains, crashing waves, and even the odd coyote. What makes these pieces all the more remarkable however is that contrary to the classic artist stereotype, Oriol had never planned on pursuing art as a career. Parnassus caught up with the innovator whilst he was finishing his latest commissioned work.

Having already received commissions by the likes of Rankin for Hunger magazine, and become part of the renowned Saatchi Gallery art collective, it is safe to say that 27 year old Oriol Angrill Jorda is making significant

leaps and bounds in the art game: page after page of reviews and blog posts of his work appear upon simply searching his name. This is quite an accomplishment considering that he grew up with no artistic influence in his family and can’t recall ever experiencing a moment of artistic enlightenment that marked him. “For most artists I’ve met art is a native desire to express themself. It wasn’t like that for me; I really had no interest in drawing or art culture.

It’s more like a self-esteem shot. Not because people might tell me they like it or not, because that comes later, but it’s what really makes me feel fulfilled,” explains Jorda.

It wasn’t until he decided to try his hand at studying illustration in his home city of Palma de Mallorca in Spain, did he realise he had a knack for perfectly capturing whatever was in front of him using a variety of mediums including pastels, watercolors, coloured pencil, acrylics, graphite and charcoal. To hone his gift further, Oriol briefly relocated to London to study printmaking

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“Nature is the main model and sample of Beauty. If you want to make something beautiful, you must take nature as a reference�

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at the distinguished Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, as well as life drawing at The Art Academy, opportunities that he admits greatly contributed to his skill for producing images of a hyperreal quality.

His artwork provides its viewer with childlike enchantment at the sight of mountain peaks and sandy pathways, offering a brief moment of escapism into the limitless adventure and beauty of the natural world. As Oriol explains, nature is one of his greatest influences, “the main model and sample of beauty. If you want to make something beautiful, you must take nature as a reference.”

His paintings allude to joyous initial moments of infatuation and daydreams through their use of pastel hues and soft disorientating blending, but he quickly laughs off any insinuation that he might be a modern day romantic.

“I guess it’s because I work with natural faces with some kind of universal beauty. It’s much more interesting and complex to draw a slightly subtle expression than a big and clear laugh. That’s what Leonardo captured on la Gioconda,” remarks the Spanish native artist.

The use of desaturated and pastel tones is a recurring characteristic of his work, and derives from Oriol’s dislike of colours as a child. “I only drew with pencil, but my girlfriend taught me how incredible it is to

use colours with watercolour paint. It became a way to draw more expressively and let fate take part in my work.

But even now I still use colours that are very soft, delicate, and calming. I don’t think beauty shows off an exuberant brightness.”

Irrespective of the fact that most artists could only dream of the positive reception Jorda has received, he remains level headed, still able to find enjoyment in even the most basic of art mediums. “I love paper and pencil. There isn’t anything that simple with such a range of possibilities. I think a pencil is what a piano is for a musician,” he comments with delight, immediately becoming flustered at being referenced as a recognised artist. “Thanks, I truly feel flattered about that. To be honest, I wouldn’t consider myself as any important artist yet,” he reveals. “It might be because it is different from my point of view than from outside. What was really hard for me, wasn’t me believing in my work, it was harder to make others accept that even if I wasn’t drawing the whole time, I was still working. I think more than 60% of an artist’s job is promotion,” reflects Jorda.

Despite having gained much artistic knowledge in the past decade, the blendscape enthusiast admits that contemporary art galleries and museums simply

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aren’t for him, confessing that viewing modern art is like visiting a primary school on parents evening. “Nowadays, I distinguish two kinds of artist; the one who sells concept or stories and the one who leaves a part of themselves in each piece,” he tells. “The first one doesn’t have any art talent but knows how to write a story to sell it.The second loves the process of creation and once he shows the work, it has already the artist’s background and his technical skill.”

However, he acknowledges that all types of art are valid and very much desirable, whether they are paint thrown on a canvas or a lifelike portrait. “I don’t want to be misunderstood, because I think there is a huge interest in what’s behind the artwork, who’s the artist and what does he want to say with that piece. The problem I find is in contemporary galleries and museums, the first group are shown but without any accompanying explanation, which is made much more conscientiously than the piece itself most of the times,” he goes on to clarify.

“My advice to aspiring artists are the three basics: Do not make things you wouldn’t buy, make every work as if it were the last one, and everyone has his own path,” he expresses regarding his most important creative life lessons up to now. Oriol is currently working on multiple commissions, with more lined up in the near future but says he can’t disclose any information as to what they might be just yet. “I can’t say anything until it’s finished.

But one of my future aims is to learn oil painting and I wish to be living in a refurnished castle as my home-studio,” he reveals.While we can’t stand the anticipation, we certainly

look forward to seeing more from this spirited talent in the future and wish him all the best in obtaining that castle.

Original works and prints by Oriol Angrill Jorda are available for purchase via saatchiart.com. For more information visit oriolangrill.com

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Images courtesy of Oriol Angrill Jorda.

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TRAVIS CHAPMAN STAR WARS, TWISTS, AND PAINTING “The future of art will be the same as it has always been.The marketing genius gets rich, the artistic genius dies broke”

Travis Chapman has taken it upon himself to put the fun back into art through his paintings of the famous, infamous, and movie legends. Having initially taken up painting as a hobby while his daughters were toddlers and taking naps, even initially using their watercolour paints, his work has gone on to attract a strong following and a lot of acclaim over the past couple of years.

Chapman’s repertoire of works is about as varied as they come. His shop showcases not only humorous reimagined iconic scenes, but also picturesque sights from around his home city of Spokane, proving his diversity as an artist, “I like painting subjects and characters from my youth. I also like irony - something that’s true and funny.

I like to paint something I know has never been painted

before,” he tells Parnassus.

He paints every night in the hope of being inspired and producing something that he classes as “worthwhile.” Images likes Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, in which Venus, Zephyrus and Aura, are replaced by Bill Gates and an Ewok who frame a leggy trouserless Quaker oats man sheepishly covering himself with an unsolved Rubic Cube. And if that doesn’t take your fancy, there’s always a portrait of Vladimir Putin as Darth Vader outside of the Kremlin, Santa and his reindeer conquering the Star Wars Imperial Walkers, or even some Kenny Rodgers Zen levitation.

“People’s reactions vary. The people who like it, seem to really like it, but sometimes there’s just blank stares,” explains Chapman. And whilst he may have long

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“Art will always have meaning if it’s honest” replaced his daughters’ watercolours with acrylic and canvas, he admits that the initial spontaneity of painting is still very much present in his work. “When the image comes together and it works, it’s exiting, because I don’t draw it out first, I paint it all. So I don’t really know how it’s going to turn out until it’s finished.”

A self-proclaimed lover of bad art, Chapman doesn’t aspire to any particular artist but is open to most mediums of art. “The future of art will be the same as it has always been. The marketing genius gets rich, the artistic genius dies broke. Art will always have meaning if it’s honest.”

Prints of the Travis Chapman works featured are available, along with other originals works, for purchase exclusively at his Etsy shop: BigRockGallery Art by Travis Chapman PARNASSUS

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MONIQUE GOOSSENS CHALLENGING EVERYDAY MEDIUMS “My favourite medium is common and universal objects, I search the borders of functionality and expectation in relation to their existing meaning�

Versatility is the name of the game for typography designer and photographer, Monique Goosens.

Her work explores the functionality and tactility of materials, taking inspiration from the world around her, which she then translates into pieces featuring striking contemporary aesthetic.

Based in the trendy Dutch capital, in addition to her creative pursuits, Monique also teaches Interior Prognoses and Visual communication at the distinguished Academie

Artemis, from which she herself graduated in 2006. She has an eye for the unusual and a self confessed perfectionist, her typography and photography typically featuring intricate designs and multifaceted narratives. Her diverse portfolio boasts meticulous handmade type faces, including ones created from hair, net, and even frogspawn, which in recent years have graced the covers of numerous book and publications. The multitalented artist spoke to Parnassus about her projects, work ethic, and the future of art.

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How did you get into photography? Did it come naturally?

The tactility of materials always interested me as a child.

During my time studying Interior Design at the Academie Artemis in Amsterdam, I developed an interest in the relationship between design and photography which I went on to explore in depth during further study at the Design Academy in Eindhoven.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Everything can inspire me, even visiting a fish market, ideas come often naturally when I see an interesting material. I find inspiration in materials, nature, animals, colours, human body, objects, and the possibility to translate them into a new contemporary aesthetic form.

My work progress and inspiration never stops because it’s a way of looking.

Do you have a favourite medium to work with?

My favourite medium is common and universal objects and materials, of which I search the borders of functionality and expectation in relation to the existing meaning. I twist elements in an unconventional way that leads to an unexpected and maybe a surprising appearance with a new aesthetic form.

Which do you enjoy more graphic design or photography?

I enjoy graphic design and photography equally because my work as a graphic designer follows a similar process as my more autonomous work. My autonomous work and my work as a graphic designer flow more and more into one another. Once the letters, made of all kinds of materials, are formed I photograph the characters for reproduction, and they can then go on to become designs for book covers, magazines or on websites.

What element of art do you enjoy working with the most?

My work can be seen as playful and sensitive. My graphic work follows a similar process as I collate photographs into books and develop letter types using a range of unconventional materials, this is the process I enjoy the most. My work often takes the form of staged images in which I challenge established concepts of function and material. In consequence, shifts occur at elementary level and result in a degree of estrangement. A refined appreciation of materials enhances this process, leading to unexpected discoveries. Photographs of these scenes become the definitive works.

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Is there an artwork you are most proud of?

hand made art with more sense of tactility in the future.

The works I am most proud of, my hair typography. It is featured on the book cover for The Ohio State University Prize winner, Hibernate, a collection of stories by Elizabeth Eslami. The letters consist of hundreds of hairs, and give the impression of being fine pen drawings. I created the basic shape of the letters by forming the hair into a legible character, but to a great extent, it is the dynamic of the hairs which determines the shape of the letters. The ends of the hairs create an organized chaos, an energetic play of lines that forms a haze around the letter’s basic shape.

Do you have any new projects lined up?

Making more objects and typography out of unconventional materials and designing book covers with my typography.

I am working on a new project which involves moving imagery.

What would your advice be to aspiring artists?

Do what you enjoy doing the most and make as few concessions as possible.

One of my other favorite works is Mouse Fluor. This is a work for the ‘Drifting’ series, in which I create a final portrait of animals that have died naturally and still retain their beauty. In the compositions, I play with the moment between life and death by creating a situation and/ or adding an unnatural element to the photograph. For just a moment, life returns or death is confirmed. These manipulations are playful, gentle, light and sometimes poetic.

What is more important; content or technique?

Technique is an important aspect of my work but content is more important. As technique I use a wide range of materials, assemblage, sketching, moulding and casting materials, photography, Adobe CS, but it all always serves the content.

How do you see art progressing in the future?

For quite some time you see more video and media-based art and I think this will continue in the future. What is happening for several years now is that artists don’t practice one art form. They can be photographers at one point, then make a video, be painters as well and then shift to design for another project. I think this progress will continue as well. As a reaction on the digitalization of art I think there will be more appreciation of more raw and

Monique is available for commissioned work. You can view her portfolio via: moniquegoossens.com

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Art by Monique Goossens

Art by Andreas Nicolas Fischer

LIFESTYLE. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all” -Oscar Wilde

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VIKTOR WYND COLLECTING OBJECTS AND EXPERIENCE “Much of my work is to do with the absurdity, pathos, misery and pointlessness of everyday life” Characters like Viktor Wynd are the hidden treasures of our nation. Amongst being a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and collector, he is also the Chancellor of The Last Tuesday Society - an organisation devoted to exploring and furthering the esoteric, literary and artistic aspects of life in London and beyond. “It is a Pataphysical organisation founded by William James at Harvard in the 1870s presently run by the Chancellor, myself Viktor Wynd and the Tribune, Suzette Field with the aid of The Fellows of The Society,” explains co-founder Viktor.

Situated in deepest darkest Hackney, the little shop of horrors as it is now regularly referred to, is a two-floor treasure trove of curios including taxidermy, entomology, osteology, juvenilia, and naturalia. The back of the first floor houses a gallery curated by Viktor and the

basement a museum bursting with cabinets, bell jars and framed oddities.

“Originally it was a theatre project – the idea was a fake shop selling complete rubbish, and then there would be actors who would perform a script among people who didn’t know they were actors... It kind of got lost in the process,” he explains. “I’m interested in the idea and the dialogue of objects. When you have something beautiful next to something not beautiful next to some complete bit of kitsch. There’s a wonderful 17th century German word ‘Wunderkabinett’ which is about putting everything together to make one piece – a collection of objects assembled at a whim on the basis of their aesthetic or historical appeal.”

And what a collection it is. Ranging from a wall of delicate iridescent butterflies that Viktor painstakingly prepared himself, hybrid taxidermy winged cats hanging

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from the ceiling, bottled human foetuses, to more obscure modern collectables like Amy Winehouse’s jarred excrement and Russell Brand’s pubic hair. “The scariest object we’ve had is probably our collection of shrunken heads, which we sold to a museum in Belgium.” Tells Viktor. “A lot of people are spooked when they see such objects on display but I find it comforting rather than scary. In my library I have three human foetuses in a bottle, two shrunken heads, two human skeletons and about five human skulls and a baby. I work there most days, and sometimes fall asleep when working late. Waking up in the dead of night, it is comforting to know that you are never entirely alone.”

Also a multidisciplinary artist and curator, Viktor has worked on many projects and exhibitions since completing a foundation course in art and design at John Cass, and being awarded the Rosenquist Fellowship in Fine Art at South Florida University. His extensive portfolio includes his own drawings and installations, as well as collaborations with fellow up-and-coming creatives such as Jen Denike and the late artist and icon of dandies Sebastian Horsley.Viktor’s first gallery show, entitledWhy I think I am So Fucking Special: It’s All About Me was unveiled in June 2004. Among it were a series of impressionistic sketches, nine syringes of strangers’ blood, multiple balloons (some blown up by factory workers, bartenders, and others), and twin pickle jars filled with semen soaked Kleenex tissues - enhanced by photographic documentation of their production in a handy album dangling from a string. The exhibition held at Objex Artspace in Miami was met with heavy criticism. Carlos Suarez De Jesus at The Miami New Times commented “Just what Miami needs, another huge ego”, whilst spectators at the opening night brayed “he is PARNASSUS

putting the CON in conceptual art and his show is full of shit”. Ever the gentleman Viktor remained composed throughout, remarking he was aspiring to put the “capital F back into art”, and followed on by dismissing the concept of originality as “19th Century Romanticist poo”. The review is now featured pride of place in the portfolio of work on his website.

“Much of my work is to do with the absurdity, pathos, misery and pointlessness of every day life” instigates Wynd in regard to the inspiration behind his complex and connotative creations. “There was originally a deep quest to understand the world, to see some sort of meaning in the chaos, since probably abandoned.” When pushed to explain the new journey undergone in his work since this abandonment, he once more stumbles upon the dreaded unknown, which had once been his sole driver.

“Other than trying to give substance to a tiny handful of the many dreams I have every day before breakfast, I really don’t know who, or what or how I am, or what I am doing or why I am doing it, what I am going to do next or where I am going” concludes Wynd.

This sense of contending with the unknown and the unavoidable realisation that all the answers one seeks cannot be found, are explored in his latest installation.

Quoting Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus “Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight, and burned is Apollo’s laurel bough,” Viktor sets the scene of The Sorrows of Young Wynd. A tragic tale of the death of youth and its innocent naivety in which he plays the protagonist, the corpse of an artist whom love and the world have conspired to kill. It is by far the most decadent and aesthetically alluring work to date. As the lifeless body hangs in the darkened room, it is surrounded by languidly fluttering butterflies, moths and

“There was originally a deep quest to understand the world, to see some sort of meaning in the chaos, since probably abandoned”

exotic invertebrates, which occasionally join the artist in his pact with death by dive-bombing the candles.

“Decadence comes from the Latin word cadere – which means to fall. It is the beautiful way to fall. It can be a kind of self killing in a beautiful way, a tragic way” he muses. “It was intended as a critique of the romantic movement, much in the spirit of Leonardo Alenza Y Nieto’s “Satire on Romantic Suicide”, hoping to demonstrate the shallowness of individualism, the vacuity of the cult of the original and the obsession with the self, but instead limps towards being a celebration of all the values that I most hate - a telling indictment of what Isaiah Berlin called the tyranny of art over life.”

Viktor is currently writing “Viktor Wynd’s Cabinet of Wonders”, which is to be published by Prestel in autumn 2014.The Last Tuesday Society is situated at 11 Mare Street, E8 4RP and currently closed for refurbishment. For more information visit thelasttuesdaysociety.org

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Images courtesty of Viktor Wynd

HANDY STEPS TO BETTER LIVING When you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, don’t think you have to completely remodel your lifestyle to get out. Sometimes the most minor of tweaks can domino the biggest of changes.

Buy Some Flowers Flowers needn’t be linked to a love interest or a potent reminder of the lavender scented drawer paper at your grandmother’s house. They are the perfect pick me up, adding instant colour, scent and positive energy to a room. There are few things more refreshing than waking up to a vase full of posies at your bedside or a row of thriving pot plants on your kitchen windowsill.

Jasmine and cacti deliver the greatest results for least amount of maintenance. And plants need not cost a fortune; most florists will have a discount section for old stock, often featuring lavish bouquets that last just as long as full price stock at a fraction of the cost.

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Build a Book Collection Appliances like the Kindle are attractive paper-cut free space savers, but they can never replace the intoxicating smell of old leather binding or the uplifting texture of battered pages. Building up a physical book collection is one of the most satisfying things you can do, considering that you read the books you’re collecting of course. Buy a bookshelf or if you are feeling particularly inspired why not make one from reclaimed materials. You can pick up a quality hardback in a charity shop for around a pound.

Minimalism needn’t be the mantra of contemporary living.

Expand Your Mind Visit a museum or exhibition at least once a week.

Galleries and museums are the perfect places for getting away from the monotony of everyday life and having some much needed you time. Even if it is something that doesn’t immediately appeal to you, give it a chance and you might just find yourself pleasantly surprised. There is a constant peacefulness to be found in such places without the worry of committing the dreaded social faux pas of being alone that has tarnished such activities as eating on your own in restaurants or sitting alone at the cinema.

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Cut Caffeine It has been proven that too much caffeine can negatively impact your day-to-day mood and induce headaches.

Cut down your daily intake by swapping the lattes and espressos for a herbal or fruit tea alternative. There are countless varieties to choose from, meaning there’s at least one guaranteed to be out there that caters to your palate. Not to mention the numerous health benefits linked to such teas, which include calming qualities and improving your digestion. You’ll feel the results almost immediately; herbal doesn’t have to be reserved for fad diets and short-lived detoxes.

Listen to Concerto Listening to some background concerto is the perfect accompaniment whether you’re doing a late night work session, or pottering about your room. Classical compositions, whether piano, violin or orchestral melodies are not only soothing but carry passion and inspiration that can filter through in your day-to-day life.

If you’re new to the world of symphonic harmonies, try first listing to classics like Chopin and Tchaikovsky for 10-15 minutes each night before bed for a week, before moving onto modern composers like Yirumi. You are guaranteed to have a more restful night’s sleep and all the while expanding your knowledge and musical repertoire.

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Update Your Décor When you are bored of your surroundings it reflects on other aspects of your life and personal wellbeing. House prices and the cost of living may be on the rise but don’t let that deter you from getting that much desired change of scenery. All that is required is a bit of classic make-do and mend knowhow. Once again charity shops and markets are your saviour and can deliver maximum results with very little impact on your pocket. Add light to a room with a mirror, cover that battered sofa with an Indian throw, and fill that blank wall with photo frames or a piece of art.

Get Creative Journals needn’t be clichéd, so if you haven’t already got one what’s the worst thing that could happen in trying it out? Writing is a great way to vent pent up emotion without sharing it with others. Understandably it is not for everyone though and if that’s you why not try your hand at compiling a photo album or scrapbook instead. Either way it gives you the perfect excuse to invest in some handsome writing accoutrements, which alone have the ability to brighten up your day - ever underestimate the power of a reliable pen.

Explore You needn’t jump on a plane heading to Thailand to find yourself. Get to know the area you live in and its inhabitants, go for long walks and bike rides, or start a hobby. Hobbies are a great way of releasing stress whilst using your free time productively. Start a collection, read more, or start a new exercise. Tai Chi is a particularly versatile option. A great mind relaxer and coordination booster, it is ideal for a variety of individuals of all ages, including those with busy working schedules and even those that are not fans of exercise.

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Art by Swati Pitre

APPROPRIATION SOCIETY’S LOSS OF SYMBOLISM We live in an increasingly visually led and fast paced society, in which messages need to be transmitted quickly and efficiently, and the best way man has been able to accomplish that up to now is through the primeval medium of symbols. Whether they are aimed at aiding direction, road safety signs, or pin pointing the nearest water closet, we are bombarded with hundreds of them each day and even more frequently within the confines of fashion.

Whilst the Egyptians had hieroglyphics and the Victorians their Memento Mori motifs, we in 2014 are fans of it all, but as it turns out are far from being the connoisseurs that we might like to think ourselves.

Each year new fashion fads featuring symbols, most often derived from eastern traditions and religions, make their way into the mainstream and later onto the bodies of impressionable teens as tattoos – who naively believe the Om on their wrist will somehow make them more worldly and intellectual, or at the least appear so.

Recently whilst standing in a queue, I couldn’t help but overhear the excited chattering of the pair of girls standing in front of me. Amidst their repeated squeals I was able to gauge that one of them was soon to turn the 18 year milestone and to celebrate was getting her first tattoo. “Oh my goodness, what are you getting?” her friend immediately quizzed. Up to that point, such antics would have quickly become lost in time had it not been for the ridiculousness of the response that followed: “I’m going to get that hand thing, what’s it called?”

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Her friend shrugged. “You know, the Indiany one with the eye and patterns like on that crop top I have,” at which point I end this anecdote.

The symbol that girl was in fact referring to is a hamsa or hand of Fatima as it also known, and such ignorance of symbols has become all too common with the appropriators more often than not lacking even the slightest knowledge of their origins or meanings. Not to mention the myriad offences frequently caused by such faux pas to those that do and happen to find them sacred. The misuse of

religious symbols and deities is a typical example of this, and has been at the centre of numerous media frenzies.

Highstreet store Urban Outfitters in particular is repeatedly finding itself in hot water over its gutsy use of once sacrosanct religious icons such as Christianity’s Jesus and Hinduism’s Ganesh and Krishna.

Earlier this year the store chain was forced to pull socks illustrated with the image of Ganesh from sale after causing uproar amongst the Hindu community, who accused the product of offending devotees. The case was instigated by the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, who was widely reported as saying “Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be wrapped around one’s foot,” further arguing that such usage of Hindu deities and

concepts for commercial agendas was inappropriate and ‘not okay’.

Urban Outfitters public relations manager, Crystal Carroll, later released a public apology and the socks became no longer available for purchase, appearing as ‘Sold Out’ on the website. However, numerous other products featuring the ancient deity, such as clothing, jewellery and throws, remained on sale. This comes after previous blunders that included the sale of a ‘Jewish Star’ T-shirt that was rebuked by the Jewish community for imitating Holocaust imagery, a ‘Dress Up Jesus’ fridge magnet set that was classed as “disrespectful to billions of Christians around the world” by a spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, as well as a lengthy court battle courtesy of the Navajo Nation in 2012, who accused the company of trademark infringement by using the tribe’s geometric prints and PARNASSUS

name without licensing. All of these products were later removed from sale and the Navajo items relabelled as ‘Aztec’.

Of course it is not just religious communities that are witnessing the meanings of symbols coming secondary to style; music and sport industries have also fallen foul.

Just as Hindu deities are currently all the rage, so are American sport logos. With the rise in popularity of American hip-hop and rap during the noughties, an adoption of Yankee caps also followed suit on British shores without sparing a moment’s thought to the teams’ logos with which they were emblazoned. Fast-forward a decade and history is repeating itself, but this time with American football.

Graham Roberts, an American football fan from Essex, had this to say on the matter: “I don’t get what’s so fashionable about wearing t-shirts and caps that advertise teams you

“Each year new fashion fads featuring symbols make their way into the mainstream and later onto the bodies of impressionable teens as tattoos – who naively believe the Om on their wrist will somehow make them more worldy”

know nothing about. I see too many people wearing Miami Dolphins shirts with no idea that they are even a real team,” a further example of people’s obliviousness to the meanings of symbols in today’s fashion conscious society.

The music industry too has been hit hard by symbol appropriation through the use of band logos on clothing and merchandise, which are being retailed on the highstreet and bought by non-fans. “Consumers have grown ignorant when it comes to the latest trends, choosing to buy and wear things simply because they look nice and regardless of whether they actually understand their significance,” comments music journalist, Ainsley Walker. “The whole point of band merchandise is to bring individuals together through their mutual love of a musician or band. There’s a sense of sincerity and self-expression to it,” he says. He believes this sense is instantly

torn apart the second you get people wearing ACDC and Metallica t-shirts without ever even having heard the music. “You wouldn’t go around wearing shirts featuring the logos of political parties or football teams you didn’t support simply because you like the colour or print of them, so why do it with music,” Walker defends.

With boundaries seeming at an all time slack on the subject of appropriation, more and more artists are choosing to explore this social phenomenon in their works. Photographer Sanaa Hamid explores this on a cultural basis in her ongoing Cultural Appropriation: A Conversation series, in which she gives the appropriator and the appropriated the opportunity to defend themselves in the form of a running dialogue. All the while maintaining a neutral stance herself. “I am not attacking those who appropriate, merely educating and creating awareness. Neutrality is key 67r

in this series, stripping the problem to the most basic issue: taking an item that means a great deal to somebody and altering it,” explains Hamid in response to her artistic intensions.

In contrast the American painter and photographer Richard Prince takes usurping a step further by making art out of appropriated and rephotographed mainstream images. Despite being acknowledged as the pioneer of appropriated art during the 1970s, Price like Urban outfitters has attracted his fair share of wrong attention. In 2011, a New York federal court ruled against him after a lengthy battle with French photographer Patrick Cariou. Price had altered and exhibited Cariou’s photographs of Jamaican Rastafarians without gaining any form of consent and thus breaching copyright law.

It was these works that later were ordered to be destroyed in court.

However, eight of the pieces from the

Photography by Sanaa Hamid

exhibition had already sold for a net value of six million pounds, and seven others swapped for other works of art worth between a further six and eight million.

Naturally there are two sides to any argument and many members of the public deem coverage of these commonplace incidents somewhat ridiculous, a waste of time, and mere mollycoddling in a society that should be addressing bigger concerns.

Scouring the net to measure public opinion on the debate, Parnassus stumbled across tattooist Alex Werder who commented on Huffington Post

arguing, “So should I not be making money from tattooing images of Ganesh on clients? Maybe I should stop tattooing all religious imagery.

Or would that be insensitive to people who want these images on them. It’s ridiculous!” Meanwhile Amber raises the question, “So now anything that could possibly upset, anger, frighten, bore, or just annoy must be done away with?” Another valid point, which Robert backs, remarking “If it offends you, don’t buy it. Simple as that.”

Our fascination with symbols will long outlive its debate; for instance who can forget the PARNASSUS

legendary and somewhat bizarre case of musician Prince who after an acrimonious split from record label Warner Bros changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol in retaliation. But perhaps more should be done in the form of education to avoid the cultivation of an ignorant future society. It is not merely a case of ensuring political correctness or red-taping individuals’ rights to wear whatever they choose, but about enhancing a sense of community through the appropriation of knowledge rather than obliviousness.

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Japan In Motion Photography By Stephanie Jung

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REMEDIOS VINCENT HAUTE MACABRE “An antique thermometer worn on the lapel can be just as striking as the most sophisticated piece of jewellery”

During the 15th century, a trend arose for the macabre and morbid. Not in the modern clichéd goth stereotype way that deems the wearing of crow skulls the epitome of cool and originality, back then it was a critical reflection of the time. Life expectancy was a mere 45 years, and people were all too aware, making Memento Mori keepsakes a necessary daily reminder to ensure they made the most of the time they had. The concept was romantic in its essence and responsible not only for producing some of the finest antique jewels around today, but also for providing continued inspiration to contemporary designers such as Remedios Vincent.

A Spanish jeweller and artist, he has developed a

gift for transforming broken fragments of objects and old curios from flee markets and antique shops into striking and very much wearable pieces of jewellery. “Old items exert a curious type of magnetism, a mixture of initial apprehension and surprise, that brings me delight” he explains. He began his craft five years ago, and what began as a humble interest in broken porcelain extended to household items like tools and medical equipment, which he used to create small brooches for adorning his own outfits.

He is firstly attracted to the modest and sturdy manufacture of such items when sourcing materials, rather than concerning himself with whether or not others will find his work aesthetically pleasing. “The first piece that I ever made was a brooch composed of three broken faces,

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I have to admit it was pretty badly finished but I was just happy to have used them and people seemed to like it just as much as I did, asking me where I had purchased it” he reminisces.

The collection is titled Made To Dislike, referring to his more unusual designs featuring medical instruments and prosthetics such as ceramic dentist teeth and glass eyes, which Remedios reveals are actually his favourite of the materials he uses. “The ocular prostheses are real pieces of art. Each was made to measure for the customer, and required a significant amount of detail to mirror the individual’s real eye, it would have taken a real artist to create”.

An indisputable master of his field, Remedios remains modest about his work and gives full credit to the objects he uses for adding character and meaning to his designs. His approach to working with the past is not mournful or precious as the memento mori of yesteryear but he is an innovator and playful preservationist. “I do

not mix new and antique objects, but present the old in a modern way. I like to stay true to traditional crafting techniques and if I could find antique adhesive formulas, everything in my pieces would be antique… I have not yet reached that degree of perfection, but can at least rest assured that everything will last like the materials used in the past had done,” he muses.

Each of his pieces are one of a kind objet d’art, conveying stories of bygone times whilst working harmoniously with contemporary design, proof that the make do and mend aesthetic needn’t be a Blue Peter nightmare. Remedios believes the future for reclaimed fashion is bright and on the rise. “An antique thermometer worn on the lapel can be just as striking as the most sophisticated piece of jewellery,” he forecasts.

You can purchase jewellery by Remedios Vincent via his website, feeas.es Images by Gosia Janik and Lola Martínez

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FOUREYES FOUR GUYS “Style is something that should be celebrated”

Over the last decade the street style concept that anyone and everyone can be a style icon has taken leaps and bounds to become a fashion phenomenon. Today street style not only has its own following and icons, launching the careers of numerous trend-hunting personalities, but also inspires catwalk trends and illustrious fashion glossies. Some might say peeling back the pretentious coating it has acquired over the years has been long overdue, and New Zealand street style blog, FOUREYES, has aimed to do just that.

The blog showcases the best of street fashion in New Zealand and around the world, and run by four guys

Alex, Chin, Danny, and Mino, who believe style is not about following trends and “dressing like a look book” but about expressing your individuality through the construction of an outfit. The boys launched the blog just a month after meeting at a friends party in April 2011, and since them FOUREYES has acquired a global fan base and secured its place in fashion with its reputation for inspiring homegrown style, with a fashion collaboration and book already under their belt. Parnassus speaks to Alex, Chin, Danny, and Mino about their backstory, impeccable sense of dress, and future projects.

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Images courtesy of FOUREYES

Were you expecting FOUREYES to become such a success?

The blog was started purely for personal reasons and was only meant as a visual diary for what we all spotted on a day to day basis. Each of us feel like we have a distinct point of view so we attribute the “success” of the blog to the fact that there really is something that everyone can relate to.

Was fashion always a big part of your lives?

Fashion is something that we have all enjoyed for a long time but never in a professional manner (apart from Mino who works in retail management). It was a combined interest in photography and fashion that lead to the idea of capturing what was happening on the streets of New

reflect that in our photography also.

Zealand.

Is there such a thing as a bad outfit?

Why is street style important?

There are of course outfits that we like less than others but it’s all personal preference - for every person that likes a certain look, there will be another that doesn’t. We focus on individuality and always on the positive aspects of someone’s look as we feel style is something that should be celebrated.

We feel that street style reflects the individual as well as the collective. Everyone we photograph has a completely different way of wearing an outfit and the feeling you get when you see that person is completely different because of that. There are also common threads in the way that people dress in certain areas/countries so we try and

What is the most underrated item in fashion?

A good quality pair of shoes or bag.

Who are the FOUREYES style icons?

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Alex: I love Simone Marchetti’s style - he never seems to get it wrong.

Chin: The late Francesco Cominelli, Pelayo Diaz and Tilda Swinton, to name a few.

being able to design something from the beginning and watch it become reality, especially something that was for ourselves to wear! Design is definitely an avenue we would all like to explore more. There are a couple of things in the pipeline so watch this space!

Danny: Vivienne Westwood.

You’ve not long released your book, how would you summarise the experience?

Mino: Tom Ford. His style is impeccable.

The team collaborated with Marmalade Hats, can we expect to see more fashion collaborations in the future?

Hopefully yes! We absolutely loved the experience of

Amazing. One can normally only dream of publishing a book featuring their work so we were very lucky when Beatnik Publishing approached us. The great thing is that they gave us complete control over the project so the end result was exactly how we envisaged.

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Was it difficult narrowing down whom to feature?

Yes. We actually all sat in front of a T.V. screen and went through every single person we have shot since the inception of the blog. Once we had a “shortlist” (it wasn’t really a shortlist at all), we printed off the images and decided how we would arrange them in the book. We agreed on every single image that made the final cut.

What do you love most about New Zealand and how does its style compare to other countries?

Anything goes in New Zealand. It’s not about the labels you are wearing but about how creative and unique you can be with clothing. Kiwis are pretty good at taking vintage and secondhand pieces and incorporating them

into interesting looks. We love seeing how people on the street create outfits that you might never have thought of putting together.

So, you have a successful blog, a global following, and a book, what’s next for FOUREYES? Good question! Our philosophy is to always remain open to different opportunities and the exciting thing for us is that things just continue to happen. We look forward to more collaborations, more design work and maybe even a second book!

You can purchase the FOUREYES book, FOUREYES - New Zealand Street Style, at the beatnikshop.com for £44, or treat yourself to a limited edition copy signed by the FOUREYES boys for £65.

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Art by Andreas Nicolas Fischer

LITERATURE. “I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat” -Edgar Allan Poe

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Image Courtesy of Tyler Kent White

TYLER KENT WHITE PORCELAIN AND POSIES “Today authors know they can’t just throw words in a book and expect people to read” It is not often that one comes across words on the web that are not only sincere and beautifully written but also those we can relate to, but 26 year old Tyler Kent White has a talent for offering just that. By day the owner of a contracting company that focuses on sustainable land development and underground infrastructure, and by night the equivalent of an 18th century romantic poet, the old idiom ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ comes to mind. Parnassus spoke with the up-and-coming poetic talent and latest Instagram heartthrob to capture the imaginations of thousands of people worldwide with his very first interview.

Coming from an incredibly creative family,Tyler’s gift for the written word perhaps comes as little surprise.

His first experience of prose was writing Goosebumps fan fiction novels and scribbling poetry in the corners of textbooks whilst still at school. He now shares his poetry via his blog Porcelain and Posies and posts daily on his Instagram page, although he admits it initially had never crossed his mind to share his works and it wasn’t until he

saw his friends reposting pieces by existing insta famous writers that he thought he’d give sharing his own a try.

“I was caught off guard that so many people would find my words attractive and relatable. I have received so many positive messages about a piece helping someone work through a situation they couldn’t figure their emotions out on. It blows me away,” reveals White.

“I never knew my words could do that. I want to know these people as more than just a comment on a screen, I lack the touch, and sometimes come off as sarcastic or other undesirable terms, but I genuinely mean it when I say I will never have the right words to thank everyone that supports me.”

Whilst the imagery evoked in his poems is appears deeply insightful and raw, evocative of romance and melancholy, Tyler admits these works are rarely autobiographical. “I do write in a personal style but I usually gather up my emotions and place them on other people I know or situations around me. It is incredibly difficult to write about myself directly, so I use my emotions and indirectly tie them back to me.” However, he

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my favourite sound is that of your name as i whisper it softly against the small of your neck each and every morning before you pull me close hand to hips and start your morning sigh, tremble, and soft moan exhaling the dreams you had down the back of my throat so in every word i speak i leave the best parts of you littered across these streets -tyler kent white

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“Young writers and Aspiring authors are often delicate, it would be a shame for them to break and attempt to put themselves together as some other writer just because someone felt it was their job to put them down”

does reveal he is quite the romantic at heart and fascinated by the idea that we all have the potential to find the one and live out our own fairytale. “There is so much beauty in human relationships, the way we remain tied together through storms, the ebb and flow of time, growing apart and back together, to weave this beautifully complex story.

To me, it is such a breathtaking display of all the human emotion, every shade and colour they come in,” he muses.

Aside from running his business and penning food for the soul, Tyler enjoys exploring the great outdoors, spending time with his two pitbulls, Jolie and Wednesday, and anything remotely competitive, declaring one of his greatest influences to be people with ambition. “I love people that have fire in their eyes and desire running through the hallways of their body. Anytime I want to mope around, quit, or think things are too hard I remind myself there are other people working hard to take my place. I can’t let them do that,” tells the ambitious young poet.

His can-do attitude extends to dealing with criticism too, revealing that although he has received his fair share of negativity, he no longer lets it get the better of him as he now realises that such remarks come from people harbouring existing hate or anger that isn’t really meant for him. “My poetry is a reflection of myself, my feelings, and my world,” he declares. “I grew up without a father

and my mother was very young when she had me. I never was bitter, but I would always view myself as someone who would never live up to my potential. I would quit if anything challenged me, I would avoid confrontation, and I never went after what I desired.” White thus delves into how he has used the past, developed as a person and grown as a writer in recent years. “The the best life lesson is always - have faith in yourself and even if you doubt the world, don’t doubt yourself.You were born with a story, a voice, and a glow inside that was meant to shine,” he says.

His story and principles inspirations in themselves, Tyler says he doesn’t believe in writer’s block, remarking that it only comes when focusing on a single piece for too long. When faced with such a challenge himself, he begins a new work to recharge his imagination, later returning with renewed ideas, fresh eyes, and a recharged mind, even then confessing that he never really feels as if a piece is finished, as he often goes back to pieces sometime after they were rewritten to rework and develop concepts.

“What is genuine skill? ee cummings didn’t use proper punctuation, capitalization, or grammar.

Hemingway, Kerouac, Poe, and Vonnegut all wrote most of their work while they were drunk. Skill in writing, at least to me, is knowing how to reach your audience,” he responds when the topic of some critics’ belief that contemporary writers lack literacy skill is broached.

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“Poetry has been, and always will be, a mainstay in the art community. We have evolved as people in how we consume material but the basic principle is the same. As long as talented artists are alive, poetry will be just fine”

“Today authors know they can’t just throw words in a book and expect people to read. Critics are people who judge art because they were never talented enough to be artists themselves - I pay them no mind,” White discloses. “Young writers and aspiring authors are often delicate, it would be a shame for them to break and attempt to put themselves together as some other writer just because someone felt it was their job to put them down,” he continues.

In recent years a lot of poetic talent has emerged online and whilst art and literature are not creative outlets that should be approached with rivalry and antagonism, Tyler is first to admit that being a competitive individual by nature it is a hard habit to break away from. “I view everything as a challenge and attack it with the desire to be number one. I understand the art community is not like that, and I have caught flak for viewing it this way, but I can’t help it. I feel I have a very good grasp on my voice and understand my ability, but that isn’t for me to decide.” He is happy, though, to acknowledge that there are contemporary writers out there that he considers much ahead of his own work, including Amanda Torroni, Warsan Shire, and Clementine Von Radics.

“Poetry has been, and always will be, a mainstay in

the art community. We have evolved as people in how we consume material but the basic principle is the same. As long as talented artists are alive, poetry will be just fine,” envisions White as we wind up the interview. Looking to the future, Tyler says he will continue to do much of the same: writing, growing and learning daily. For him the moment writing becomes a job is the moment that he quits writing with passion, and he’s not willing to give up the sense of fun and escapism that he gains from it anytime soon. In the meantime his work will continue to enthrall his dedicated following, but just as the veil of mystery surrounding this ambitious creative is lifted, he once more keeps his cards held close to himself. Tantalisingly hinting of an upcoming collaboration with fellow writer Amanda Torroni of StarsAmongStars, he divulges that they’ll be releasing but refrains from commenting further. We’ll certainly be sure to keep our eyes peeled for further news here at Parnassus.

You can read Tyler’s catalogue of creative works via blog porcelainandposies.com, and purchase type written prints of his via his Etsy store,TylerKentWhite.

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i wanted to write you a poem explaining the intricacies of odd numbers the color purple and all the ways i was sorry for hurting you a poem to help you understand how your voice sounds like the sea and every night i can taste the salt water as it fills my lungs to the backs of my molars instead i wrote a poem about thunderstorms porcelain, posies parsnips & paisleys and the primrose garden i have been growing a poem about how i am currently teaching lessons to the flowers so they can stand tall like the trees in hopes that one day they too can see past my own clouded judgement i wanted to write a poem telling you that at night as i press my shoulders to the earth and listen to the grass grow around me i pretend i am the stars that complete your constellations and that with you, it’s going to be okay with you, it’s always okay.

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ETYMOLOGY THE ART OF W0RDS The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history is referred to as etymology. It is by far one of the more beautiful and contemplative of studies, which despite the steady decline of linguistic disciplines with each new generation, still offers an extensive repertoire of complex letter arrangements and alluring sounds.

Some of the most captivating words come from foreign shores, and having flicked through dictionaries far and wide, we have compiled just some of our favourite words from around the globe. They may have no English equivalent, but certainly beautiful and even at times comical meanings, ever wondered if there’s a word for walking around your house in a t-shirt and no trousers? Hungary has you covered.

Art by Rob Gray for Parnassus

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5AM WHISKY AND OLD MOLESKINS Late nights are nothing new to me. For as long as I remember, I don’t sleep well. At university I utilised that time, designing and illustrating. I was at my most creative in the early hours, with a good stiff drink, the sound of milk floats goading me on. It was peaceful. That was always the plan anyway, draw, draw, and keep on drawing. Illustration was my passion. I was going to be big. I’m not a journalist, nor am I a writer. I barely passed english. What I am though, is a creative, and thus I’m willing to turn my hand to anything, as long as it gets the pressing points across.

Little under a year ago, I was a “passionate young designer”, well, that’s what my CV read. I guess now it reads “Empty body of once a man”. After I graduated I applied for hundreds of jobs, but nothing. I freelanced as an Illustrator, even a teacher. After that nothing. Little funds in the bank meant moving home was my only option. Part-time work soon became Full-time. Full-time

soon became a 50 hour week. That job consumed my life.

A year down the line I realised I had failed.

I’d become that 1% that universities don’t talk about.

The graduate that never did. Truth be told, I haven’t illustrated in over a year. The very being I lived for is vacant. Recently I’ve been trying to rekindle my creativity. With little more than an ember left. So I went to a coffee shop. The once home of creatives. Ordering a black coffee and getting strange looks. You don’t want a soya iced salt-caramel sugar-free macchiato?

Once seated I looked around. The place full of teenage girls and business men. Living in such a fast paced world, in which capturing and documenting are almost instant and mundane. The charm of an old moleskin and pen are gone. What is a Coffee if it’s not covered in crème and looks good on your instagram. Long gone are the days of sitting with a black coffee and feeling truly alone.

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The coffee shop is not the creative hub it once was.

Pubs on the other hand are my favourite place in the world. A space in which people meet to discuss and create over a good ale or quality scotch. Yet as I sit with my pint of amber ale, I’m uncontent with what I see.

People necking sugary, vodka based drinks. Shouting the words to the latest chart topper. Only to be throwing up outside in an hour. Pubs have changed.

Theres no escape.

I now sit with the riff-raff.

Drinking their sparkly larger beers. Listening to “the next big thing” that the DJ plays. Still with an ale in my hand. This week I was engaged by a girl, face painted like Doink the Clown. Swaying as she talks. Spilling her cheap white rum and diet coke all over my boots. At this moment I realised I’m from a

different time. Denim jackets, Red boots, Trimmed beard, Plaid shirts. My idea of relaxing is putting on a record, sitting with my drink and drawing until the early hours. Something I haven’t done in too long.

I’ve lost my ways. Left my ill trodden paths, and joined the highway. I need to get back to making my own path. Leaving the trails laid out for you. There was a time when I would to listen Robert Crumb talk for hours, and connect. As if listening to him helped me understand myself. Not only as a creative, but as a person.

As I write this it’s 2am. About time I usually go to sleep. But tonight will be different. I’ve got a few things to revisit. Like the 5am Whiskey and old moleskins.

Words by Robb Gray Art by Jenny Beard for Parnassus

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Photograph by Eric Pouhier of Sculpture by Antonio Canova

FICTIOPHILIA FOR THE LOVE OF FICTION Literature is a beautiful thing that has the ability to delight and enthral us but it’s not all about wizards, happily ever afters, and castles in the air. Fictiophilia refers to an attraction to fictional characters, a genuine psychological condition that involves a person being irrevocably in love with a fictional character(s), and believe it or not it is a far more common ailment in today’s society than one might think.

Just a quick search of Google brings up page after page of references to people being ‘in love’ with fictitious characters, and appears most common in females and adolescents who in turn have spurred on the online subculture for fan fiction. It’s a niche market of literary writing that initially surfaced during the 1970s among Star Trek fans, who would trade homemade zines about their favourite characters.

Most common today amongst the online hemisphere is a subgenre referred to as ‘Mary Sue’, in which the author in so many words writes out their fantasy to have sexual

relations with a desired character.

The trend began after the cult parody story “A Trekkie’s Tale” written by Paula Smith in 1972, in which the protagonist, Lieutenant Mary Sue, burrows her way into the good graces of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Such interpretations are generally deemed as “both annoying and occasionally disturbing” by fan fiction aficionado sites, due to the poor development of ‘Mary Sue’ characters, which typically appear utterly lacking in realism with regard to their looks, intelligence and physical capabilities.

A host of forums dedicated 99q

to exploring such attractions exist, the users of which often asking if the romantic feelings they are experiencing toward book, cartoon, and game characters are “normal” due to a lack of available information explaining the topic online. One such user, Frank Hartnett, candidly summed up this phenomenon saying, “It’s kind of funny how much sexualisation people place on fictional characters. Rarely have I ever heard people just say, ‘It’d be cool to hang out with this character for a day’, but instead they all just talk about how much they want to bang them.” While

Roxy, another user, admits to being “in love with an anime character”, but feeling “guilty and dumb” due to spending her time incessantly daydreaming about them.

Susan Deyn, a cognitive therapist, believes that it is an issue that goes beyond society’s relationship with sex appeal: “The real issue that I’m seeing here is not the fascination with the characters, but the way in which subjects address what they are feeling.” Deyn says that the real problem that society should be addressing is the erratic use of the “love” word, which is leaving those affected unnecessarily alarmed.

“Individuals, in particular young teens, frequently make the mistake of misreading a bout of infatuation to mean love,” she says. “Love isn’t black and white and the two share uncanny resemblances… making it all the more important to not overanalyse the feelings you are experiencing to the

point of them impacting negatively on your mental wellbeing and just take a step out of the situation,” explaining that putting down that book, dvd or video game and going cold turkey for as little as a week will soon put things into perspective.

It is also important to remember that the allure of such characters is not down to them being remarkable specimens of genetics, but at its most simplest is a classic creative ploy utilised by writers to tug at your heart strings. Fictional characters at their best are excellent sources for feeding the imagination and escapism from the daily grind, but what is commonly forgotten is that they nearly never incorporate the mundane and routine necessities into their lives. This in itself can only lead to disappointment: apart from the fact that they don’t exist, there is only so much adventure that one can realistically accommodate in our lives.

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A prime example of this is the “bad boy” archetype that so often has us smitten. Take Sherlock Holmes of the TV series Sherlock for instance, who since the start of the show has become a sensation amongst women of all ages; they quite blatantly overlook his narcotics dependency, tendency to make others feel uncomfortable and the sadistic pleasure he gains from the macabre.

Colloquially this has become known as a “Jesus complex” aka Saviour Complex and not to be confused with the one starting with Messiah. In such cases individuals often find themselves having a strong affinity with people they see as needing help and believe that they are the one who can assist them, typically sacrificing their own needs and happiness whilst they mend the broken wings of such folk.

Professor Mary-Lou Galician, a media literacy advocate, explores such complexities of

“Fictional characters at their best are excellent sources for feeding the imagination and escapism from the daily grind, but what forgotten is that they nearly never incorporate the mundane and routine necessities into their lives.”

fictiophilia in her book, Research and Theories of Mass Media Effects on Individuals and Society, in which she proposes that those who fall in love with fictional characters will find it exceptionally difficult to establish healthy relationships due to having unrealistic expectations that will cause them to inadvertently place too much dependence on their real life other half. She writes that “ ‘real love’ is productive, enlarging and joyful, and ‘false love’ is mythic and stereotypic.”

She bases much of her theory on the earlier works of psychologist, Dorothy Tennov, who in her cult book, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, coined the term limerence, referring to the involuntary state of mind that arises from romantic attraction combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one’s feelings reciprocated.

The obvious trouble here is that fictional characters will never be able

to reciprocate any feelings that you may have for them.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the world of literature.

A study published last year in the online journal sciencemag.org found that one’s social skills are notably improved from reading, specifically literary fiction as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction. The study, comprising five experiments, explored literature as a possible contributing factor to improving perception of others’ mental states or what some might call emotional intelligence perception, a skill scientifically known as Theory of Mind (ToM), and one used recurrently in our day to day lives in instances like gauging a person’s body language in a job interview or on a date.

The researchers, Emanuele Castano, a psychology professor, and David Comer Kidd, a doctoral candidate at the New School for Social 101o

Research in New York, recruited a selection of Amazon.com users aged 18 to 75 as test subjects to ensure a broader pool of participants to the standard eager university student guinea pig. The results showed that people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence after reading literary fiction by such writers as Don DeLillo and Wendell Berry for just a couple of minutes, whereas those who read popular fiction scored the same as those that hadn’t read at all.

Kidd explained this disparity to The New York Times to be down to fact that in popular fiction “the author is in control, and the reader has a more passive role,” while in literary fiction, “there is no single, overarching authorial voice, each character presents a different version of reality, and they aren’t necessarily reliable. You have to participate as a

“‘Real love’ is productive, enlarging and joyful, and ‘false love’ is mythic and stereotypic”

Art by Chloé Roger

reader in this dialectic, which is really something you have to do in real life,” he says.

The findings were well received by literary writers such as Louise Erdrich, whose award-winning novel, The Round House, was used in the experiment. She was reported as feeling “personally cheered” by the news, commenting, “Writers are

often lonely obsessives, especially the literary ones. It’s nice to be told what we write is of social value.”

Seemingly the key here as always is attaining a healthy balance, although that’s easier said than done.

A sure place to start is to lay off a little from Meyer and Steel and read more Dickens and Dostoyevsky, so that we too might refine our social skills PARNASSUS

enough to meet ‘the one’, instead of silently sobbing at the pages of The Great Gatsby for the hundredth time as you make the daily commute to work, contemplating how Jay would still be alive if only he had had the opportunity to meet you.

LOST MAIL It was John Donne who famously remarked, “more than kisses, letters mingle souls”, the sentimental notion of a bygone age. The idea of penning a letter by hand seems as bygone a notion in our increasingly demanding working schedules as Sunday being a day of rest, both most unfortunate casualties of the modern age if you ask me.

I can still recall the first letter I ever received, it was from my babushka Lyudmila shortly after uprooting and moving to England, and became a monthly custom thereafter. Each arrived penned in her precise governess hand, the kind of handwriting that in my lifetime I have only seen shared by my mother and Edwardian costume dramas. My grandmother would decorate them in novel ways, incorporating stickers and doodles or my favourite of dried flowers picked from her garden. I accumulated quite the collection, which although now lost in time some numerous house moves later, I still remember the majority of.

Growing up letters became boring too, stickers and elaborate handwriting became replaced with bank statements and Times New Roman. Thinking back it was wonderfully romantic regardless of the content, a noble gesture of giving up ones time to acknowledge the existence of another. That more commonly now translates as the appreciation you feel on the rare occasion you receive a physical Christmas card or being tagged in a

social media post, it is simply nice to be recognised.

British journalist and author of critically acclaimed, On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks, Simon Garfield returns to analyse the social effects of this communication shift in his latest book, To the Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing. In which he explores what we have collectively lost as a society when we replaced penned letters with e-mail, and the passionate firm grip of a pen with the tapping of fingertips. “Letters have the power to grant us a larger life. They reveal motivation and deepen understanding. They change lives, and they rewire history” comments Garfield. He proposes that with technological advancements we have lost the effort to get things right the first time, which he believes is in part due to a loss of tangibility in the journey of a message from sender to recipient. There is no longer a need to leave the house to find the nearest postbox, no man at the e-mail sorting office or e-mail deliveryman.

“Great miserabilist that he was, Philip Larkin was spot-on with his famous line from ‘An Arundel Tomb’ … what will survive of us is love. Letters fulfill and safeguard this prophecy.Without letters we risk losing sight of our history, or at least its nuance. The decline and abandonment of letters — the price of progress — will be an immeasurable defeat” Concludes Garfield.

To the Letter: A Celebration of the Lost Art of Letter Writing is available for purchase online or at most highstreet bookshops for £16.99.

Art by Jenny beard for Parnassus

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PARNASSUS

INSPI’REIS(E)N

BY MARTIN KABAMBA

It hits you. And for a moment you glance At what could have been. Tarred lungs, Rasp voice.

A symphony of silence.

Stumbling through ash, so odd and polluted.

Your body is my temple. And beside it I pray; The stars will fall gently, their reflections In the sea. It burns to forget, ever crashing On the sands. These oceans are my body, Your words are my hands.

Gleefully playing the artist whilst the sun burns Red. To ignite and so alight the savanna, forever Still and reconciled.

Finding Nirvana.

With repetition... firmly in the rear view mirror.

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Art by Kurt Linaker for Parnassus

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So calm as the night he stared upon. A gust of wind enters the apartment where he sits at his old grand, patiently waiting to be inspired. As if posing for a portrait, perfectly still he ponders. The only movement he makes is drawing his cigarette closer to his mouth to take a drag.

The apartment is virtually empty. A small loft with a bed upstairs, no television or couch. A place to reconcile his imagination and be taunted by his own nightmares. The kitchen, wedged in the corner, is tiled with only a thin metal strip separating it from the living room. Dishes have piled up from weeks of procrastination and neglect. The ashtray on the piano overflowing with butts and the walls are stained from a source unknown. In fact if you listen very closely you can hear the tatter of mice in the ceiling. The space is void of any color, emotion and company. Many would wander why a man would subject himself to such a vacant existence, perpetuating creative stagnation and angst.

Such is the life of this tormented artist whose existence is solely dependent on his ability to create. An older man with hair covering most of the visible skin on his body. Broad and out of shape due to a lack of interaction with the world, his music was his solace and his poison. The piano, a Steinway Concert Grand, was inherited from his grandmother- a stern women who obsessively forced him to practice. The instrument was placed in the center of his living room facing the window beside the stairs. It was all he had. It was all he owned. The only relic left of his family, besides him. He was truly alone.

These are the thoughts that passed through his mind as he sat pensively staring out the window. He slowly put out his cigarette and placed his hands on the keys of the piano. And as the memories of his childhood flooded his mind he played. His eyes were firmly placed on the moon that peered back at him through the window. Softly a concerto was synthesized that encompassed a life gone past. The faces of the people he knew accompanied the composition until an orchestra filled his apartment. And as the crescendo built a loud shrill pierced the calm night air and the musician stopped immediately.

THE MUSICIAN

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THE SEX WORKER Her reaction was almost immediate. But for a split second the volatile movement of her body brought a wave of peace that washed over her. At last something was happening. The air was pungent with finality.

Her cheeks pressed against the brick face and the aggressor pulled her hair with such force that her eyes were propelled to the sky. Above her she saw the moon, the silent observer, surrounded by a sea of dancing stars.

A set of eyes flickered, gawping at her from the apartments above. She then witnessed the anonymous organs of sight recede indoors and the windows closed. Soon after the sound of a muffled piano ensued the street. The instrument was accompanied by the heavy breathing of the man whose body was now firmly abutting her petit frame. “Scream again and I’ll fucking stab you, whore”, his words tore her open. Her heart was broken. In compliance she began to move down the street, stumbling in her heels.

The city is never empty. There were people watching and hiding. As she looked around their more eyes flickered in the darkness. It was pitch black and by now she had no idea where she was. Running was not an option, her body was brittle, weeks of binging to subdue the hunger that now forced her stomach to cramp. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground from the lack of sustenance and fatigue. Without hesitation the assaulter, using her armpits as anchors pull her further into the black. As he laid her down the sound of footsteps moved further away from the scene. The city is never empty, there were people watching and hiding.

Taking off his large coat the stranger let out a sigh of relief. He placed it on the ground beside his knife.

Still conscious but weak from the exhaustion and hunger, the prostitute began to accept her fate. He started to undress her, carefully and slowly starting with her heels. As he crouched over her removing her thin leather jacket a surge of will ignited. Reaching across the floor swiftly she griped his knife and with her next movement directed it into his neck. Blood gushed from his throat, the knife still wedged inside. He fell to the ground chocking on his blood.

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Art by Kurt Linaker for Parnassus

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DEATH

The night reeked of death. The ground was stained with red. The air was stale and cold. Standing over his body and looking down on himself he could see the blood rushing out of him, the knife still deeply inside his neck. No fear came over him, no doubt consumed him. Attempting to shout for help he could not hear his own voice, he was unable to make a sound or listen to the world around him. He wondered about the music he will miss, the faint piano he heard when walking these streets to his death. The sound of her heels, the piercing of her shrill.

In this muted and dumb state only his thoughts could consolidate him. But the sound of breathing broke the silence and interrupted his thoughts. The breathing became louder until his thoughts were completely drowned out sending him into a fit of madness. Not a scream, not a shout, not a word come out of his mouth. Agony consumed him and only his corpse and the blood that seeped from it were in sight to consolidate him. Bending over his body he wept into his hands. Looking up in the darkness a figure appeared of such profound black that it contrasted the emptiness around him.

No defining featured became clearer as the figure drew closer. Only the darkness- pure and deep. The breathing grew louder until the corpse began to shake and bleed from the ears. Frightened he started for the streets but in trying to move he found he was absolutely paralyzed.The figure was now directly in front of him and the breathing stopped abruptly. The figment reached out and held the dead man’s hand, pulling him closer in a suggestive manner. With the man firmly in it’s arms it moved it’s face to his neck and kissed it gently.

The figure, still unknown to the him, took a step back and opened it’s eyes, they were made of light.

Dazed and mesmerized the man moved forward to kiss the figure. As his lips moved to meet the other, the sound of breathing consumed his thoughts, loud and menacing.Yet he moved closer still. Their lips met. Death consumed the space.

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SOMETHING FOR THE

BIBLIOPHILE BELOVED CLASSICS AND NEW RELEASES

In Winterson’s bildungsroman novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, the protagonist Jeanette is a anomaly within an austere 1970s Pentecostal community. Brought up by her mother as one of God’s elect. Zealous and passionate, Jeanette seems destined for life as a missionary, until her encounter with Melanie.

Lydia Davis has earned universal acclaim thanks to the wittiness, insight and inventiveness of her stories. This new collection illuminates particular moments in ordinary lives and finds in them the humorous, the ironic and the surprising.

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Quirk Classics delivers another gem in the Jane Austin parody series. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is a mash-up of Jane Austen’s 1811 classic novel Sense and Sensibility and common tropes from sea monster stories, including Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, Lost, SpongeBob, and Popeye.

The writer of the bestseller, Religion for Atheists, returns with yet another smart and stimulating read. The News A User’s Manual, mixes extracts of contemporary news with philosophical observations from de Botton on its impact on us and how we see the world.

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AMY NELSON FLYING A KITE IN THE CITY “I always felt like I didn’t belong in a typical classroom setting. My brain was like wildfire and would shut off if I sat for too long around too many strangers”

There is something refreshingly captivating about Amy Nelson’s demeanour. A home-schooled 22 year old residing in Canada, she has more spirit and talent than most could ever aspire to attain in a lifetime. From the moment you come across her blog, Amy Flying A Kite, you can’t help but be engulfed by her world, full of forest strolls, mountain peaks, ocean waves, the scent of fresh pinecones, and sound of banjo strings. A tough show to follow by anybody’s standards, which is made all the more enjoyable when you realise that she entirely lives up to the charming pleasantries of her online persona – As Parnassus found out when we caught up with Amy to discuss Canadian life, the benefits of home schooling, nature, and

her grocery list of talents.

Born in metropolitan Kamloops, Amy moved at a young age and eventually found herself in Calgary Alberta. “I left Kamloops before I was old enough to build memories. I actually grew up in a small northern town, there was not much to do and a lot of gruff and grumble plagued me from being happy. I was very lonely until I found myself in Calgary.” It’s where she still lives, a mostly quiet and solitary life with her family, boyfriend, and two Pomeranians.

When she’s not playing the banjo or guitar, which she often performs live, Amy enjoys nothing more than time alone chasing creative pursuits: days spent writing and fusing her musings with photography featuring her unique way of dress. Though unlike the run of the mill

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style blogs run by many a girl her age, hers is filled with words of a poetic heart and photographs that will have you wanting to pack up your bags and leave the city for calmer climes. “I started writing prose and poetry when my body was too small to ride roller coasters,” she begins. “At the time, I did not know that putting words and feelings together made you into a writer. I always thought I was just having conversations with myself or a fictitious friend named diary.”

Since starting her blog four years ago as a way to connect with like-minded people during her home schooling, Amy has acquired a global following and sponsorships but things were not always so positive for the young creative. “I will be the first to admit that I hated high school. Just reading the words conjures up feelings of loneliness and wishing I was elsewhere. I always felt like I didn’t belong in a typical classroom setting. My brain was like wildfire and would shut off if I sat for too long around too many strangers,” Amy recollects.

Being an independent learner, she found it easier to grasp concepts and develop understanding through teaching herself, which led to her being home-schooled with the aid of her mother through the

majority of secondary school. “It allowed me to learn in an unconventional way while still obtaining a quality education, encouraging me to think more deeply and not be controlled by how others perceive you,” she explains.

“Learning at home is not the most popular choice but I think it should be welcomed and more widely accepted.

Sometimes we get so caught up in what society tells us to be, we forget that there is more than one way to learn, teach, and live. Your time on earth is limited, even if you live a long time, you won’t live forever. Quit worrying about what other people think of you.”

Describing her writing style as trying to “explore the meaning and beauty of life’s simplicities”, Amy Flying A Kite, is a compilation of daily narratives from Amy’s life. Whether it’s her daily musings, poems, or style shots, there is always an element of stripped-backness and sincerity to her work. With her it is very much a case of what you see is what you get, something we could all do with more of in our lives, and perhaps the reason for why her lifestyle seems so enthralling to onlookers. “The writing on my blog is similar to diary entries. I have a hard time detaching myself from the character because every blog post is filled with pictures of me,” she reveals.

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“However, there is a darker side to me that doesn’t always come across. My blog has the ability to bring out the life in me,” continues Amy.

And in the process she brings the life out in her readers, a spokeswoman for appreciating the little things, with nature as her utmost influence in both her creative work and life. Amy believes there is “something deeply cathartic and humbling about watching the way nature works”, openly confessing that she would not be the writer or person she is today without it. “It always reminds me of how small I am and how I must take care of things that are smaller than me, I wish I could tell you that I’ve traveled great distances to save landscapes or the wildlife within them, but I haven’t, not yet anyhow,” she deliberates. It’s a message that she does her best to spread through her blog “I would hope that my small part in helping the planet is by sharing how beautiful nature is through my posts. If I can write a poem about a bluebird that inspires somebody else to appreciate and notice their wings or birdsong, I will have done a little something. But I hope to do more before my time comes to an end.”

Over the past couple of years writing has become an increasingly popular game, with a lot of poetic

talent following in Amy’s footsteps sharing their poetry and musings through social media outlets such as Tumblr and Instagram. Asked to divulge her view on this literary development, Amy is as always optimistic, “I think it is wonderful! We live in a time where everybody has the same right and access to online communities. It does not matter who your father is or how much money is in your bank account, all you need is an internet connection and the desire to produce quality work. Most of the writing online is so raw and untouched; there is a human-feel to it that makes the words so beautiful and honest.” Unsurprisingly Amy holds such creative equality close to her heart, herself having started out on the Blogger platform.

“I think in every community where people create, there will always be people who only pursue it for the reward. Some people only play guitar to impress others or write poetry to be called a poet, but their art does not last. If you’re not authentic, you can only exist for so long before getting tired. You do not need to have the same breadth of vocabulary as Ernest Hemingway or your favorite songwriter. You just need to sing the song only you can hear and write the story only you can see. I’m always holding out for the passionate ones, the ones who

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would go on writing whether the podium burned down tomorrow or not,” expands Amy.

When quizzed about the future, she remains humble and sincere to the end, “I think if you look inside of my heart, you will see mountain peaks and the sea, but there are no skyscrapers or city buses. I don’t think I’ll ever feel like a city girl. I am quite happy where I am living now, it is a beautiful place to be young, full of music and opportunities, but I can always hear a quiet mountain life calling me home. I would like to make enough money to live in a country home where music is always playing and little happy children call me ‘mum’. If I could achieve anything, it would be to know that I helped somebody through my writing.” But for now Amy is content with simple things in life of life, hot tea in the morning, dogs barking, and the sound of her mum typing away on her computer, “Right now is my time for calmness, joy and banjo.”

Photos courtesy of Amy Nelson

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“You do not need to have the same breadth of vocabulary as Ernest Hemingway or your favorite songwriter. You just need to sing the song only you can hear and write the story only you can see�

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Painting by Heinrich F端ger

PROMETHEUS THE DEFINITIVE TALE Many moons ago there lived the son of a great Titan, Iapetus, who had been sent to Tartarus by an enraged Zeus for rebelling against him during the great battle of the Titans, Titanomachy. The eldest of four brothers, Prometheus, meaning foresight, always pondered the future and prepared for what might be tomorrow.

Not one for lounging around drinking nectar and eating ambrosia like the residents of Olympus, he did not care for the idle delight that came with living amongst the clouds atop a mountain. Zeus, seeing his dejection and thankful for his support during Titanomachy, granted Prometheus the task of forming man from water and earth, a task which Prometheus did with much satisfaction, with care molding each figure which Athena would later bring to life with her breath.

Having grown fond of his creation, Prometheus wanted to benefit men so that they might grow wise and evolve. He asked his younger brother Epimetheus, meaning hindsight, to give them qualities such as swiftness, cunning, and strength. But too caught up with the goings on of yesterday, Epimetheus hadn’t accounted for the creation of these new beings; having already distributed the best qualities, there was simply nothing left for man.

So instead, Prometheus decided to make man stand upright like the Olympians and approached Zeus to ask if he might share the element of fire with men.

However, Zeus had observed the Titan’s growing affection for the mortals and, growing resentful, didn’t wish them to grow strong and possess any such divine power as fire

and dismissed Prometheus’ pleas.

But he was one of the most compassionate and gentle of the Titans, and could not turn his back on men, who were living a life of misery for this was before the Bronze Age, when they dwelled in caves, feasted on by wild beasts, and dropped like flies from cold and starvation due to lack of even the most primitive of survival knowledge.

Prometheus was saddened by their immense plight, and began to feel the father of the Gods had grown autocratic with power.

Known for his wit and intelligence, Prometheus derived an intricate plan with which to steal fire for man on earth. He tricked the goddesses by throwing a golden pear marked with the message “For fairest goddess of all” into the courtyard of Olympus.The goddesses, an egotistic lot, immediately began to fight over the fruit, much to the amusement of the gods who had become enthralled by the scene.

Whilst all were distracted, Prometheus took fire from Hephaestus’ workshop and concealed it in a hollow stalk of a reed, which he brought with him to give to men and shared with them invaluable knowledge as to how to use it.

Zeus, incensed by such defiance, decided to discipline Prometheus by hurting the ones he loved most, Epimetheus and man. Creative in his distribution of punishment, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a mortal of divine beauty, and Hermes to bestow a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first

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woman. She was then given as a bride to Epimetheus, who was staying amongst the men. A final gift was a jar that Pandora was forbidden to open, but that is quite another story.

Prometheus unfazed by Zeus’ revenge, continued to disobey him. His next move as benefactor of mankind came when Zeus was developing the ceremonial act of animal sacrifice. Astute as always, Prometheus divided the slaughtered animal parts into two packets: in one was the ox-meat and innards wrapped in the stomach lining, and the other the ox-bones covered in juicy rich fat. Prometheus presented Zeus with a choice between the two, and Zeus opted for the deceptively rich in appearance inedible bones. Forever after as a result of his trick, whenever man sacrificed to the gods, he would be able to feast on the meat, so long as he burned the bones as an offering for the gods.

Losing his patience, fiery Zeus seized fire from men, once more halting their progress, to which Prometheus retaliated by lighting a torch from the sun and bringing it back to man. But it was not until Prometheus’ refusal to use his gift of foresight to inform Zeus of the prophecy that one of his sons would try to dethrone him, that his patience had finally been stretched to its limits by the young Titan’s antics.

With his worst punishment yet, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to chain Prometheus to a rock on Mount Caucasus using adamantine chains. Despite being his friend, Hephaestus reluctantly carried out the ghastly deed and left Prometheus to an eternity of torment. Each

day a giant eagle would come and slowly pick away at his liver until it was all gone. As he was immortal, by night it would rejuvenate, only to be eaten again come sunrise.

Some hundred years later, Zeus’ son Hercules passed Mount Caucasus on his journey to fulfill the Twelve Labours, and seeing Prometheus’ suffering he decided to slay the eagle and free the chained Titan.

Zeus, initially furious at the news, eventually agreed to grant Prometheus his freedom on the condition that he carry a perpetual reminder of his punishment should he ever consider disobeying him again. Prometheus was ordered to forge a ring from the chains that had bound him, which he was to wear from that moment on. To commemorate all that their benefactor had done for them, mankind began crafting rings in Prometheus’ honour.

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Painting by Theodoor Rombouts

THANK YOU Parnassus would like to take a moment to thank everyone who contributed their work and gave up their time to help make this issue a reality. Without the talent and valued additions of your art, musings, and interviews we would not be here now.

Interviews and Contributors: Amy Nelson Andreas Nicolas Fischer FOUREYES Guy Laramee Jenny Beard Kurt Linaker Liz Clayton Fuller Martin Kabamba Mark Yankus Monique Goossens Oriol Angrill Jorda Remedios Vincent Robb Gray Sebastien Zar Stephanie Jung Travis Chapman Tyler Kent White Viktor Wynd & Ainsley Walker, Dexter Kay, Erin Lyons, Graham Roberts, Hazel Phyllis, Jack Padurariu, Norman Fahy, Rory Cole, Sanna Hamid, Susan Deyn, and Valentina Staradubets With a special thank you to Rob De Neit, Paul Tierney.

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

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