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WELCOME |
There are some events or sights which are unspeakable, or so we would imagine.
In the East, a phallus is a frequent sight, often made and positioned with reverence. In India, it is called the Lingam, whereas, in Japan, Shinto tradition named these images or sculptures "Dosojin".
Shinto means "The Way of the Gods", and Dosojin, (the phallic images of both male and female) is considered to be an important group of "Kami", or the ancient Gods of Shinto.
In mythological Shinto
tradition, a tale of Genesis depicts an original
couple who walked along a heavenly Rainbow Bridge, thrusting a "jewel spear
of heaven" into the chaos beneath. Foam from the spear formed an island,
and the couple floated down upon this and built a house with the spear becoming
the central pillar supporting the household. Their marriage gave birth to the
Kami Islands, trees, plants, grasses, sun and moon goddesses, and others
Dosojin is the Kami of the lands' fertility, and is by no means a symbol that is taken frivolously, unless in the fun, erotic wood block prints which, in Japan and also in Europe, were the enjoyment of many fun - loving couples.
MODERN CONCEPTS
In some US Gallery (I have yet to re-source this image)there is a canvas triptych with painted phalli which are immense - a look of steel. Keeping the historic notion of a jewelled spear in mind as a guide to interpreting imagery, one may see that a macro/micocosmic overview may be more efficient in understanding some design. There are works of grandeur like Torontos' City Hall, echoed by various sculptures about this element in life which is universal, but still a mystery.
I am starting this arts dialectic focused on the image of Lingam because of the drawing power of male fertility- something even the dull, pedantic scientist may still be excited about!
Art is often interpreted according to personal experience and the store of individualized associations with reference to the article, colours or forms. To better interpret the art as its own statement, meditative awareness is often encouraged by the wary arts entrepreneur, in the way that a work is discussed . That is, the controversy as to what these images mean, can, in some way, be at least solved in advance by the Zen simplicity of a Haiku, the art title, though the dealer (through literary statements about the works) gets to allow for aesthetic re-interpretation toward a sale.
The way an art piece is entitled is often a clue to understanding the contextuality to which the artist has referred the viewer.
When the artist offers the simple yet profound - solid, practical image, with plaintext title, it can be easy to assume the superficial in ones' immediate admiration (or loathing, timidity, what have you) for the subject matter. Easy to become emotionally involved with the sexual politic, or, in turn, with the sacred profundity of Lingam, whether ones' directions are East or West.
However, as Sister Wendy Beckett states:
"...if we do not stop, linger, look, wait, we shall not "see" . (also) ....Acling said: ' Journeys are often a search for relevation. In this tradition some of the greatest have been made by those keeping still.' "
Page 15, on Art and the Sacred.
Meditation illumines the internal power and action of form.
(Any piece of artwork is called a Mandala in the East, or a form on which to meditate. Mandala means, simply, "circle")
Eastern religion, especially, teaches that the form of the world is an illusion, and Western religion, in turn, converts the minutiae of worldly existence into the Alphabet of the Lord, expressed in The Holy Bible as:
The sacredness of Lingam in one American modern work, on canvas, is interpreted by the artist as male form toned as if made of steel, or white gold.
Only the artist, whose travels help to unravel the crumbling nails and bricks of yesteryear, or who hears the Word which travels within that hadronic "Vine" upon which we ..'are the branches', will have seen the geophysical reality of "Dildo Head", ( a large island projection in Nova Scotia, Canada ) or its more antique equivalent, where it has fully crystallized, to become a jewelled, miraculous lockyer in the sea.
Hail !- thou art (inexplicably) saved ( you British scientists, for instance) from the sea above you, and the starvation below it. And you, you ichthyologists or marine biologists, perhaps you have unravelled the naga-secret of the jewel in the lotus.
The lotus flower, incidentally, has been used traditionally in Buddhism to denote the lingam principle, among other symbolic references. |
 There is a small reference to the ocean-going nature of the beast in a woodcut from Japanese 18th century comic illustrations. While the author of the work it is shown in has pointed out penis forms around the dragon boat, he has not referred to the idea of blossoming kelp, nor the (sort-of, Yom Kippur) signifigance of the sail shown surrounded by the kelp. I feel this is a little too sensationalistic an interpretation and tend toward nature for an answer:The author writes: "The Dragon Boat compounded out of sexual emblems embodies, at a semi-humourous level, the Sino-Japanese vision of the energy of nature as essentially sexual. Against the boats' sail can be seen branching penises...."
kelp bud detail
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To explain what may be a far-flung concept from normative interpretation, I have created another work, in relation to the signifigance of Lingam, and including the concept of directive titling:
Mine is entitled: "OM MAINE piadmes hiungittur".
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nb:The image to the left has alternate text annotation saying "Wear the Shoe Backwards". This is in reference to the concepts as elaborated by Gary Zhukav in a work entitled:"The Dancing Wu Li Masters - An Overview of the New Physics"publishers: William Morrow and Co. Ltd.,1979
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