Hello fine
CT folks!
So... holiday songs it is, eh?
I must admit I am not a huge advocate of holiday songs, I have
tended in life to favour
Hitchens'
opinion regarding the "tinny,
maddening, repetitive
ululations" that permeate the atmosphere this time of
year though, like with most things, I have become more jolly and
tolerant with age, even about that.
So saying, there are not a lot of holiday songs I can either
conjure up in their entirety nor express anything about, though while
I was looking at this riddle the absurd song 'Grandma got run over by
a reindeer' came to mind. If I'm ever going to advocate for a holiday
song, it would have to be one to so gleefully NOT take itself - or
the season - seriously.
Meanwhile, I learned a few things about reindeers:
The
reindeer is actually another name for the caribou, as it is known in the US. It is a species of
deer native to
Arctic and
Subarctic regions. This includes both resident and
migratory populations.
Reindeer have specialized noses featuring nasal
turbinate bones that dramatically increase the surface area within the
nostrils. Incoming cold air is warmed by the animal's
body heat
before entering the lungs, and water is condensed from the expired air
and captured before the deer's breath is exhaled, used to moisten dry
incoming air and possibly absorbed into the blood through the
mucous membranes.
Reindeer
hooves
adapt to the season: in the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet,
the footpads become sponge-like and provide extra traction. In the
winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof, which
cuts into the
ice and crusted
snow to keep it from slipping. This also enables them to dig down (an activity known as "cratering")
[19][20] through the snow to their favorite food, a
lichen known as
reindeer moss. The knees of many species of reindeer are adapted to produce a clicking sound as they walk.
[21] This is why they are such successful winter animals!
 |
Balla, Giacomo
Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash
1912
Oil on canvas
35 3/8 x 43 1/4 (89.9 x 109.9) |
|
As far as the piece itself, before I finally read the words of the song, I had decided on a narrative where Grandma was walking across the frozen tundra to hand Santa some cookies and milk in a glass. The reindeer, seeing Grandma approach, reacts in a fit of pique, attacks grandma, and causes the carnage of cookies & milk.
I grew inspired by contemplating the dizzying portrayals of motion of the Futurists in general, and Balla's '
Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash' (1912) in particular.
 |
| Marcel Duchamp. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 1912. Oil on canvas. 57 7/8" x 35 1/8" |
Thanks to new technological advances in photography and the cultural/moral landscape of the 'modern era' (abstract art, etc), a certain group of artists set about creating an accepted visual language of motion in art. Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" is a good first example of that style - a painting which bended the minds of many incredulous and impressionable witnesses at the 1913 New York Armory show.
According to
Tom Lubbock, upon discussing the above painting, Balla's painting is particularly striking because:
Their legs have multiple positions, indicating brisk walking. They
should be tripping along the pavement. Their bodies, on the other hand,
have only one position in the picture, so their bodies are not advancing
accordingly. If they're moving at all, it's much slower than the speed
at which their feet would seem to be carrying them.
It's an awkward sense of movement that results. The lady's bunch of
hard heels, scrumming under her skirts, promises a general trip-up. (An
apparently unnecessary group of four kick out in front). The dog,
meanwhile, gives the impression of frantic scampering. Its legs thrash
beneath a body that makes no progress at all.
In my silly sketch I managed to also show the pathos of the attack, the fall, and the descent of the milk jug and glass, to its final conclusion. Yet the bodies are mostly stationary, albeit holding dynamic, awkward poses that portray a narrative of subjugation and domination - beast against (wo)man.
Hope all have had great holidays!
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