June Flash and Booking
Hello and welcome to June Flash and Booking! As always, in order to book a session with me, please respond directly to this email or send a separate email to sevkoresh@gmail.com. Booking guidelines are in the second portion of the email body.
I’m back (?! hope I don’t jinx it) from my brain hiatus and finally have enough energy to enjoy things again! One thing aiding in my resurrection has been a book that I happened upon while combing the miscellaneous science shelves of my favorite place on earth, Book Barn (no I am not getting paid every time I mention them in a newsletter but I probably should be): Guy Murchie’s The Seven Mysteries Of Life, linked here for those who have been asking. I can’t describe Seven Mysteries as anything but a reference book- in its 600+ pages, Murchie sets out to comprehensively and succinctly explore the wondrous interconnectedness of life on earth as though he (and the reader) is looking at everything under the sun as an alien for the very first time- the topics covered range from microbial organisms to genetic code to the density of a bird’s bones to to extrasensory perception and transcendent consciousness. It is a philosophical and cosmological feat for the ages. Murchie writes about life on earth and in the cosmos with a tangible warmth and sense of humor as well as a sense of reverent romanticism- in this volume, every molecule in the known universe is the most beautiful, most important thing that ever existed. (I will say, I’ve been flipping through and taking in bite sized portions of Seven Mysteries and haven’t yet finished the whole thing, but just a disclaimer if you decide to get yourself a copy that this was a book written by some white guy published in 1978 so I can imagine there are some opinions and attitudes that haven’t aged well.) I could always stand to use the reminder that every living thing is a part which contains the whole, and the human experience of being simultaneously extremely miniscule and incomprehensibly vast is the paradoxical gift that keeps on giving. Here is an excerpt from Murchie’s end-of-book summary of his section on Omnipresence:
“Where did life begin? In the festering ooze of a primeval swamp? In a submicroscopic virus? In a stone? A star? Strictly speaking, in none of these. For, truthfully, the question is wrong. Life did not literally begin. Life is. Life is everywhere, everywhen, at least in essence, and of course it depends on your definition. Did you ever meet a living stone, a stone that stirs, that travels, that eats, that grows, heals its wounds, a stone that breeds its kind? Yes, all stones are alive, essentially, potentially; at least they move around when weather and circumstances permit, going mostly downhill, sometimes waiting centuries in a deep pool in some stream for a torrent wild enough to drive them on…
Larger mineral-like organisms also live in their patient, plodding way: dunes drift and glaciers creep, as do mountains, islands, volcanoes, and rivers- that are born in the clouds and die in the sea- and lakes and storms, all moving as is their wont, even fires on Earth and whirling spots on the Sun. In fact there is compelling evidence that the earth lives as a superorganism along with moons, planets, comets, stars, galaxies and other celestial bodies, and that, most of all, the universe itself is a growing, metabolizing supersuperBeing, in very truth alive.”
Like, come on.
Finding Murchie’s work has coincided nicely with an idea I had to include some light micrograph images of emphysemic lungs in my flash, which I have been obsessed with ever since noticing how much they mimic light micrograph scans of cross sections of aquatic invertebrates and certain coral colonies. I could say more, but I fear I’ve already pushed the limit on space- look out for emphysema below, as well as some classic triassic coral and some images from another new reference I found, “Rocks and Rock Minerals.”
Booking is first come, first served. Please respond to this email to the desired date/dates you are looking to book, the number of the flash piece you are interested in getting, and comfortable range of budget. If your desired date and/or image has already been secured, I will gladly offer some alternatives that are available. Modifying flash (zeroing in on a part of an image, extending texture to blend more seamlessly with skin, etc) is always an option! I am taking customs within the realm of the subject matter I usually deal with: found/decayed objects and relics, marine/paleobiology, geology. If it involves a textural representation of the effects of time on an object/planet or if it looks like an alien life form, I’m usually interested! NOTE: If you have a specific custom concept inspired by or similar to a piece that you’ve seen me do, feel free to inquire- however, I never ever replicate pieces which I have made before, so please do not ask me to do so.
Upon receiving an email request to secure a piece and date, I will send back an intake form with information for you on pricing, process, etc, as well as some information for me that you can fill out regarding sizing, placement, accessibility and sensory needs, etc.
OPEN DATES: June 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 24th and 27th.
AVAILABLE PIECES:
Reading Murchie's devastatingly beautiful writing on the omnipresence of living energy in our universe was a warm blanket for my brain which had grown cold and apathetic with fatigue over the last month and a half, and hopefully it can offer anyone who has continued reading this far the same renewed sense of appreciation for how miraculous life is on this beautiful material plane.
Thank you for bearing with me through yet another extremely long newsletter! Maybe I’ll get my hands on a copy of Murchie’s Music of the Spheres so that next month I can bring you my nonsensical take on the physical matter of the universe/write an unprompted essay wherein I accidentally totally butcher Pythagoreanism.
In awe and exploration,
7