The acquisitive instinct in me has been kicking in lately, which I think is a good thing. I’ve been working very hard for the past year or so, and focusing on more material things gives my mind a rest. It’s really all about the search: I don’t have to buy, I can just look (really)! Looking around, I get little short-lived obsessions, and right now I’m very focused on the creations of the prolific artistic partnership of Kahn/Selesnick, whose work spans decades and genres and explores a myriad of alternative historical and futuristic themes in ways that are both conceptually and visually panoramic. Be prepared to be submerged into other worlds if you check out their website or those of any of the galleries that showcase their work, most of which is way beyond my ability to acquire except, perhaps, for a few of their Green Men. When I was browsing around the online shop of the Morbid Anatomy Museum (which has quite an eclectic collection, let me assure you), I became immediately fixated on the Kahn/Selesnick calendar plates, which feature a different Green Man for each month, and then I was off on a mission in search of more.
I think I can swing one or two plates (of course I want them all) but the Green Man photographs are a bit too dear for me. I would love a few of the amazing hand-colored “souvenir” playing cards from Kahn & Selesnick’s Eisbergfreistadt (a fictitious independent city-state located on a Baltic iceberg in the 1920s) series, but they seem to be long sold out, so I suppose my only paper option is a seed pack designed by the dynamic duo for Hudson Valley Seed Library. I can frame it!
Kahn/ Selesnick “On a Flowering Path” and “The Green God” photographs @ the Carrie Haddad Gallery; Eisbergfreistadt playing cards at the Kahn/Selesnick online store; and sunflower seed pack at Hudson Valley Seed Library. More Green Men.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:51 am
I did a google image search for “green man” and got a lot of cool stuff. I have to say, I had never heard of that before,
November 4th, 2014 at 8:53 am
I’ve seen these somewhere before! The Green Man (also known as Jack-in-the-Green) is a Celtic/ Pagan mythological god – the God of the Forest. People wear him as a totem sometimes.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:55 am
Oh yes, he’s everywhere! I did a long post a couple of years back, which I should link here, I think.
November 4th, 2014 at 9:00 am
Great stuff! Maybe the connection between the Green Man and Robin Hood is as simple as the protection the Forest brings.
November 4th, 2014 at 8:54 am
I have a few lying around my house, actually.
November 4th, 2014 at 9:00 am
You can never have too many.
November 4th, 2014 at 9:33 pm
My first thought seeing these was the original “The Wicker Man” movie; the second, the offhand reference to green men in “Jane Eyre;” the third, a Kingsley Amis novel, “The Green Man,” which was actually made into a decent BBC TV film (illegitimately available on YouTube), as I describe in the attached link.
I think I need to give my mind a rest, too! 🙂
http://sillyverse.com/2013/09/22/for-once-a-video-that-does-justice-to-the-book-the-green-man/
November 4th, 2014 at 9:45 pm
Oh thanks Brian–I haven’t seen that BBC film or read the book.Must do so. I saw the Wicker Man this summer and thought it was hilarious!
November 4th, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Ah, I have to admit that when I’ve seen “The Wicker Man,” I keep asking myself, “What were they thinking?”
March 16th, 2015 at 10:18 am
Thanks for the kind words, enjoyed discovering your blog today, reminds my of my old friends blog giornali nova from sweden which i see you’ve quoted from. we’ve been thinking about reissuing the cards again if we can muster up the cash. I’ll keep you posted. friend me on face book if you like.
March 16th, 2015 at 10:35 am
Thanks, Nicholas–will do.