The Original Organic Abstraction
Saturday, May 13th, 2017: 2017 Trips, Indigenous Cultures, Mojave Desert, Regions, Road Trips, Society.
In my earliest childhood, I was surrounded by the organic abstraction of midcentury textile patterns:
Midcentury designer Ray Eames with her “dot pattern”
Another Eames textile design
Another Eames textile design
Another Eames textile design
When I started experimenting with Sumi ink on paper in 2011, organic abstraction flowed spontaneously from my brush:
Max Carmichael, “Signs of Life #2”, Sumi ink on paper, 18×24, 2011
Then, a few days ago, I visited perhaps the most interesting rock art in the Mojave desert, in a lush canyon oasis on the sacred mountain of the Colorado River tribes, where their creator god began his journey down the river. During my visit, I encountered the kitsch of white peoples’ religion, I picked up their abandoned plastic trash, and I convinced an Anglo family to stop desecrating the site with their loud pop music.
The sacred mountain
Petroglyphs extend halfway up the boulders on each side of the mouth of the canyon, on both front and back
“Sacred Area: Take a moment to listen to the land.” So the young Anglo couple with kids entered the canyon with their radio blaring Top 40 hits.
Soon to become toads…and the cycle repeats
A lot of good meat on that chuckwalla’s tail!
Water, stone, and time
Sphinx moth on thistle
White people honor their god on the sacred mountain with Christmas ornaments in springtime