An obscure deity “The Book Man”

24/01/2014

Blog entry 7:

After creating preliminary visual responses for my interpretations of what I consider to be the two main aspects of The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (see blog entry 6 for narrator), I have decided to focus on another character in the short story of particular interest to myself, “The Book Man”.

All imagery in this blog done by myself is based on the Book Man charater in the short story The Library of Babel byJorge Luis Borges. Futher reading - the short story The Library of Babel (follow link below):
http://www.thecriticalpoint.net/index_files/libraryofbabel.pdf
(Borges, 1944)

The Book Man is described in the story as somewhat of an idol, yet those that inhabit the Library (universe) are unsure as to whether he actually exists or not, similarly to how todays residents of Earth are constantly arguing over the origins of religion or God or lack there of. This mysterious character is rumoured by the inhabitants to have found a book, which contains the origins, meaning of all other books and their location; this is seemingly a metaphor for the meaning of life or similar such concepts (however others will have a different take on this).  Inhabitants such as the Narrator have been searching for this man and the divine book through a series of arduous and unending methods, by reading catalogues (which may not be truthful) to find another catalogue, which leads to another. It would seem that being as the Library is infinite, only by pure chance or luck would someone ever come across The Book Man and where he is inhabited (if anywhere at all).

As aforementioned in blog entry 5, I am particularly interested in religious paintings and I feel that this particular aspect of the story can be illustrated in such a way that it will link to this.

This blog entry contains illustrations and sketches by myself and referenced artist work. All imagery in this blog is my own and soul property of myself Helen – Marie Kelly unless referenced otherwise. 

The Book Man in the Crimson Hexagon by myself, acrylic and poster paint on acrylic paper

I have begun quite simply by depicting the Book Man as a young man, with a similar hair style (the fasion of the library in my depiction) as the Narrator. I have used red and black tones to suggest the lighting of the crimson hexagon, where I imadgen him to reside. A mysterious hand is offering the book man a small book, as in the text

The image is rather more dark and menacing than I originally intended, however I feel a dark approach to illustrating this text may be fitting. I am very interested in creating illustrations with a dark atmousphere or subject matter.

The Book Man as an Idol (or false idol) by myself, acrylic and pro marker with biro on acrylic paper

Christ on the cross by Carl Hendrich Bloch (1870) Museum of  Natural History, Denmark

This is a more experimental image inspired strongly by A Study of Icarus by Antony Micallef (see blog entry 5), to create the above imagery I have used a quicker, more expressive style to apply tonal paint. I have then added Pro Marker over the dried paint and in the shape I have drawn more geometrically in pencil. Although I do not particularly like the image as a whole, I am fond of how the lighter areas of the paint have been affected by the Pro Marker and have learnt how in the future I can use this technique to add subtle hints of colour to lighter areas of tonal paint. Similarly I could use a colour overlay on Adobe Photoshop and lower the opacity, however I like to ensue that the hand rendered element of my work is not lost by over using digital programmes.

This image has been created to suggest how the Book Man is viewed by the Librarians as an idol. I have used association to convey my message by using a well known idolised stance and symbol of Jesus Christ on the Cross (see below). As is apparent when comparing my image and the many renditions of Jesus being crucified, (see the above image Christ on the Cross by Bloch) I have used artistic licence to change a number of attributes: The most obvious of which is that this character is not on a cross but rather a hexagon, this is due to the hexagonal shape being an imperative attribute to the library and it's inhabitants. I have also changed the crown on the figures head to not that of thorns but to set of linked hexagons. The nails in the figures palms and feet are also a hexagonal shape.

Hand of God giving Knowledge to Adam
(Rendition of Michelangelo Hand of God Giving Life to Adam)
by myself, Tea and watercolour on acrylic paper

Hand of God Giving Life to Adam by Michelangelo (1508 - 1512)
 Sistine Chapel, Vatican

The image I have created as shown above is a rendition of Michelangelo's master piece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I have changed a few key elements of the original to adhere to that which I imagine to fit in with the Library of Babel, examples of this are as follows: Instead of touching hands God is giving Adam a book, hence the change of title from Had of God Giving Life to Adam to Hand of God Giving Knowledge to Adam. I have also changed background elements to simple hexagon shapes.

I have decided to use tea stain as a medium to create this image, as I feel it gives an old or worn feel to a piece of work, it has also dictated the colour palette I have used to subtly compliment the background. I have used water with tea bags in with the watercolour to ensure that the colours are kept similar throughout. I am now interested in creating thicker painted areas on tea stained or brown backgrounds. In later blog entries, I intend to experiment with this and look into other practitioners which may have used a restricted colour palette.