March 11: Unlearning the Darkness
♫ Music:
Day 15 - Wednesday, March 11
Rung #9: ON MALICE & THE REMEMBRANCE OF WRONGS
Scriptures: Isaiah 58:9-11; Hebrews 8:12
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, “Here I am.” If you remove the yoke from your midst--the pointing of the finger and all malicious talk, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. [The Lord says] I will have mercy on their evil doing, and remember their sins no more.
Poetry:
Juliek's Violin
by Cyrus Cassells
Even here?
In this snowbound barrack?
Suddenly, the illicit sounds
of Beethoven’s concerto
erupt from Juliek’s smuggled violin,
suffusing this doomsday shed
teeming with the trampled
and the barely alive,
realm of frostbite and squalor,
clawing panic and suffocation—
Insane, God of Abraham,
insanely beautiful:
a boy insisting
winter cannot reign forever,
a boy conveying his brief,
bounded life
with a psalmist’s or a cantor’s
arrow-sure ecstasy—
One prison-striped friend
endures to record
the spellbinding strings,
the woebegone—
and the other,
the impossible Polish fiddler,
is motionless by morning,
his renegade instrument
mangled
under the haggard weight
of winter-killed, unraveling men.
Music at the brink of the grave,
eloquent in the pitch dark,
tell-true, indelible,
as never before,
as never after—
Abundance,
emending beauty,
linger in the listening,
truth-carrying soul of Elie,
soul become slalom swift,
camp shrewd, uncrushable;
abundance, be here, always here,
in this not-yet-shattered violin.
UNLEARNING THE DARKNESS
The first time I saw Lynn Aldrich’s Unlearning Darkness from a distance, I assumed it was a painting of a color gradient. Several months later, I saw it again from close up and realized I was wrong. It was not a painting or a gradient, but layer upon layer of velvet strips arranged in undulating waves of color. I found myself arrested by the piece’s mystery and subtle strangeness, surprised by the furtive glimmers of light refracting off the irregularities and uneven surfaces, especially the light emanating from what, at first glance, had looked like a black block of fabric at the base. In actuality, it was comprised of layers of different blacks and brown, punctuated by violet and purple. These punctuations and the play of light across the material deconstruct the appearance of a gradient, effectively entwining the piece into a chromatic ecosystem. The result defies the kind of pure, cool, airbrushed gradients emblematic of Ed Ruscha, Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kaufmann, and James Turrell, to name a few of Aldrich’s Los Angeles peers. Aldrich’s work revels in the sumptuous material incarnation of these colors, their relation to one another heightened by their composition and proximities.
In 2019, after a month of intense fatigue, persistent swelling in my lymph nodes, and a mounting pressure in my chest, I began to wonder if I had cancer. The mere thought of it felt paralyzing, like watching a black hole yawning open before me. Several months later, my fears were confirmed and I entered that vertiginous universe with its batteries of tests, the omni-present sickness and fatigue that chemotherapy precipitates, and sometimes-smothering weight of uncertainty. And yet, God’s voice and presence suffused and interrupted this journey in ways that were imperceptible from a distance. Like discovering climbing holds on what appears to be a sheer rock face.
It is only under the shepherding of God, immersed in the scorching darkness of the shadow of death, that I have begun to unlearn the logics of fear and despair. The shadow and the shepherd must both be present. In the face of unmitigated terror, my semblance of God is emended by the real God. Like Jacob, wrestling with the angel in the dark; like a Beethoven concerto’s impassioned struggle between soloist and orchestra, by turns opposing, by turns cooperating, even as they are being woven together. This is the sort of “emended beauty” found in the cleft of horror. For me, it is a reminder that I am being refined—not incinerated.
When Jesus prophesied His own public execution, Peter tried to censure him; it was anathema to their understanding of the Messiah—there could be no silver lining in their leader’s destruction. However, Christ’s resurrection was a victory for humanity that dwarfed the political liberation His disciples had been angling for. It is Christ’s victory over death that ensures that within the horrors of darkness we remain tethered to His love and peace. Through “trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or danger, or sword… In all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!” (Romans 8:35, 37) Through the revelation of Christ by the Holy Spirit, we experience the love of God while we pass through a world that remains in the throes of sin and death.
A neo-platonic Christianity seeks to avoid darkness. We often quote Isaiah 58:11 to imply that the light erases darkness. But the literal translation says that light rises in the darkness. Cassell captures this sense movingly with his imagery of the Polish fiddler—his music is “eloquent in the pitch dark/tell-true, indelible … Abundance/emending beauty.” The victory of Christ is more subversive and complete than we dare to imagine. It is an existential concerto, wherein we wrestle and through which we discover His love and learn to walk in His ways even as we pass through the thick and terrible shadow.
Prayer:
Lord, I surrender my understanding, teach me your ways. Shepherd me in the time of darkness.
Amen
Christian Gonzalez Ho
Writer, Designer, and Cultural Theorist
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25
About the Art:
Velvet Painting: Unlearning Darkness
Lynn Aldrich
2016
Velvet, velveteen, painting on a wood panel
24” x 18” x 1”
As the artist explains, “This work is from a series of “paintings” constructed from strips of cut velvet adhered to a wood panel. Not actually using paint, the varied colors I discover and purchase in the Los Angeles Fabric District become my palette. From darkest to palest, the blue, red, and yellow shades are arranged to move upward, slowly forming a revelation gained through simple but labored effort by hand.” The metaphor of progressive transformation is especially powerful here. Though the title evokes the kitschy connotations of "velvet paintings," this object that possesses a kind of counterfeit value displays the images of a glorious sunrise, marking the beginning of a new day with a fresh start.
About the Artist:
Lynn Aldrich is a Los Angeles artist who employs meticulous craftsmanship to transform common consumer materials into artworks that reflect what she views as the “excess, spectacle and artificiality” of Los Angeles culture. Often filled with humor and playfulness, many pieces have an undeniable subtext of ecological concern, accompanied by a spiritual longing. Her sculptures usually mimic phenomena in nature through artificial means; water and waves, flora and fauna, skies and galaxies are all rendered in plastic, vinyl, fake fur or foam. This visual and conceptual tension between the natural and synthetic reminds us of the precarious condition of the human-made world and our own temporality. Aldrich received a BA in English Literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a BA in Fine Art from California State University, Northridge; and an MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. Aldrich has exhibited widely and internationally. She received the J. Paul Getty Individual Artist Fellowship (2000), a United States Artists Project Award (2013), and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). Her work is included in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Neiman Marcus, Inc. Dallas, TX; Neuberger Berman, Inc., New York, NY; and the New York Public Library.
https://www.edwardcella.com/artist/Lynn_Aldrich/biography/
http://www.denkgallery.com/artists/lynn-aldrich
https://lynnaldrich.com/home.html
About the Music:
“Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: II. Larghetto” from the album Beethoven Violin Concerto
About the Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven’s personal life was marked by a struggle against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life, when he was unable to hear. He is considered the crucial transitional figure connecting the Classical and Romantic ages of Western music. His musical talent was obvious at an early age and, at age 21, he moved to Vienna to study piano and composition with composer Joseph Haydn and vocal composition with Antonio Salieri. During his life he composed nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, thirty-two piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, two masses, and the opera Fidelio. Other works, like Für Elise, were discovered after his death and are also considered historic musical achievements. Beethoven's legacy is characterized by his innovative compositions, including avant-garde combinations of vocals and instruments, and by the way he widened the scopes of sonatas, symphonies, concertos, and quartets.
https://www.biography.com/musician/ludwig-van-beethoven
About the Performers:
Itzhak Perlman, Philharmonia Orchestra and Carlo Maria Giulini
Itzhak Perlman (b. 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and music teacher. Beloved for his charm and humanity, as well as his talent, he is treasured by audiences throughout the world. Born in Israel in 1945, Mr. Perlman completed his initial musical training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. He came to New York and soon was propelled into the international stage with an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. Following his studies at the Juilliard School in New York, Mr. Perlman won the prestigious Leventritt Competition in 1964, which led to a worldwide career. Since then, Perlman has appeared with every major orchestra and in recitals and festivals around the world. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has been awarded 16 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards. One of Mr. Perlman's proudest achievements was his collaboration with film score composer John Williams in Steven Spielberg's Academy Award winning film Schindler's List in which he performed the violin solos. His presence on stage, on camera and in personal appearances of all kinds speaks eloquently on behalf of the handicapped and disabled, and his devotion to their cause is an integral part of his life.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060619064907/http://www.concertartist.info/biog/PER001.html
http://www.itzhakperlman.com/
The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Founded in 1945, as a recording orchestra, today the Philharmonia uses the latest digital technology to reach new audiences with symphonic music. Since 2008, the Philharmonia has been led by Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. Santtu-Matias Rouvali will take over for Salonen as Principal Conductor in the 2021/22 season.The Philharmonia is a registered charity that relies on funding from a wide range of sources to deliver its programming and is generously supported by Arts Council England. The Philharmonia has had many celebrated players in its ranks and has commissioned more than 100 compositions. It gives more than 160 concerts a year, tours widely, and from its inception has been known for its many recordings.
https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/
The eminent Italian conductor, Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005), studied viola and composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and played under the guidance of conductors Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter. Later he decided to become a conductor and studied under Bernadino Molinari. Starting in 1946, Carlo Maria Giulini conducted for the RAI and he took over its Symphony Orchestra in Milan when it was founded in 1950. In 1948 he conducted his first opera, La Traviata by Verdi. In 1955, he conducted in the USA for the first time, and in 1960 he went on a major tour of Japan. In 1969, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra appointed him as its principal guest conductor and in 1973 he became the director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (until 1976). From 1978 to 1984 he was the successor to conductor Zubin Mehta as the musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Maria_Giulini
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Giulini-Carlo-Maria.htm
About the Poet:
Cyrus Cassells (b. 1957) is an American poet, translator, film critic, actor, and professor. He earned a BA from Stanford University. Cassells is the author of The Mud Actor (1982), winner of the 1981 National Poetry Series competition; Soul Make a Path through Shouting (1994), nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the William Carlos William Award; Beautiful Signor (1997), winner of the Lambda Literary Award; More Than Peace and Cypresses (2004); and The Crossed-Out Swastika (2012). His writing has appeared in Ploughshares, Indiana Review, AGNI, The Literati Quarterly, Boston Review, and elsewhere. Cassells’ poetry examines personal encounters with history, love and eroticism, and suffering and violence. Cassells has held fellowships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has received the Lannan Literary Award, the Peter I.B. Lavan Younger Poet Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. Cassells teaches in the MFA program at Texas State University, San Marcos.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/cyrus-cassells
About the Devotion Writer:
Christian Gonzalez Ho
Writer, Designer, and Cultural Theorist
Christian Gonzalez Ho is a cultural theorist, writer, and designer. He holds an M.A. in Architecture from Harvard University. Christian's work focuses primarily on the way art and architecture relate to the epistemologies of a culture. Christian and his wife, Christina Gonzalez Ho (HLS ’14), live in Los Angeles. In 2018, they wrote Los Angeles: Mestizo Archipelago (Pinatubo Press), an ethnography of the Los Angeles contemporary art world and its relationship to faith and spirituality. Christian and Christina are also the creators and directors of Estuaries, an experiment in cultivating space for young Christian thinkers to rigorously consider their faith in contemporary society, encounter God, and reimagine the structures and possibilities of their disciplines.