influence tracking #1: permeable membranes

{Betsy Walton}

I took an international film class in college, and that was where, in connection to the Spanish film The Spirit of the Beehive, I was first introduced to the phrase "Magic Realism." This form lets the divisions between real and imaginary, corporal and spiritual, magical and rational, loosen and almost disappear. This is very different from much of Western storytelling, where ghosts only appear in spooky stories and dreams are preceded by wavy lines to let you know that you've passed into another world. I latched onto the idea of Magic Realism right away. Perhaps it was because, especially in youth, the membrane between sleep and waking was very unclear for me. I've had blue-white fish jump in front of my face in my bedroom, have had old hags taunt me just outside of my sight. I've had dreams come true, and other dreams that have stuck with me for days and weeks and years at a time, like wisps of smoke around my head.

In visual (static, vs. filmic or performance) art, this attraction plays itself out in several ways.
Acknowledgment of a spiritual world alongside what is usually seen... where angels tread the same physical ground as mortals:

{A 15th-century icon of the Nativity of Christ, of the Novgorod school; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.}

...where heads and arms multiply:

{painter unknown... found here.}

...where people perform otherworldy tricks and flips:

{Marc Chagall Birthday, 1915. Oil on cardboard, 31 3/4 x 39 1/4" (80.6 x 99.7 cm) Museum of Modern Art}

...and one thing gracefully becomes another:

{Shahzia Sikander To Ride 2004 Ink and gouache on paper}

{Counter Reformation: Edward del Rosario}

{Tim Hawkinson Scout}

{Hieronymous Bosch}