High-Class Modern Amusements

An outdoor immersive art exhibit presented by Donna Pardue
and The Noosphere Collective

One night only, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, 6 to 9 pm
Carnival barker performance at 6:45
Free
Street parking
Rain date Nov. 23

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"Take away the shame and the guilt and there'd be no Hamlet." —D. H. Lawrence.

A carnival barker lures the crowd into a sideshow of old, shadowy emotions.
Stroll the Midway of Malaise!
It's always met with great hoorays!
Here you'll see startling displays.
Of emotions through the ages.

Artist Statement

Emotions, or passions of the soul, have been studied by Plato, Agrippa, Descartes, Darwin and Freud. Yet no universally accepted theory of emotion exists. To understand something, it helps to be able to make a model of it. Try making a model of Proust's "oceanic joy."

According to Plato, wonder is the prime emotion. All others are nuances of human complexity: French ennui, German schadenfreude or Norwegian forelsket. Albrecht Durer depicted Melancholy as an introspective winged genius accompanied by an emaciated dog. The caricature of the artist as a melancholic, mad genius driven by emtion has been reinforced by the story of Van Gogh and exaggerated by a pragmatic American culture. In such a culture, with a basic distrust of emotion and introspection, artists, musicians and poets are allowed, even expected to express emotion in their work, though they may still be looked at askance like the townsfolk look at a carny.

While some of these works are funny and self-explanatory, there's one that's more nuanced. In the piece titled World Famous Hunger Artist (pictured below), three of my favorite artworks are referenced.

One is the Franz Kafka story, A Hunger Artist. While it might call to mind the old cliche of the starving artist, it's different than that. The story depicts a once-famous, proud, perfectionist artist, literally caged, whose practice is starvation. The perfection of his art means his death. He resents that the audience and the official watchers don't recognize his achievement or authenticity. They assume he's a fake and intentionally look away in order to give him a chance to cheat, but he would never cheat and is insulted that anyone would even consider that possibility.

In Melencolia I, an engraving by Albrecht Durer (1514), an emaciated, sleeping dog lays near a seated angel or winged genius of artistic inspiration. At that time, the guardian spirit of inspiration for an artist was called a genius. But this guardian angel, or genius, with her head resting on her hand, is bereft of inspiration. In my piece, the winged genius is notably absent.

The Lion for Real, a poem by Allen Ginsberg (1958), depicts a starving lion stalking a poet, intending to eat him. The lion may represent god or divine inspiration — his muse, his winged genius. Ginsberg's poet frantically avoids being consumed by its fearsome power, but ultimately waits for it to return to eat him.

These works depict artists at odds with themselves, their art and the muse. One is metaphorically and physically caged, one has a desolate muse and one is being stalked by his own muse. These works are conversations with creative hunger and longing, a longing for something ineffable and unnameable, just beyond reach.

The Noosphere Collective is a multidisciplinary creative group based in Austin, Texas led by Donna Pardue, a multidisciplinary artist living in Austin. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows, primarily in Texas. She was the co-founder and co-curator of Epitome Institute in San Antonio, under her nom de guerre, Alice Thud, III. She has a BFA in Painting. Her work has been featured in Tribeza magazine, Out on the Porch with Jim Swift, and Ver Para Creer on Univision. She is also a musician. Her instrument is 3 row button accordion. Leroy Dujour is an actor, theatre technician, visual artist and musician living in Austin.