There was no cover to view the Kerouac exhibit. Free admission. I walked in and there was a long, long glass coffin, thin and long, very long, built for a giant with anorexia. Inside was the first half of the original script of On the Road; the first 60 feet of 120 feet, in fact, all rolled out and yellowed like toilet paper, or is that too gross an image, but why was it all in one piece or rather two pieces and who glued them together and who divided in two?
There were drawings. They looked crude. There was copying of Chinese characters in diaries (Kerouac was very interested in Buddhism). They were cruder.
The brochure cover has a side profile of Kerouac and the title
BEATIFIC SOUL:
JACK KEROUAC
ON THE ROAD
printed above his head, slanted. There is a slanted yellow dashed line running through the words and in front of Kerouac's face, meant to conjure up the image of a road, like such:
BEATIFIC SOUL:
JACK KEROUAC
ON THE ROAD
Except only the spines of "K" and "E" are yellow, not the whole letters. Also apparently it is New York Public Library, as the brochure cover tells me, not whatever I called it in the last post.
Turning the brochure over, there is very very small print at the bottom of the back:
On the cover:
Allen Ginsberg, photographer. Detail from: "Jack Kerouac Avenue A across from Thompkins [sic] Park 1953 New York, his handsome face looking into barroom door-This is best profile of his intelligence as I saw it Sacred, time of Subterraneans writing." Silver gelatin print, October(?) 1953.
There are more, but that is the part that got me, perhaps my favorite part of the exhibit: the fine print on the back of the brochure.
If I cannot be a Kerouac (and I cannot), then perhaps I can be Kerouac's friend and take his pictures and give them ridiculous titles. I think that would make me happy.
Edwin Land, photographer. Detail from: "Mike W. in bar, his Buddha smile disappearing like his hand disappearing into a woman's purse--This is best picture of him without his guitar, unarmed, unshielded, not in costume, time of KL jam and pudding and blueberries dressing." Digital print, November(?) 2007.
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be·a·tif·ic /ˌbiəˈtɪfɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled
–adjective
1. bestowing bliss, blessings, happiness, or the like: beatific peace.
2. blissful; saintly: a beatific smile.
[Origin: 1630–40; (< F) < LL beātificus making happy, equiv. to beāt(us) (ptp. of beāre; be- bless + -āt(us) -ate1) + -i- -i- + -ficus -fic]
—Related forms
be·a·tif·i·cal·ly, adverb
—Synonyms 2. serene, exalted, angelic, rapturous.
4 comments:
when you were describing the pic of mike as in the one where you go,… 'Edwin Land, photographer. Detail from: "Mike W. in bar, his Buddha smile disappearing like his hand disappearing into a woman's purse--This is best picture of him without his guitar, unarmed, unshielded, not in costume, time of KL jam and pudding and blueberries dressing." Digital print, November(?) 2007.'
did you mean the pic for the post on the 21st of november 2007?
Depends on whether Mike wants his face known or not. Hah. Mike?
i think yur blog is very well written i do check in from time to time. however i happen to know the person who took that photograph hahaa
I find this funny because >I< don't have any idea who the photographer is! Or probably I've forgotten. Crap.
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