{sunday.second look} five | twenty seven | two ought twelve

Do not envy me my task when it is time to pick a selection for the {sunday.second look} feature. I know I sound like a broken record (I vaguely recall using that phrase before as well). I could make an argument for every picture I’ve posted in the past week to be on this list. Said it before. I’m sure I’ll say it again. Until sometime, someone will write me a note and tell me “Enough, Knox!” And I will realize he or she is absolutely correct.

Let’s see … this week in Pixels … actually, this week in Knox … well, remember that date I mentioned last Sunday? I got a text message from her Wednesday informing me that she was not really “available.” I wrote back “I love getting blown off via text.” She wrote back, “Well, it is your artistic medium of choice.” (Emphasis mine.) So there you have it. Maybe I dodged the bullet. Guess I’ll never know for sure.

I have felt guilty all week about not writing about last weeks pictures as I usually do. I will endeavor to return to that post in the next day or so. My apologies.

Other than that, it was another stellar week with all the beautiful work coming in. Time to start thinking about a new show. One last word: I see over on Facebook one of same old suspects from the original old guard posted that repetitive old lament that won’t go away,”Can’t we just call it photography?” My response: If all you are doing is Instagram, Camera Plus, or Hipstamatic, sure, call it photography ’til the cows come home (and they will). Or come over to Pixels and see what the visionaries are doing within an entirely new medium: iphonic art.”

So, with no further ado, this week’s {second look} picks, in no particular order, beyond alphabetical by title.

• 20 Weeks ~ Susan Thompson. This simply a bold and vibrant celebration of motherhood. More specifically, of womanhood. Swollen breasts and tummy, a new life clearly on the way. I love her belly-button and the curling cascade of red hair from the top of the picture.
• A Day At The Beach ~ Dax Curnew. Ghosts and fractals. A blurred figure in motion toward us, a woman. Disembodied fragments of fabric—clothing? And then the figure in the distance with the umbrella. I keep looking at this picture.
• and what if I would? ~ Rosanna Cappiello. This is such a strange image, so sweet and sexy. Pretty feet with dark nail polish. The hem of a flimsy nighty. Rosanna has layered in stairs, a tiled floor, and what looks like stacked chairs in the background.
• At Sea ~ Carol Ste. Marie. Beautiful composition. I like the jutting brown rocks in the foreground and the stripe of whitewater beach break at shore’s edge. Boats staggered to the nearly invisible horizon, from where the clouds fill the sky, finally finding definition and some blue sky at the top of the frame.
• Bondage ~ Edyta Lipinska. There is no mistaking a picture from Edyta Lipinska. Her work is powerful, dark, erotic, unyielding. Often just the slightest bit of humor, but it’s easy to miss.
• Carousel ~ David Schuster. A beautiful shot of a merry-go-round horse. The hyper-saturation is perfectly done. But what really throws me is: what is the yellow fabric in the upper-right? It looks like a woman’s bathing suit hanging from above. And the sidewalk outside is another disorienting element, as well as the cloudy blue-sky in the upper left. The more I look at this, the more baffled I get. Art can do that.
• Charmed ~ Kris Torma. If I had to guess, I would say this is one of Kris’s daughters, which he then transformed into this magical painting.
• clamatis ~ Johnny Eckó. This is the problem and it kind of  bothers me, but not enough to stop writing: I don’t know enough about art, nor do I have the vocabulary to adequately discuss much of the work that appears on Pixels. Johnny started with an escalator. I can see that. To make it into real Art, he added the bird (bad joke, I know, referencing Portlandia.) I love the little organizer with the necktie and other flotsam in the slots, the alarm clocks for eyes, the layering, the subtle gradation in color in the shading, the bright red “skull”, and, of course, the bird. And the escalator. Magnificent!
• faith ~ Elizabeth Grilli. Mysterious and enigmatic. Fossil transmutation into soft living flesh.
• Heathen II ~ Marie Matthews. I have to be honest. I don’t like this guy. I don’t like looking at him. I don’t like pictures with people wearing masks. I don’t like his tattoo. I don’t want to know him. That said, I am curious as to the story behind the image. Where was this taken? And who is he? What is he doing? I really like how Marie has handled the color, the saturation, the vignetting: all really well done. And it is a very strong shot to begin with. It certainly evokes a reaction in yours truly, hence worth a second look, for sure!
• Morning ~ Pirmin Föllmi. Pirmin has such a wonderful way with these beautiful pictures, wild flowers in the sun. While I am reminded of the biblical verse, “Witness the lilies of the field: they toil not, neither do they spin,” these flowers look like they are dancing, and all is right in the world.
• Nonconformity ~ Clint Cline. One of Clint’s stranger assemblages. An office building, hint of a woman’s figure in the upper right window. Cheap conference-room chairs in the next window. Emerging from a wind-blasted primordial rock formation containing the imprint of a stylized hand. A wonderful juxtapositon.
• Portrait ~ Damian De Souza. If this weren’t so funny, it would be scary. Simply incredible. I’m out of words at this point.
• Red ~ Jessy Menchaca. Love the intense red lips, how the color spills across her face, and is echoed under her chin on the right side of her face. This is night trade: the kind where you get more than you bargained for.
• Sea tresses ~ Terin Christensen. I love the simple abstract flowing blues here. So much is suggested: tilled soil, tree trunks and entwined branches, a wave in the sea, cloud and sky, a woman’s tresses, flowing tides. Lovely palette of blues, greens, turquoise, white.
• Sorcerous ~ Karen Divine. I love the expression on the woman’s face, like “Oh no! Not again!” Yes, I am sorry, dear, you are trapped in the Divine Universe now. Don’t worry: as strange as it may seem, it is a friendly place, populated with odd beings, enchanting creatures, and filled with delightful surprises and mysterious machines. And magic. You will like it here.
• Venice Canals ~ Michele Reiner. This is the closest we are going to get to a street shot this week. In fact, I just realized, we don’t have a dog or a cat in the collection this week, which was sort of an unwritten rule, I think. Michele sent in a wonderful collection of Hollywood landmarks, which you can see here, so instead of a street shot, we have a canal shot, taken in Venice Beach, California. I love the simple romanticism of the image. Great composition, accentuated with the desaturation of the image: boat, bridge, house on the left. Wonderful reflection in  gently rippling waters.
• Zen Movement ~ Roger Guetta. Pure poetry, haiku in zeroes and ones, the digital realm made alive.