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12 Painting Sketches

by Sandpiper Parade

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1.
This is Me (Banksy's What You Lookin' At) 05:02
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This is me Looking at your camera Looking at me What do you see? All-seeing eye CCTV Do you find my conversations interesting? If I say "bomb" "revolution" "allahu akbar" How long you gonna keep that tape? God is watching us He sits in a pale cubicle Pasty on his lips He watches the people pass by On a couple hundred screens Best be on your best behavior Best not be vandalizing Art is staring you in the face The faceless man with a can of paint The faceless man before the screen The black batons of the trudging beat The faceless in the heavenlies
2.
Women are People, Not Just Bodies (Tatyana Fazlalizadeh) 03:12
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Cat call a cat Boy what you looking at? Your sister's an ass Or at least that's all you see Oh ladies, ladies Please be more than your metonymies Painted face? Lashing eyes? Chasing skirts? A smooth leg? Two plump coconuts? A shadow behind a man? I know you're so much more than these A helper? A supporting character? Oh paper dolls And runway queens You were made For so much more Than being beheld //You are whole You are woman And you don't need me to tell you so// That's just something you should know You were made to shout You were made to sing You were made to change the world You were made to lead You were made to fight You were made to compete Basically, although the world's not your story The actor is you This is your stage And F*CK the male gaze You do you
3.
War is Sexy (Shepard Fairey's Grenade) 02:50
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You've got a grenade Where your head should be You're a danger To this family Stroke your neck Kiss your steel lips War is sexy baby Until we're all little bits But maybe we deserve it.
4.
Mona Lisa's Got an RPG (Banksy) 01:26
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Mona Lisa's got an RPG Metal blaring on her Mp3 Mona Lisa's got an RPG And she's after me Crooked cop gonna clean up the streets Whitewash 'em with the gas grenades Mona Lisa's got an RPG And she's after me What goes on behind that smile? Did you get tired of being looked at? Whose helicopters are you gonna bring down? Who exactly gave you that? She's a real stinger that Mona Lisa Float like a butterfly Sting like a revolutionary (jihadi?)
5.
Headscarf (Shepard Fairey) 02:53
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I let my headscarf slip down a little Like I did when I was a girl Momma said you better act like a lady And you best not be walking alone I'm not alone with my can of paint And the fire burning inside Let them come, let them call me a criminal You can't take the freedom inside Oh you won't take the fire from my eyes I'm coming for you
6.
Japanese Bridge (Monet) 02:59
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The world is round I saw it in the outline of the rails Intercepted and interrupted By lilies and ripples The world is now A river of impressions floating by Green and blue Black or white It's not so easy for my eyes The world is color The world is sight The world is image in eye The world is outside And there aren't So many lines We bleed into canvas and sky
7.
Rothko's Reds 02:56
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Flushed cheeks Forest fire Drops of blood All this rage Poppy petals Embarrassment Hushed tones A blush of jealousy //The emotion overwhelms me// Lava runs through Rusty veins Bloodshot eyes And oily flames //Clouds of smoke And pain// The paint betrays me Eyes enflaming Caught between The shame and bloom The room and womb And the catacomb
8.
Gerhard Richter 02:52
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There's a picture behind this picture But you can't see it I'm just gonna give you A little glimpse A hill far away Verdant, sunny But the rest of this canvas Is just grey This city poured concrete on the flowers The TV screen tossed cinder blocks Concussing up my mind A blade of grass strains through the sidewalk They'll fix that grass This is Germany There's a place that I'm trying to remember But ego and performance, desire and pride Have all cluttered up that pretty picture I wonder how much of me is left inside Oh I wonder how much of me is left inside
9.
Sunflowers (Van Gogh) 01:52
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Insect eyes Warm august light There are swirls in the fields And the sky Or maybe just my eyes Open face Exploding shell Yellowed mind Hay lines Mirage-like Mirage light
10.
Battersea Reach (Whistler) 03:50
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Oh the blue twilight There's fire in the stars Sky and sea meld with Grey night And the heaviness of fog I do not know I do not know But I reach I cannot see I cannot see So clearly A gull calls Laughing at my sorrow The tug's horns echo 'Cross the bay I am lost in the blue I am lost in the blue There is no black or white Just the taste of salt on tongue A heart echoing inside Oh the blue twilight Our eyes will not adjust There's a fire in the stars Or maybe just a streetlight Heavy blue wound with smoke Lays heavy on my chest They call this place a harbor But I can't find no rest
11.
Waterfall (MC Escher) 02:08
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The water flows up to the fall The wheel spins perpetual We're going nowhere The water flows down to the tip top tap We've been here before Human Nature defies the laws of physics
12.
Yosemite Valley (Albert Bierstadt) 02:42
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Follow the line Vanishing out of sight A focal point beyond the river Behind the mountains The world invites you in Follow the light Into the unknown The world is inviting you in There's a glory in the hills There's a shine if you can catch it The world invites you in And it's warm and unknown And breathtaking Further up and further in Between the lines and light The grass between your fingertips The wind inside your lungs Further up and further in Come interscend

about

CLICK ON EACH TRACK INDIVIDUALLY TO SEE THE PAINTINGS THAT EACH SONG IS RESPONDING TO

This album is a series of songs written as responses to paintings, painters, and art. As a great lover of art and art museums, this baby is one of my favorite series of songs I've written and done. The combination of freedom and limitation that comes with responding to a single image was awesome. I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I enjoyed making them.

credits

released August 6, 2016

Many thanks to Katie Joy Nellis and Karolina Kieraitė, my writing group without which this songs wouldn't exist.

The use of these paintings is allowed and protected since I am presenting the work in order to respond to it critically and creatively through song. Some of them are under copyright, and many are public domain, however that doesn't affect my use of them, because they themselves are not being used for marketing and are not themselves the product that I have created, but their inclusion is essential for the understanding of the songs I have created..

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James Metelak Kyrgyzstan

Indie-folk Acoustic Singer-Songwriter Multilingual World Traveler Music That is Sometimes to God, and sometimes not.

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