Shimera by Tyler Clark Burke is better than Grizzly Man, in fact it is the best show about bear attacks I have ever seen. The protagonists are Standing Bear and Trepanation Man. Their tender narrative adventure is finely wrought, 3D, in a series of spinning glass blocks. Says the artist: These miniature cubes have become the perfect avenue for my death obsession. I love the idea of fleeting energy locked into glass--blocks which capture phantasms forever. Their glass is my brain, with laser beams melting and displacing molecules to leave little scars as memories of heat.
I have been puzzling about the cultural myth of bear attacks for most of my life. Am I the only person who finds it somehow comforting when I hear in the news that a human has been killed by a wild animal? And if it's only me then why do we consistenly put teddy bears in babies' cribs? Tyler Clark Burke is all over this myth with her own delicate death wish. The format may be souvenir kitsch but the story is transcendent. Shimera is deft and lovely, and it is on view at Katharine Mulherin Gallery (upstairs) until July 1st.
In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt and some of his friends went on a hunting trip to Mississippi. After hours of searching, Roosevelt and his group had not come across any wild animals. Finally, the group did track down and surrounded a helpless bear. One of the guides asked the president to shoot the bear so he could win a hunting trophy. The president refused, and news reporters throughout the country spread the story of Roosevelt's kind act.
Not long after this took place, a famous cartoonist named Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon based on Roosevelt 's rescue of the bear. When a store owner in Brooklyn saw the cartoon, he decided to make toy bears to sell in his shop. He asked president Roosevelt for permission to use the name “"Teddy's Bear"” for his toys, as a reminder of the bear Roosevelt had set free.
Nowadays, everyone knows these toys as Teddy Bears, but few people know that they were named after President Theodore “"Teddy"” Roosevelt.
i have an original berryman political drawing that my grandmother received as a gift from the artist. a small drawing of the teddy bear resides in the corner near his signature and the date 1912.
Thanks Bill. I knew Teddy bears were named after Roosevelt, but I didn't know the details.
I am always on the bear's side whenever there is some story of an attack. What the hell are joggers doing in th emountains anyway? I figure we're the ones that messed up the wilderness for them so it's payback time.
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Shimera by Tyler Clark Burke is better than Grizzly Man, in fact it is the best show about bear attacks I have ever seen. The protagonists are Standing Bear and Trepanation Man. Their tender narrative adventure is finely wrought, 3D, in a series of spinning glass blocks. Says the artist: I have been puzzling about the cultural myth of bear attacks for most of my life. Am I the only person who finds it somehow comforting when I hear in the news that a human has been killed by a wild animal? And if it's only me then why do we consistenly put teddy bears in babies' cribs? Tyler Clark Burke is all over this myth with her own delicate death wish. The format may be souvenir kitsch but the story is transcendent. Shimera is deft and lovely, and it is on view at Katharine Mulherin Gallery (upstairs) until July 1st.
- sally mckay 6-20-2006 7:21 pm
i have an original berryman political drawing that my grandmother received as a gift from the artist. a small drawing of the teddy bear resides in the corner near his signature and the date 1912.
- bill 6-20-2006 9:43 pm
Thanks Bill. I knew Teddy bears were named after Roosevelt, but I didn't know the details.
- sally mckay 6-20-2006 10:51 pm
I am always on the bear's side whenever there is some story of an attack. What the hell are joggers doing in th emountains anyway? I figure we're the ones that messed up the wilderness for them so it's payback time.
- SR 6-24-2006 8:29 pm