Instadeath: Cloister Graveyard in the Snow
7:00 AMInstadeath
Cloister Graveyard in the Snow
Curated by Alex McDonald
 |
| Caspar David Friedrich, Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, 1819 |
*Curator’s Note: The
paintings within this collection were taken by the author to be artwork for the
album covers of a fictional metal band called Instadeath. The following is Instadeath
fan mail.
Dear Instadeath,
I cried out in sheer joy
when I heard your new album Cloister was
being released soon. I then almost sacrificed a goat to your new nihilist god
when I heard you were using Caspar David Friedrich’s Cloister Graveyard in the Snow. You’re gonna think I’m odd, but if
there are two things I love in this world they are good metal and a good
Friedrich painting.
I know you probably won’t
read my letter read because its fan mail. You get thousands of letters a day,
but I am writing with purpose. Your career has mimicked my high school career
in art history. Your career has also produced great metal, which I love any day
of the week. You see, I have been on this two year journey to combine the art
history and metal (completely against my art history teacher’s wishes) in our
class blog site. The first blog post I ever did was on Friedrich’s Cloister Ruins at Eldena. The reason I
picked Cloister Ruins at Eldena was
because I thought the house below the ruins looked like the shack on the cover
of Black Sabbath’s debut album, Black
Sabbath (1970). The color scheme certainly looks the same. Since that blog
post, Friedrich has been my favorite painter. Maybe it’s because he was the
first painter I ever looked at, maybe it’s because I like solitude and nature,
but, nonetheless, no other painter has captivated me like Friedrich has.
I mentioned in that
first blog post how Friedrich inserted the edifice of an old monastery into
three of his paintings (Cloister Ruins at
Eldena, Abbey in an Oak Grove,
and Cloister Graveyard in the Snow).
This was his favorite building to paint and these have been my favorite
paintings to discuss. As of now, I have written posts on all three of the
monastery pieces (this letter will be published on the blog, if the band wants
to check it out). The first blog on Eldena
held little more than biographical information on Friedrich while the Abbey post I did earlier this year spoke
of the wonderful time I’d had so far studying art history at Barstow. It’s
funny to look back on earlier times and see how much my approach to these posts
have changed. I would never have even dared to mention metal in that first post
(much less be funny), but look at me now. So for all those who will be new to
art history blogging next year, be adventurous. Find the fun in this. It makes homework
entertainment.
As for the Cloister Graveyard, I love the whiteness
to it. White covers the floor, outlines the tree branches, highlights the monastery
edifice, and engulfs the sky. This white looks pure, despite being the death
delivering winter Friedrich was in the midst of when he painted this. My first
post mentions he finished this piece while battling a severe illness that would
eventually claim his life. The dead trees offset the white’s purity. These dead
trunks make the piece eerie (along with the tombstones) and perfect for the
latest Instadeath album cover. But the two trees in the foreground frame the edifice
perfectly. The funeral procession heads right through the doorway towards the ruined
monastery. I want to say the monastery represented something to Friedrich,
something that he thought of at all stages in his life. Something that he
finally achieved in his old age, or possibly the monastery is death; a force
always lingering in the background of his art and in the back of his mind. This
force probably now seemed like a real possibility for Friedrich in his old age.
So that’s the end… of
this letter, of the Instadeath discography, and of my art history blog posts. Instadeath,
I hope you liked this letter. You guys seem to have an appreciation for art
along with a creative spark that makes your metal so awesome. To all my
readers, I hoped I made you laugh and think once in a while. Hopefully I taught
you something (be it about metal or art, in my opinion the two are synonymous).
To my art history class, thank you for teaching me new ways of looking at art,
and consequently the world. I’ll never be an art historian, but there is power
in being able to stop, look at a painting, and tell yourself how it makes you
feel and why. This power allows you to know yourself better.
Sincerely,
Alex McDonald
Alex McDonald
0 comments