Pm
Phenomenon Magazine
Vol 1, Issue 1
WAIT & WATCH Beauty in Decay
Volume 1 Issue 1
Pm
1 Beauty
Phenomenon Magazine
10 Roots
Vol 1, Issue 1
Phenomenon Magazine strives to produce a visual representation of what we take for granted in our environment. Once a year we tackle topics like Tsunami, Earthquake, Magnetism, Decay, Aging, Photosynthesis, Waterfall, Tides, Eclipse, Cold, Ocean, Oxidation, Sedimentation, Bay, Lake, Camouflage, Weather, and Wind.
Editor/Designer George Ramirez Executive Editor Lessica Peltz
GO PAPERLESS! You can read Phenomenon Magazine on the go, on your desktop, or modile device. Check us out at phenomenonmag.com
Art Director/Designer George Ramirez Contributing Editors Kyle Arnold Jasmine Godfrey Christina Jenkins Susan Savage Melissa Smith Helen Vanderbeek Founder George Ramirez
Volume 1, Issue 1 phenomenonmag.com
Like us on Facebook facebook.com/phenomenonmag Like us on Google+ plus.google.com/phenomenonmag Like us on Instagram instagram.com/phenomenonmag Like us on Facebook facebook.com/phenomenonmag
(ISGN 978020137962) is published once a year (December), by the Academy of Art University, 79 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94105.
Like us on Twitter twitter.com/phenomenonmag
15 Ruin
Porn
23 Life,
Living, & Death
DECAY
1 We think about mortality, the inevitable result of our lives leading towards death. For many this is a disturbing truth, but we wake up each day moving closer to that finite conclusion. Perhaps this is why the vision of decay, whether in process or total decomposition, tends to bother people and often illicit a reaction of distain. I do not fall into fits of despair when the vision of decay happens upon my senses, nor do I look deeper into the process of decay as a natural phenomenon. I see the color, texture, metamorphosis, and beauty associated with decay, which understandably leaves me outside of the norm.
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
By George Ramirez
of roses, and she kept them on display for a day before she decided to nail them upside down by the stem on her bedroom wall. For days I watched as the roses became dry and hard, taking on the wrinkled appearance of skin. It began my fascination with looking at decay as a means of a natural process; a beauty that I translated through my painting, sculptures, and sketches. As visual artists, communicators charged with invoking emotion through our art, we somehow become drawn to this transformation of life and death.
DECAY
decay. My mother received a bouquet
3
fascinated with the physical process of
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
2
DECAY
I was eight years old when I first became
DECAY
DECAY
4
5
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
“
Decay is a process rather than a fixed image and provokes thoughts and
actions. It is not in sync with progress, modernisation and determined narratives, which are characteristics of modern Western society. Not surprisingly, decay is a main creative inspiration for artists and writers.
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
7
our fascination as:
DECAY
“Failed Architecture,” he talks about this
6
DECAY
An excerpt from Mark Minkjan’s blog,
Bitola. Courtesy of Creative Commons
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
8 DECAY
witness what progress has rout on living things and structures. We as a modern society take in these images as an examination of what was, or what could have been. We watch the effects of overconsumption and waste, developing a deep appreciation for the cycle of natural progresses, even on inanimate objects. Within its root, some may call it perverse, but how many people are willing to admit that they’d turn away from a tragic car accident? Our Western society has even coined the term, “Rubbernecking,” for the action of watching something so subversive.
DECAY
11 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
Some call it Ruin Porn, a deep yearning to
Olympischen Sommerspiele 1936 in Berlin. Courtesy of Creative Commons
DECAY
10 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
The Possible Root of Our Fascination
Decaying Wasp. Courtesy of Creative Commons
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
13
12
DECAY
DECAY
Porn: What’s Behind Our Obsession with Decay?” for Archdaily.com, says:
“
Our fascination with Ruin Porn is far too
complex a phenomenon to be dismissed
as being a morbid obsession with decay and desolation. The didactic display of where our society has failed in the last
Decaying Fig. Courtesy of Creative Commons
century is embodied in ruin porn, and is perhaps one further source of uneasiness for architects. On the other hand, there is the discomfort caused by the fact that we are so intrigued by that which is not architecture, and that which signifies what is beyond our abilities, not unlike a doctor marveling at a corpse.
DECAY
15 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
Pin Mould on Peach. Courtesy of Creative Commons
Mould on Peach. Courtesy of Creative Commons
DECAY
14 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
Shayari De Silva, author of “Beyong Ruin
Rotten Oranges. Courtesy of Creative Commons
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
17
16
DECAY
DECAY
Courtesy of Creative Commons
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
19
18
DECAY
DECAY
Yet, these visions of decay endure in the realms of fascination. I once left a sunflower to rot, still planted within the Earth to undergo a pattern of death. It was the curiosity of what might grow from the ruins that left the sunflower untouched, and in the depths of my curiosity, I wondered if it would be same for an abandoned building or aging paper within a book. When we look at these forms with new eyes, they are reborn in guise of abstraction for visual enjoyment. These visions can touch the deep recesses of our unrecognized emotion, an aspect of our consciousness screaming for attention.
DECAY
obsessed with the consumption of the new.
21
disposing what is old because we are
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
20
DECAY
We take for granted the forces of nature,
with decay is a reflection of our final destination. As we look in the mirror each morning, we can see our bodies and faces giving way to gravity, shedding our skins in the process of transformation. Is the result intrigue, or a deep rooted visceral reaction of the inevitable?
DECAY
23 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
Photographer: Sean Stratton. Courtesy of Unsplash
DECAY
22 PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
In life, living, and death, our preoccupation
Sources http://www.failedarchitecture.com/the-poetry-of-decay/ http://www.archdaily.com/537712/beyond-ruin-porn-what-s-behind-our-obsession-with-decay https://creativecommons.org http://www.flickr.com
PHENOMENON MAGA ZINE
24 DECAY
Pm Phenomenon Magazine SUBSCRIBE ONLINE!
phenomenonmag.com