I have two poems up at The Offending Adam: “There Were No Sculptures” and “Stendhal Syndrome / Nude Study” both from my Smite & Spoon project.
I like to use my blog to give some bonus information about my work when it makes its way out into the public world. The Socrates Sculpture Park mentioned in “There Were No Sculptures” is a strip of land along the East River between Long Island City and Astoria, where I live. They do many events during the warm months and it’s a fun place to check out either before or after a visit to the Noguchi Museum across the street.
Stendhal Syndrome is an intense physical reaction when exposed to a work of art that is overwhelming in its beauty. The term was coined in 1979 by Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini who observed the phenomena in tourists encountering Florentine art. The experience is named after the 19th century writer Stendhal, who described it in his book Naples and Florence. The Sargent painting referenced is the oil on canvas Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller from 1917-1920 and located in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
