Art, Video and Johnny Cash

So I got this really cool email last week from an art student named Robin Wolf.  I thought I’d share it with you.

We ended a message series last Sunday on the life and music of Johnny Cash, during which we viewed the music video for the song ‘Hurt,’ which I have pasted below for your reference just in case you weren’t there that Sunday.

It’s an amazing piece of cinematography, no?

The email deals with the banquet table set before him. Apparently, that’s a reference to a type of picture called a ‘Vanitas Painting.’

Read some more and get yo’self educated!!

And thanks so much Robin, for the informative email!!

Bert

Hi there, My name is Robin Wolf, and I attend True North.

I am working on my PhD in Art History as Stony Brook and I wanted to share something with you.

In the video for Hurt you played last Sunday, there is actually a pretty neat art history reference.  When Cash is sitting at the long table with all of the dead fish and fruit, it is actually a reference to a specific type of painting called a Vanitas painting (coming from Latin meaning emptiness)  They were popular in the Netherlands from the 16th century to the 18th.  They were still lives of various items-fish, fruit and flower arrangements mostly, but usually contained a “memento mori” or reminder of mortality. It was a type of hidden symbolism.

They often had hourglasses or watches in them as well.  Often the fruit would be subtly rotting or the flowers would contain one near dead flower.  It was meant as a reminder of the transience of life.  I think the reference is particularly poignent in regards to Johnny Cash’s life.  As he sits in the staged vanitas painting, his body becomes a reminder of emptiness and mortality.  Clever stuff. I also wanted to thank you for this series, I found it particularly interesting and inspiring.

I think I, like most if not all, understand the idea of a “dual nature” perhaps too well.  It was comforting to hear about another’s similiar struggle.  Thank you.

p.s.  I attached an example.