Pattie Brooks Anderson

Although she mainly paint, I find her 'Goddess of Flight' among other jewery-like creations very interesting. Pattie also runs the 'Creative spirit within' workshop, offering art therapy and connection to your spiritual and creative side within.

Black Shaman box

UNION Los Angeles’ Black Shaman box. Inspired by mountain men, trappers, fur traders, Plains Indians & Native American culture, the Black Shaman Box set is composed of a 24ml custom blend black amber balm tin, an 18″ seed bead necklace, a hand-binded leaflet, a leather medicine/amulet bag containing a small piece of tumbled South African Sugilite, an original Buffalo nickel, a Moss Agate stone & a booklet of 1 1/4″ special edition ZigZag rolling papers. Available at Union (110 S LaBrea Ave., Los Angeles, CA.) Retail $80.00… Limited quantities.

The Modern Primitive

I recently came across a book called "The Modern Primitve", written by V.Vale and Andrea Juno. It complie a great body research materials on this new cultural movement. As nicely summarised by Steve Mizrach, the Modern primitive believe in uniting of past and future. "For them, there is no contradiction between past and future", said Mizrach, as he explains the notion of time being circle and elements of what considered 'primitive' (interconnectedness, spiritual liberation, etc) are intergrated with the sensibility of the 'modern'. The Modern Primitives are famous for their body distortion, modification and getting in trance through pain. There's a lot of Shamanism refference in their ideology (i.e. the rituals, ecstasy, invasion of the body to 'purify', to extreme accliams like Shamanism has a basis in quamtum mechanics, etc) . In this book, there are interviews with famous artists suchas Fakir Musafar, Anton Szandor LaVey and essays by the likes of David Levi Strauss and Wes Christensen. It is indeed a must read for people who interested in alternative spirituality within modern context.

Rough Trade

saw this at Rough Trade record shop in Bricklane. Does anyone know which band is this promotional piece is for? 100% amazing.

Sha Sha Higby

Having observed the art of Noh masks in Japan during 1971, studied dance and shadow puppet making in villages of Indonesia, and widely traveled through southeast asia, there's no surprise to see a great deal of esoteric cultural elements in Sha Sha Higby work. She creates mystical performances and sculptures with intricate "masks" and movements, exploring the theme of identity, state of consciousness, rituals, social duties, and Shamanism.

Sarah Blasko

Sarah Blasko's latest album "As Day Follows Night" was released in Australia on July 10th, 2009. Winning various awards including the prestigious ARIA awards, Blasko is set as the new raising star from the down under. The visual elements of her music video from this album shows obvious connections with native American shamanism. Here are stills from her videos (from upper left, clockwise):'All I Want', 'No Turning Back' ,'Bird On A Wire', and 'We Won't Run'.

Carlos Castaneda

As I was reading A. Znamenski's "The Beauty of The Primitive", a particular historical character in the 1960s interested me. A man who is claimed to be "the grand father of the new-age", but at the same time, has been called a fruad by his fellow scholars. His publications sat inbetween the line of anthropology account and purely fictional. Throughout his life, Although he accliamed the status of a scholar celebrity, his true identity remains a mystery. Some said he brought the mainstream light to Shamainsim, and some said he exploited the ancient sacred. Overall, Carlos Castaneda inspired millions of people to search for their spiritual rivival. His book, "The Teaching of Don Jaun:A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge" (1968), was a best seller and remains a bible to many naive alternative spiritual seekers today.This documentary by BBC reveals the great controversial involving Castaneda's validity within his work, his personal life, his false claim of being a shaman, and the death of his follower, wife and adopted daughter, Patty Parton.

Danis Rouvre

Works by the Paris based photographer Danis Rouvre.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present.

From March 10th -May 5th, the residents of NewYork and art enthusiasts from all over witnessed one of the most prolific shaman/artist of all time, in action, in their very own MOMA. During every hour of "The Artist is present" exhibition, Marina Abramovic were there, sitting at a table in silence, and museum guests could sit across from her and stare. (A great amount of people broke into tears during this experience.) Her persona, charisma, aura, or may be simply her presence, has captivated her audience with something beyond their own understanding. People left the exhibition with various responses, from disturbed to liberated, but one thing they all had in common was that they 'felt' something.
Active for almost four decades, Abramovic has contributed and shaped what Contemporary Art is today. Among the participants were some similar faces, Terence Koh, Lady Gaga, Michael Dudeck, Tehching Hsieh, and AA Bronson.

Psysalia Psysalis Psyche

Music video of "Titan Arum", performed by Japanese band Psysalia Psysalis Psyche, in collaboration with the artist/avant garde florist, Azuma Makoto.
The titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum (from Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos,"penis", and titian, "giant") is a flower plant with the largest unbranched inflorescene in the world.

Zhang Huan

The Evening Standard has regarded him as an only honest heir of Joseph Bueys in the 20th century, Zhang Huan presents the spiritual yet contemporary, political yet personal and subtle yet provoking work, like no other in his league.
"When I was young, in the countryside of Henan, living with my grandmother and uncle, whenever it came time for the New Year, we would go to the cemetery and invite my deceased grandfather and ancestors back to the house to spend the New Years holiday with us. Before eating, we always had to place some of the food and offerings in front of the images of our ancestors as a sacrifice. We had to wait for them to finish eating before we started. When I was young, I would go to the temples with my family and light incense and pray to Buddha. Even though at the time I didn’t really understand it, it was already part of my life."
Mysticism, Spirituality, Human body and Buddhism are the common heme through out Zhang work. His recent works include creating sculptures, images and installation from incense ash from temples in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region.

Florence and the machine

A still from Florence and The Machine's music video for "The Dog Days Are Over". This song original video was released back in 2008, although the new version has been made with more "neo-tribal" aesthetic.

Phyllis Galembo

Absolutely amazing photographs by Phyllis Galembo.
Galembo has been photographing people from various cultures with vibrant creative costumes. From Nigeria, Africa, Haiti, Morocco, Jamaica, to Cuba, his camera has captured pure magick.

Masks

via Kanye West Blog. (some cool tribal shit is going on there.)

Kelly McCallum

"Do you Hear What I Hear" by Kelly McCallum
Sculpture Victorian taxidermy fox, 18ct gold plated maggots Collection of R20th century gallery & Andrea Schwann

Michael Dudeck

As his website's titled "Michael Dudeck- Witch Doctor", Shamanism has been an interest for a Canadian performance artist, Michael Dudeck, since his involvement with an environmental organisation and working with "a bunch of witches who were saving the forest". According to Dudeck it was a "powerful and artistic"experience. Graduated from University of Manitoba School of Art in BFA, Dudeck is become more and more well-known for his intriguing and ritualistic performance art. His recent show includes a collaboration with AA Broson's "School fo Young Shaman" (where he sat in an installation surrounded by sage, holding a fish for 3 hours.), and currently he his helping Marina Abramovic in her latest show at MOMA, "The Artist is Present".

Introduction

My first trailer about the Urban Shaman project. It was projected along with a performance to a group of MACD students.

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

I/tem Idem

Paris-based artist IT/EM IDEM.more

Joseph Beuys

"Joseph Beuys is like a patron saint of shamans in the art world" - AA Bronson(2008)

Since the 60s, Shamanism has spread into the mainstream notion of spirituality and become creative inspiration for artists in very field.
In I Like America and America Likes Me (1974), German artist Joseph became one the pioneers of artists who adopted the character of shamans within their work.
His reknown “action” took place at the Rene Block Gallery at 409 West Broadway in New York where, for three days, he lived and interacted with a coyote in a cage.
According to Beuys, during the second world war when he served as a German pilot, he was shot down over the Crimea.
He then was saved by a group of indigenous people who covered him in animal fat and felt, gave him shelter and looked after him until he recovered.
In relation to his, we can see felt and fat becoming a reoccurring elements in his works, symbolizing survival and being primitive.

GAGAKOH!

The self-proclaimed Shaman/Artist Terence Koh performed with the current music industry's biggest pop icon, Lady Gaga.