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Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Lost: Deux Ex Machina

I had been meaning to catch up on the Lost commemorative art posters, and then today happened.  Serendipity, I tell you.  It's beautiful.

And to truly take advantage of today's reveal, we will go in true Lost fashion and start ourselves in reverse, back to the point where I left off.  Confusing, just like Lost!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is "The Hatch," by Kevin Tong.



What a fantastic piece!  What struck me first was how 'the Island' looks like an eye, with the hatch as the iris.  It made me think of Locke's line, "I have looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful."  Nick had pointed out the small inscription below the point underneath the Island, which says deux ex machina, meaning 'God is in the machine'.   What he sees in this piece is that Locke, banging on the hatch door, asking (the Island) why he is being put through such emotional anguish when he has done all that he has been 'asked'.  When a blinding light from the small glass window on the hatch door breaks through the depths underneath, Locke is suddenly speechless, and possibly full of what could blind faith in what he believes is 'his destiny'.  Or something like that.

The URL address was revealed on wall mural, being runsaverytightoperation.com, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina in Parques Patricios on the corner of Luna & Uspallata with the help of artistic collective DGPH.

 
 

Clues left on the website damoncarltonandapolarbear.com leading up to the reveal were:

A frame taken from DGPH's website, who's head offices and studios indicate they are in Argentina.

The English translation for 'Buenos Aires', the capital of Argentina.

Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires: a barrio on the southern side of the city.

This one would have been a definate buy, if we had been in front of a computer at the right time with a credit card.

I give you "The Smoke Monster" by Ken Taylor.


Nick and I had both said to ourselves that art posters of certain subject matters would be an 'automatic buy'.  This was one of them, and there's a small sore spot in our hearts that we couldn't get this one.  That's okay - it's just awesome that it's out there to enjoy.

We had our bets that the Smoke Monster poster would be Eko-centric, because of the monumental staredown he had with this ancient beast in The 23rd Psalm, which sparked theories as to why Eko seemed to be of 'special interest' to the Island's 'security system'.  Subsequentially, it was the 'Monster' that killed him in The Cost of Living, with many keen eyes noticing that the pattern Eko was thrown around in is the same way a Catholic would cross oneself in prayer.

The URL address, which was iamtryingtobuysomejerkeyandaslushy.com, was revealed on the inside collar of the 'I Heart Shih Tzus' t-shirt made infamous by Hugo Reyes, on the run from people who want them dead with a drugged and comatose Sayid Jarrah in The Lie.  These shirts were found in Rusty's Discount Pet Centre on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, California.

How good of them, they put up a sign reminding customers to only take one shirt.

 

 

Clues left on the website damoncarltonandapolarbear.com leading up to the reveal were:

 
Hey, it's Vincent!  That's our first clue - a dog.

Looking a bit better, we see a bunch of pet toys in a window, later revealing to a picture referencing a chain of discount pet stores across the States.

The location is then narrowed down to a pet store on Ventura Blvd. in California.

This next art poster is still for sale (while I'm typing this post), and I'm deeply considering it.

This is "The 4-Toed Statue" by Jason Munn.


The three-dimensional effect of the poster is a nice touch, like a ghost of the the majesty this statue once held.  I remember some of the crazy theories that had sprouted up when the foot made its first appearance in Live Together, Die Alone, when Sayid, Jin and Sun sail to the other side of the Island in a joint ambush attempt with Jack and company hiking through the jungle.  I think my favourite theory had to be that the statue is actually Sawyer, who somehow ends up back in ancient times.  He's constantly running around the jungle without his shoes for some reason, and loses a toe in the process.  He then performs some heroic act for these ancient peoples, thankful enough for these peoples to erect a giant statue of the man who saved them.

Off by a long shot!  We learn later the statue is of Taweret, Egyptian goddess of birth, rebirth and the northern sky.  Jacob, an omnipotent presence on the Island, lives in the hollow plinth of the statue, revealing to certain characters that it was not he who had been using the cabin that had been appearing to many of our characters.

The URL address was revealed during a Blink 182 concert with Fall Out Boy as opening act at the Superpages.com Centre in Dallas, Texas.  They briefly paid tribute to the Charlie Pace's band DriveShaft, and the URL was emblazoned across bassist Pete Wentz' guitar: huckfinnwastaken.com.  Pictures were posted real-time during the concert on the Twitter account @PacesOilChange.


 
 
 
 

Clues left on the website damoncarltonandapolarbear.com leading up to the reveal were:

First the star, then the pink 'x'.  People thought at first it was a P!nk concert, but keen eyes recognized the form and colour of the 'x', referring it Blink-182's self-titled album, and an upcoming concert.

The seating chart to the Superpages.com Center in Dallas, Texas, where the Blink-182/Fall Out Boy concert would take place on September 23.

To really hit it home, they posted a picture of this guitar - the Squier Pete Wentz Precision Bass from Fender.  Yep, that would have settled things.

We're almost there!  May I present, "The Love Triange" by Leia Bell.


This poster had received a lot of criticism for its considered lack of 'artistic achievement'.  I remember reading a comment somewhere on a forum when this poster was revealed that it was "nice of them to let an eight-year-old draw this week's poster."  I beg to differ.  For those familiar with the scene, who you see here is Jack catching Kate and Sawyer in a compromising situation (however, this is not how it's portrayed in the episode I Do.)  The point of view we are at is Ben's, when he walks into the observation room to confront Jack in his discovery.  A very, very creepy point of view, especially when you're seeing through the eyes of Ben.

Those who had criticized this art poster have come to appreciate it the more they look at it.  This poster isn't my favourite, but the atmosphere and subject matter itself is heavy alone.

The web URL for the purchase was revealed on bookmarks littering the University of Arizona bookstore in Tuscon, AZ: ithinkthatmanwasyou.com.  As of publishing this post, this poster is still available for sale.

 

 
 
 
 
 


Clues left on the website damoncarltonandapolarbear.com leading up to the reveal were:

 
 
These flags, the University of Arizona flag and Arizona state flag respectively, fly outside of the institution on either side of the American flag.  Thus, the location was determined to be somewhere on the large campus.


A fellow blogger had recognized the next picture as the bookstore in University of Arizona.  We've now narrowed it down.

To throw some confusion in the wind, this next clue, being the University of Arizona football team's official motto, led people to believe that the next URL would be revealed at the next game.

Later would be the inclusion of this small subtext:

The two people mentioned are both Wildcat football players who's playing numbers are 9 and 14.  Substitute names for numbers, and we have the date September 14 (official date of the reveal).  The 'Wildcat Readers' portion of the clue settles on the location of a library next to the Wildcats Gym, with an exhibit opening on September 14, curated by Beth Alpert Nakhai.

And finally, the last poster to catch us up on things, I give you "The Crash" by Eric Tan.


This poster is brilliant.  Brilliant blue hues with only the red standing out against the rest.  It reminded me of a production direction that was taken for the pilot of the series in regards to how 'gory' a plane crash can really be.  The costumers made sure no one was wearing red to make sure the blood stand out more, and to give a less horrific effect to such a terrible accident.  This poster gives that same effect, used in the Dharma stamp, the Oceanic logo, and notably the infamous scar on Locke's right eye.  This poster was Nick's favourite thus far. 

The URL was revealed in selected Crumbs Bakery shops in the States.  Staff donned Dharma jumpsuits with the site emblazoned on the back: icangetyoupeanutbutter.com.

 
 
 

Clues left on the website damoncarltonandapolarbear.com leading up to the reveal were:

Cross streets that reveal to be the major intersection where you can find a Crumbs Bakery in New York City.

Thirteen circles.  No, not some sort of 'optical illusion', but merely a 'baker's dozen'.  Crumbs Bakery is looking good so far.

The last clue makes it all worthwhile.  A delicious cupcake-of-the-month feature on Crumbs.com, Crumbs Bakery's official website.

A sad thought through all this; I had nearly received "The Hatch" for my birthday later this month from my father, but an error during the ordering process had cancelled the purchase.  So, if you're going to try your luck and take a chance on one of these posters, a friendly note that the billing and shipping addresses must be the same.

Ah, well.  We have more to come, eight more, actually.  I hope Shephard Fairey is one of the artists.  I'll certainly buy that one, come hell or high water.

Stay tuned for more Lost art!

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