freewheelin-on-line take 3 |
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freewheelin 201 May 2002 |
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Japan
is clearly the centre of the Universe at the moment and thus the
backdrop for this month’s cover comes from the well respected
Japanese artist Haku Maki who was born in 1924. The large round orbs
are wonderfully Japanese as they are a replica of the shape and the
colour of the central image shown in the Japanese flag. Perhaps they
also represent 6 brilliant rising suns that appear against a pitch
black block of night. They could also be 6 footballs separated by two
white chalk lines which indicate that the beautiful game has two
halves! I
have Dylan sitting with his back to the suns, because, if he turned
round, the light would be too intense. He is sitting on ‘the
bench’ with a ball at his feet. He is biting his fingernails with
anxiety as he contemplates the possibility of a very fraught second
half. As the photo of Dylan was taken in 1978 (the year he toured
Japan) the second half that he is contemplating could be the second
half of his own life! The frog that has just rolled the ball to Dylan is Pete from the Coen brothers’ film ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou’. In the bottom right hand corner is the Japanese flag, which is more or less where I came in. |
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