Know the Artist: William Blake Revisited

[@TheArtTourist]

This episode’s Community Spotlight is on Manila-based multimedia artist Scifi Wasabi! Check out his Instagram at instagram.com/shoguntofu/

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Great working together on this visionary artist and prophet!

[@TheArtTourist]

So wonderful collaborating with you and learning about Blake's mythology and mysticism from your fantastic video!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

@@davidhays2846 Yep, It's a great channel - EducationTube Unite!

[@nathanjudy7705]

I love both of yall and it's so awesome to see this collab!!! Also always exciting to see more on William Blake.

[@LonaPua_Pouliuli-Popoki]

🤙Aloha JJS mahalo for the introduction to Several Circles!!Having had a Perchocial education severely lacking ANY art history I am drinking this in. Truly a surprising void - given the vast number of New Testament inspired artworks

[@lynnmcmvt1815]

Glad to find this channel through Esoterica!

[@seansersmylie]

Blake was a brilliant visonary but I wonder how mental health professionals would react to him if he were about today. I love his work, he was the ultimate 'outsider' artist. Another great video!

[@TheArtTourist]

He really was! Thanks so much 🙂

[@timgregory82]

Aa an outsider

[@kityac9810]

As a person who didn't know much about Blake, this episode, and the companion on Esoterica, were incredibly fascinating. I'm definitely interested in Blake now and will check out his works. Thanks so much for this post.

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much! We’re thrilled you enjoyed them. Blake was so prolific it’s dizzying…he’ll keep you occupied!

[@veronicasponchia5838]

Also came from Esoterica

[@ekchen05]

I suddenly had William Blake on the brain when I was drawing today and then this video appeared at the top of my feed. I’ve been a fan of his work ever since I learned about the divine comedy and saw his illustrations for it. His style really suits the disturbing yet divine present in the inferno. His visions are fascinating. Great vid :)

[@TheArtTourist]

Same wavelength! His illustrations for the Divine Comedy are some of my favorites too. Thanks for watching! ✨

[@davidminken4094]

"Truth has bounds, Error none..." That one line from The Book of Los has stuck with me for over 30 years.

[@ImmolationVenus666]

I appreciate William Blake's work honestly and it's understandable to not only admire the work of such great artists like him but to be inspired

[@SeekersofUnity]

Here from Esoterica. Wonderful work.

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you!!

[@craftinganewworld1674]

This was fun to watch and W. Blake is a very fascinating human.

[@rolandbonanza]

The OG Big Willie! His poetry and visionary artwork is still untouchable to this day. Highly recommend John Higgs' book William Blake VS The World. 🐅🔥

[@EdgarTheOgre]

William Blake was as metal as they get. That is why I tattooed The Tyger poem on my chest.

[@MADGuy248]

Came from Dr Sledge’s channel and is delighted to find this great video and channel! I’m trained as an art historian/historian of visual and material culture, but I rarely encounter art history themed channels that draws a said world to the wider environment and thinking, giving credits to the intellectual spirit of the artists, and even draw spotlight onto a contemporary artist in practice?! This is a happy exception. You’ve earned a new sub and please keep up the good work 😊

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much!! ✨

[@src3360]

I have several versions of a tarot deck with his art on it. I think they are beautiful paintings. Im always excited when someone knows who he is!!

[@TheArtTourist]

Awesome! His work is perfect for tarot decks ✨

[@jimnewcombe7584]

I want one! 😅

[@jaxobophiuchi676]

A Compleat Artist. The marriage of Image and Text with a firm visionary praxis set a bar for future artists to reach. Few have taken it in their grips. Thanks for putting this together. And thanks Esoterica for turning us on to this wonderful channel!

[@TheMrsWarhol]

I just LOVE your videos!!! Your breadth of knowledge and beautiful narration are sublime. Thank you for sharing!!!

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you thank you!! We so appreciate you watching 🙂

[@KirkMauler]

Coming from Esoterica's video, big fan of that channel btw, so far I love this one a lot too! I'm no artist but I appreciate it

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much!✨No need to be an artist yourself to appreciate it 🙂 Our endeavor here is to speak to the artist as a fellow human. Understanding a little bit more about who they were and what they experienced can create a deeper connection to their work.

[@MiggsMultiple]

Your channel is an absolute pleasure and is very appreciated.

[@BillyMcBride]

D.H. Lawrence said once that we should trust the tale but not the teller, but I trust you, and I love what you have done here. I am a great fan of Blake, he brings so much meaning to my own silly life with his paintings, which Harold Bloom likens to Michelangelo's style, but especially his poetry moves me as it does so many others. My favorite poem of his is "London," but of his longer ones, it is "Jerusalem." But he has many many memorable poems I know and love and trust. I too have Angels with whom I talk, and write about, which is a practice I picked up from Blake. He liberates in this way, so I am grateful for him and his spirit and spirits. Be well, and thank you for narrating Blake's tale so elegantly.

[@TheArtTourist]

Love this! You're so right, he does liberate. Thank you for watching!

[@skeeterboombaty]

Like, oh youre cool with Esoterica? Well then, I know the quality of this channel is HIGH. What a wonderful video.

[@capneyeball575]

Oh thank you 🙏 It’s always a such a treat when you reveal a new video. As with all of your work, this was brilliant, delightful, and very informative ❤

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much!! ✨

[@anandg5843]

"Art is the tree of life Science is the tree of death" Very captivating thought

[@susansilverstream3811]

I love William Blake; his Poetry and Visual Arts! ✨️🌟✨️🕊💜🕊🌹

[@asapfilms2519]

William Blake is to art what I want to become in Filmmaking.

[@faulrevere8938]

Fantastic video on a most fascinating and inspiring artist for the ages...BRAVO🙏

[@jimbrittain402]

Yay! Another Several Circles video - you never disappoint!

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you!! ✨✨

[@colinmcom14]

Really cool episode. Just got into Blake’s art in the last few years. Thanks for the info.

[@TheArtTourist]

Thanks for watching!

[@outofoblivionproductions4015]

Blake draws elegant women in dreamscape realms. He is fiercely uncommercial, uncontaminated. And although other-worldly, his work smashes the narrow-minded rationalism and naturalism of the scientific age and references historical treasures that the Enlightenment was increasingly ignoring. It is fitting that the Pre-Raphaelites would be inspired by him.

[@justincurll1110]

The more I learn about Blake, the more I feel that he was the most important artist of the modern age.

[@genghisgalahad8465]

Awesome revelatory world introduction hopping in from Justin Sledge's Esoterica. I wouldn't have known I would be diving headlong into Blake before now.

[@TheArtTourist]

His work is definitely a fantastical rabbit hole!

[@gregmcevoy1]

Beautiful. Thank you.

[@PoliticalFuturism]

Came here from Esoterica. Love your work, I subscribed after watching a few videos

[@Drew_Hurst]

Excellent video... Shows the power and beauty of "knowing Thyself"! William was a realized-soul. 🕉🕊🙏

[@TheArtTourist]

Perfectly said! ✨

[@artawhirler]

Excellent video about a complicated subject! Thanks!

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you for watching!

[@el_doble_zeta]

This collaboration was awesome! I loved this revision on Blake as I watched the first video you did on him! Thank you for going more in deph about his works and his inspiration as well! Great channel 🙌

[@TheArtTourist]

Thanks for the kind words! ✨

[@postmanpat2964]

This channel is such a gem

[@itifurgagica8145]

So I discovered William Blake because in the video game series Devil May Cry are a lot of his poems referenced and some of the themes present in his art are relevant for the plot of te games. I find it very beautiful that the art od a men that lived a long time ago can be still relevant today.

[@nilkoken9928]

This was so beautiful! I wish you made a video about Bonnard's life and art too.

[@TheArtTourist]

Love Bonnard! He’s on the list 🙂

[@brabdnon]

Thanks to you and Justin I may or may not have dropped a small stack on some Blake at local independent bookstore, so thanks for the inspiration.

[@TheArtTourist]

Totally worth it! 🙂

[@maestroh2986]

Your presentation is always insightful, polished, and wonderful.

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you very much!

[@JulioAvalos3000]

Thank you for the wonderful video.

[@hristiana.bobeva]

Truly mesmerizing video! Thank you!!! ❤I have a few all time favourite channels about art and yours has just become one of them. 🎨Can you, please, share the artist and the name of the painting in the background? 🐈‍⬛

[@karlsengupta7185]

By the way...For those wishing to deepen their knowledge of Blake, check out the Norton Critical Edition volume on Blake. It contains commentary, historical background, responses by his contemporaries, and essays by contemporary scholars.

[@dougg1075]

Enjoyed that. Love his style

[@ArmourLad]

Based Blake.

[@EyeSea]

Captivating from beginning to end! What a mind Blake possessed 💫

[@TheArtTourist]

He was extraordinary!✨Thank you for watching!

[@johnrock2173]

What a great site. Thankyou for the Blake overview. I have a Leonora carrington request. Of course. Look forward to watching all your posts!

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you! Carrington’s very much on our list :)

[@sky44david]

This is the most well researched and "on point" presentations on the Visionary Artist/Poet William Blake. It is interesting to note that during his time accepted oil painting was based on perspective and its use in opaque representational narrative (landscape to figuration). Blake largely used transparent watercolor layering to build a "Visionary World" that is beyond or deeper than conventional narrative representation. His ability to tell multiple levels of meaning with both the translucent layering of the watercolor images combine with the poetic vision of his use of language. The "light" of the white paper surface shines through (even in the darker works) in the translucent layering of the watercolor images he painted. He was a master of watercolor technique that is so unique it is beyond comparison.

[@TheArtTourist]

Great point, thank you for adding! In the course of my research I read somewhere that one of the reasons why Blake staged his own exhibition was because there was institutional prejudice against watercolors at the time.

[@ct2530]

Awesome. Also, amazing necklace :D

[@TheArtTourist]

Thanks! 👁️

[@LukeSilverstar1000]

Excellent video. I’ve followed Esoterica for a while and found your channel through it. I’m not much of an artist but I’ve always enjoyed learning about art and artists that interest me. Blake is one I’ve known about for a while and admired his works, but I didn’t know a whole lot about him. This was just the perfect amount of information. Incidentally, I very much enjoy the painting of the cat with the orange in the background. Would you mind sharing details about it?

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much! We’re thrilled that you enjoyed it ✨ I wish I had details to share about the cat painting! I fell madly in love with it at a flea market, especially because the cat looks like our Jimmy, who often makes a cameo in our videos :) It’s signed “Harris” but I haven’t been able to figure out who the specific artist is and when it was made 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@kebbee]

Thank you! So good!

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you for watching!

[@thylacinenv]

Delightful as always. It was my misfortune to attend an amateur student rock musical on the life of Wiiliam Blake, two hours of mind numbing and very loud banality. Finally escaped to the pub for a well deserved beer when one of the actresses suddenly appeared, "arnt you coming back for the second half?" You mean there's more...aaaarrrhhh.... time for a sharp exit!

[@TheArtTourist]

Ah! Unideal! 😂 Thank you for watching our (hopefully less bombastic) bio

[@smidlem1117]

this is a wonderful episode but on a technical note if you aren't doing it already do consider putting your through audio through a noise gate or something, the hiss that emerges alongside your recording is legitimately distracting!! that said definitely subscribing and am curious to see more!!

[@davnDaum]

🔥FANTASTIC🔥

[@Rayshard.Oblique777]

When talking about 60's poets and musicians you forgot to mention the 'Lizard King' who was inspired by Blake to call his band 'The Doors'! Small gripe though, great content, very interesting...

[@BeatrixBetwixt]

A great look at Blake! I absolutely love this channel. I was wondering if you could look into doing a video on Vali Myers.

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you! We’ll have to check her out!

[@DiegoPereyra]

Beautiful.

[@adaaaamamaaa]

Can you please tell the name of the melody in the background🙏🏻 Can’t get it out of my head…

[@TheArtTourist]

It’s just something we whipped up for our videos.

[@carloshuante8508]

Great stuff..and a big inspiration for me…in my bag of artists that matter

[@akinokusami3623]

Awesome video.....as always!❤️

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you!! ✨

[@SimonPaxton_VO]

"What is the Price of Experience?" has to be one of Blake's greatest poems. Timeless, thought-provoking and powerful - like so much of his masterly work, it reminds us of life's injustices and the need to face them. Simon Paxton has recorded it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bni5ZJqnra15aMU

[@karlsengupta7185]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode; it took me back to my undergraduate days...I took a class on William Blake, and my professor was married to the head of the Blake Library. Your episode is concise, accurate, and enjoyable. Bravo! (One little suggestion: Avoid language that undermines the loftiness of the ideas under discussion...I have taught rhetoric, and that one word wasn't apropos of the subject, Blake, or the target audience.)

[@TheArtTourist]

Many thanks! Which word are you referring to?

[@karlsengupta7185]

@@TheArtTourist I'm sorry if this makes me seem a prude, but "pissed him off" is unbecoming to this video. The language should reflect the vitality and sublimity of the ideas you're relating. The content is wonderful, truly!--And so, too, should be the means by which you express these ideas. Does this make sense?

[@els1f]

Okay, but Scifi Wasabi is the greatest name ever! This video made me so happy♥️ I got into Blake after hearing about him as a teenager through Marilyn Manson lol

[@TheArtTourist]

Isn’t it?! That’s awesome…we’re so glad you enjoyed it!

[@neilpiper9889]

Blake wrote the words to Jerusalem which was put to music by Parry and has become the unofficial national anthem of England and is played at the Last night of the promenade concerts in the Albert Hall London

[@charleswood2182]

Thank you.

[@davidhogan621]

Wow! What an interesting video. So many unanswered questions it raises though. Will you be doing something on the "Ancients"? Please. ♥

[@TheArtTourist]

Eventually!!

[@emmar9104]

The movie "Dead Man" by Jim Jarmusch is a lovely trip that's littered with more and less obvious william blake references :)

[@TheArtTourist]

Great movie! 🍿

[@WWS322]

I have seen your station before and another video by you on Blake's thought and pictures. I have been studying Blake all my life and would know everything if not for intervening voices. I suffer from schizophrenia and Blake interests me for many reasons among of which is his awareness of divisions within the human being and unity.

[@85percentcocoa]

thank you!

[@heathen.47]

Miss this channel. Come back

[@Kay-kg6ny]

Awwww yesssss, another one!!

[@kaloarepo288]

Blake's art looks like a precursor to the modern comic book style of art!

[@TheArtTourist]

A perfectly fair assessment! 🦸‍♂️

[@michaelworkman4057]

I think the man hungrily eyeing the empty cup speaks to the human need for reflection, i.e., if some water had been left he could have reflected upon himself, and failing to do so earlier perhaps led to some gluttony. On the other hand, it can also refer to emptiness of inherent form, and the way the self is like water. In either case perhaps the solution for "bloodthirstiness" of whatever kind is reflection upon this condition and its causes, and realizing that pain can be a force that plunges us into worse situations when we try too hard to escape it, or a helpful teacher who can give us clarity and wisdom when we accept that it's part of life.

[@TheNewYear75]

YES such a brilliant artist

[@OurBrainHurtsALot]

Thanks a lot for the presentation, but what's the name of the background music? Wow!

[@TheArtTourist]

It doesn’t really have a name. Just something we made to go along with the videos. You can listen to it here if you like. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGm6oGeVj7xrl6M

[@nelsonx5326]

A very original artist.

[@johnburman966]

May I suggest that Blake had a message for humanity and happened to express it artistically. At the other extreme a modern mystic named Peace Pilgrim ( find on You tube) did it by her activity, but essentially the idea is the same. When we are open to it.....life is divine.

[@TheArtTourist]

Yes! Perfectly said ✨

[@leeshiflett1863]

Badass!

[@nicolawebb6025]

I find it astounding that a working class 18th C boy with little education became 'William Blake'. We put so much emphasis on education being the only route to success these days that we have lost touch, perhaps, with our inner abilities. Not that I think we should reject education.

[@meteor541]

Hey i watch esoterica, great guy.

[@Xxxxxrrr6464]

Thanks

[@justincurll1110]

If only Blake knew how cool Newton actually was.

[@nicolawebb6025]

I thought that. To dismiss science as uncreative seems misguided. However, to contemporaries there was genuine fear of what these scientific principles would do to the world

[@LonaPua_Pouliuli-Popoki]

💫 Aloha Several Circles Wonderful upload I'm new and learning so much, mahalo. Plzzz forgive me but I must know is the painting on your wall a portrait of Jimmy your cat done by you?

[@TheArtTourist]

Thank you so much, we’re thrilled to hear that! ✨ The painting’s not of Jimmy but it does look just like him, doesn’t it! We found it at a flea market and fell in love 😻

[@LonaPua_Pouliuli-Popoki]

@@TheArtTourist I would have too it's fantastic I often edit and lose my 💛 from youtubers' replies but I catch them in my emails 💫💫💫

[@minbannister3625]

Illustration IS art.

[@TheArtTourist]

Agreed!

[@zacharysmall8336]

Could you consider doing a video on Degas?

[@TheArtTourist]

Absolutely!

[@willatkinson141]

Totally

[@toddjacksonpoetry]

I like to think I'm walking a path parallel to, or cousin to, his. With Greek Gods; I guess that counts as "being enslaved by another man's" system, oh well. London was of course a huge city, but I can't help but suspect he'd have known or heard of Thomas Taylor.

[@Ammon6]

He was amazing, also his friend Henry Fussli was great

[@TheArtTourist]

YES we’re so excited to make a video about Fuseli soon!

[@Ammon6]

@@TheArtTourist I'll wait patiently. By the way, you guys are doing a great job. Please continue 👏👏👏

[@TheArtTourist]

@@Ammon6 Thank you for saying that! We will :)

[@Ammon6]

@@TheArtTouristYou are welcome, it is just the truth.

[@jazw4649]

Vocal Fry 🤦‍♀️ I can't get past it.

[@TheArtTourist]

🤷🏻‍♀️

[@ChristianSt97]

time to do caspar david friedrich. thank you

[@TheArtTourist]

It probably is, isn't it!

[@michaelbenenson]

Though I'm not enthralled by Blake's style, I much appreciate your cross-section documentary. I assume that Dali must have doffed his hat to WB - is that the case? I'd be grateful for any info/evidence other than stylistic pointers.

[@TheArtTourist]

I’ll have to look into that! Seems like a fair association, Blake could be seen as a proto-Surrealist for the way his visions and dreams informed his art, and Dalí also tackled some of the same symbols and motifs.

[@boblangill6209]

Blake is often labelled anti-rational, anti-empiricist. That's why I find a poem from his notebooks to be a wonderful fusion of antagonistic notions. It closes with Doubt Doubt & dont believe without experiment That is the very thing that Jesus meant When he said Only Believe Believe & try Try Try & never mind the Reason why

[@jacobk9479]

I LOVE YOUR CONTENT

[@TheArtTourist]

Thanks so much! 🙂

[@Pre_industrial]

The Fall - W.B

[@jessemills4956]

Her necklace reminds me of the Illuminati. William Blake - great poet. I have his complete (poetry) works. A very inspirational man.

[@TheArtTourist]

It’s a “lover’s eye”!

[@jessemills4956]

@@TheArtTourist I like it :)

[@jessemills4956]

@@TheArtTourist You guys should do a review on John Singer Sargent (Whom has a new Masterworks book coming out early next year) or Sorolla - is another great artist, if you haven't already. I've been getting into them lately, among others. I'm not sure if you guys like modern artists? But if you haven't checked out or heard of the Art of Patrick J. Jones. You definitely should! He's really good. ;) You guys do such a great job covering such amazing and talented artists. I hope someday to share my work with y'all. Cheers!

[@TheArtTourist]

@@jessemills4956 thank you!✨We’ve been talking about a Sargent video for ages so he’s definitely coming up soon. And love Sorolla! Would love to do an episode about him as well :)

[@charlotteobable]

Came here after directions from Justin.

[@TheArtTourist]

Welcome!

[@LordBornfree]

💖💖

[@CptEtgar]

[@JClay-lf7nx]

Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death.

[@richardarthurmusic]

Did you do The Female Art Gaze?

CAn you do an Antoni Tapiés video?

[@TheArtTourist]

One day!