CIRCULAR STORIES... A favourite Brian Eno strategy suggests firing arrows first and drawing targets around where they land. I thought it would be interesting to draw the circles first, then not fire arrows. Now I can't stop... A one-year blog for 2022.
We can make our own traditions. Is that necessarily an oxymoron? There are many perceived historical tropes on shaky pegs, protestant work ethic, catholic guilt, used to contain us. Let’s fill ourselves with […add your own catalyst…] and break free!
If you want to get ahead, get a hat.
Pagan Awareness dot com https://www.paganawareness.net.au/2657-2/
https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/creating-holiday-traditions
Some eminent (and less cheugy) polytheists…
If we have light, we have shadow. We know this even without Carl Jung
Art students in Japan have this in their reading list… http://pdf-objects.com/files/In-Praise-of-Shadows-Junichiro-Tanizaki.pdf
For the beauty of the alcove is not the work of some clever device. An empty space is marked off with plain wood and plain walls, so that the light drawn into its forms dim shadows within emptiness. There is nothing more. And yet, when we gaze into the darkness that gathers behind the crossbeam, around the flower vase, beneath the shelves, though we know perfectly well it is mere shadow, we are overcome with the feeling that in this small corner of the atmosphere there reigns complete and utter silence; that here in the darkness immutable tranquillity holds sway. The “mysterious Orient” of which Westerners speak probably refers to the uncanny silence of these dark places. And even we as children would feel an inexpressible chill as we peered into the depths of an alcove to which the sunlight had never penetrated. Where lies the key to this mystery? Ultimately it is the magic of shadows. Were the shadows to be banished from its corners, the alcove would in that instant revert to mere void.
Giorgio de Chirico enjoyed light and shadow. Like K. Schwitters, a poet also, similarly playful, but with a more directional luminance. If you Google Piazza d'Italia 1913 you will find many versions. Figures and buildings moving about all over the place, what was he searching for? Metaphysics? Sales?
Schwitters invites us to follow a weaving visual narrative, but not de Chirico. We are not led from glowing highlights to meander darker depths, but shocked into the sultry moment, like a dog in it’s own shadow ( ͡° ᴥ ͡°)
Metaphysics is a moveable feast, and de Chirico’s obsession with the motif might even be a MacGuffin
Mysterious fluorescence is made useful in Hollywood as a narrative device. We don’t need to know what it is shining on. Probably better not to know… there is a long list, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Repo Man…
… Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase and Kiss me Deadly setting the scene for a fall from grace.
Dora Maurer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hofxMqnGZQA&t=15s
From Wikipedia… Bourdieu argued against the Kantian view of pure aesthetics, stating that the legitimate taste of the society is the taste of the ruling class. This position also rejects the idea of genuine good taste, as the legitimate taste is merely a class taste. This idea was also proposed by Simmel, who noted that the upper classes abandon fashions as they are adopted by lower ones.
So, genuine good taste. What is that then? We know it exists, because we have it.
And there’s more… It has also been argued that the association between social class and taste is no longer quite as strong as it used to be. For instance, theorists of the Frankfurt School have claimed that the diffusion of mass cultural products has obscured class differences in capitalist societies. Products consumed passively by members of different social classes are virtually all the same, with only superficial differences regarding brand and genre. Other criticism has concentrated on the declassifying effects of postmodern culture; that consumer tastes are now less influenced by traditional social structures, and they engage in play with free-floating signifiers to perpetually redefine themselves with whatever they find pleasurable.
De gustibus non est disputandum
https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Aesthetics
Ghastly Good Taste https://youtu.be/oD4ZPANU8DA
Jarvis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM
Fight freemasonry. Don’t join a club. Get a radical Wiiliam Blake tea-towel from that London. I did
Badge of achievement Badge of belonging Badge of shame
Or just a badge. Interpreted in many ways, they can certainly be a dodgy business. I do like them as objects though, and have a few
Some badge stories…
The star of the first colour photograph made by James Clerk Maxwell in Edinburgh was a kind of rosette that pets win in shows. I wondered why. I made one for myself, but haven’t worn it yet.
My father-in-law was head of social work in Scotland. As usual in these roles, honours are eventually bestowed. My wife accompanied him to Buckingham Palace to receive his CBE from The Queen. As the sword was lowered she heard ‘I’m going to wash that man right out of my hair’ being played by the regimental band. Must have been a favourite. He was also required to pay £100 to receive the medal and a VHS video of the event. Sadly (although the hardware was rather splendid) the video was library footage, and in fact was of Jimmy Saville’s investiture.
Discovering that the Royal College of Art still handed out rather pompous medals to students was a bit of a shock. I thought I would make some for my students, and bought a badge machine. I got a bit stuck however, it’s trickier than I imagined. If anyone wants me to make one of their own designs, you can use this template to fill in and send to me... https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ap-e5Xk45OxEge1ii0WBauy6YiMCOA?e=h9KNgP
Recently, my university card fell apart. I have had it since 1999 in the last century. The library said they could make me a new one pronto, but they insisted they had to use the photograph they had already. What an embarrassment. I had to Tippex it.
