Happy New Year 2017!

My chosen image this year is a China Space Program poster entitled:  "Roaming outer space in an airship" "  It was made in the sixties by designer Zhang Ruiheng

Happy New Year!

Disclaimer - I have no association with the poster company nor do I get any money for mentioning their products. It was solely chosen for the appropriateness of the design, and it's relevance to my blog about the aesthetics (and all things related) within the theme of space. 

" http://chinesepostershop.com/poster?poster_id=e15-824

Rodin's Essence of Motion

 "Nijinsky? 1912?" unfinished plaster cast & shadow

"To express a movement in all its character and truth, it is important that it be at once the result of the successive moments that have preceeded the moment that one has fixed, and that it announces the sensation of those that will follow."  Auguste Rodin 1911

The above quote was taken from an interview with sculptor Auguste Rodin in 1911. I encountered it during a visit to the "Rodin and Dance: The Essence of Movement" exhibition at the Courtauld Institute in London.

Rodin clay piece, an impression

His words have stayed with me since then. I've been fascinated with the universal nature of the artist's instruction. It has commonality with Sean Scully's description of abstract art. But also with the traditional 'living line' teachings in Japanese calligraphy. There are also similarities, I feel, with the concept of Quantum Entanglement. Or even in Buddhist teachings, where the concept of past, present and future dynamically merges into one great pulsating singular point of Now. Chop wood and dance!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if someday in the future, they discovered that the marks of an artist do actually move - on an atomic level, after being fixed into position. So much to think about. If you are able to see the show, do go, as it's quite beautiful and rich with inspiration. I could have stayed there for days, happily working in my sketchbook.  Click here to learn more from the Courtauld website..

Stone Whisperers

‘Manual of Calligraphy and Painting’ (Chinese, 1633), 

There is a strange affinity between artists and rocks. By rocks I mean anything made of stone, from the humble pebble to a mountain. "To Chinese artists, rocks are the basic building blocks of landscape painting,'' says Robert D. Mowry, curator of Chinese art at Harvard University's Arthur M. Sackler Museum. ``Magnified in scale, the rocks are mountains. Embellished with details, trees and such, they become complete landscapes.'' In this instance he is speaking of scholars' rocks.

Brice Marden in his studio   

According to "The Spirit of Gongshi", Chinese scholars' rocks, also known as scholar stones or viewing stones, are naturally occurring or shaped rocks which are traditionally appreciated by Chinese scholars. This trend towards cultivating an aesthetic appreciation of scholar rocks began in Tang Dynasty China and has spread to the present day western world. American painter Brice Marden is an avid fan of Chinese scholar rocks. His collection is a source of inspiration which he displays along the window sill of his painting studio.

‘Manual of Calligraphy and Painting’ (Chinese, 1633), 

Richard Rosenblum, sculptor and dedicated gongshi collector described scholar rocks as monuments to inner thought.  The sense of space within the rock - the perception of almost being able to look inside a world contained by the rock - is what most draws his interest. It compares more with Western painting, he says, than with Western sculpture.

‘Manual of Calligraphy and Painting’ (Chinese, 1633), 

"Rather than being solely about the solid form, and the space around it, as much conventional sculpture is,  the rocks create their own worlds,'' he explains. I would suppose it is certainly the privilege of gaining access to that inner world which drives the collectors to keep seeking ever more unique and unusual specimens to add to their collections. 

Movement   charcoal  2013l     sepia filter)    R.Allen-Sherwood

In my case, my interest remains firmly with Japanese Zen gardens, which have a presence and space all their own. But I feel there might be a kinship between us artists who get inspired by, and communicate with stone. It's almost like being in a special club of stone whisperers. Hold that thought. See you next time,  

Image Credits

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-FH-00910-00083-00098/1

True Ink : Maaya Wakasugi

   

Calligraphers come in all shapes, sizes and types. Just like people. All of us who love and have an affinity to the fude brush and sumi ink might look different and have differing styles, but the underlying allegiance to truth in expression and spirit is the same.  Viva la unité !

Hiddip the hop it don't stop*

Sketchbook

Had a wonderful opportunity to continue my work-in-progress explorations into the human body, motion and space via breakdancing. Hopefully I will be able to investigate this topic with more depth and detail in a few months time.

Fingers tightly crossed.

*Das Efx  The Real Hiphop

AR Mark Making

When I first came across the GRAVITY tablet prototype a few years ago and posted it on the blog (here), the idea of bringing 2D concepts into 3D reality was still in its early stages . Granted, the virtual world of Second City was in full swing at the time but AR was still considered a kind of cartoonish sci-fi fantasy world, inhabited mostly by geeks and otaku types. In other words it was all still a bit weird.

But it has come along quite a bit since then. I like what artist Marc van Elburg is doing with AR in visual art and find it quite interesting. These two videos of his experiments with drawing with augmented reality gives a hint of the potential of mark making in space. Exciting!

Monastery Diaries

Mulberry paper with sumi ink and paint

Sometimes looking back at the past can help propel forward motion in the present.

These images are from a 2012 artist residency I did at the Community of the Resurrection (CR), an Anglican monastery in Mirfield. West Yorkshire.

Close up detail of hanging piece

The works were made using Chinese mulberry bark paper, which has a very light and delicate quality. This trait caused a most surprising (and wonderful) unforeseen effect with some of the pieces I installed in the final show.  

You can read more about it here in my Mirfield Monastery blog.

What an amazing experience it all was! Thank you so much to the CR Community ffor inviting me into their beautiful and special space. 

Unforgettable.
.