Deconstructing Space

"Deconstructing Space:  Ku"        Sumi ink, watercolour on paper  2015

I've been practicing with the Japanese word 'KU' (space) over the past 2 years, using ink and calligraphy brushes but never really comfortable with any of the results -not even when they were perceived as "good" by others....  I always wanted to find a way to express KU in  my own original voice. A way of expression that is truer to who/what I am.. Well, I think I'm finally getting close. (It's only taken a decade.).

This is a work-in-progress, part of a series I've just started to develop. If you are interested in seeing more, please check out my facebook artist page where I will post works as they evolve.

As always, thank you for visiting & see you next time!.

Vertical Space Dance

     "There is no up or down. just space and substance".  

Wanda Moretti  Il Posto founder & Choreographer

Il Posto is a vertical dancing troupe from Italy who are all about creating fluid flowing bodily movements whilst dangling several hundred feet in space.

In a recent interview,  Il Posto founder and choreographer Wanda Moretti talks about the beauty of emptiness and how important it is to her dancers. She described it as: "The suspension in the few seconds of a leap, a moment of freedom in which the legs also become the arms".
 

The surreal visual imagery is mesmerising, if slightly disorienting. Makes me wonder whether the phrase 'wall legs' should be added to existing 'sea & land legs' in the English language? You decide, I'm too dizzy.

Serra-isms

Visual note taking (not art)        R Allen-Sherwood 2015

I recently saw an interview with the artist/sculptor Richard Serra where he talked about my two favourite topics - drawing and space.

The interview was done a few years ago, on the eve of a retrospective showing of Serra's drawings spanning over 20 years. Serra described his drawings as "space articulations". But he made a clear distinction between what he called his "visual notations" and drawings that were done to work through something in his mind. For Serra, only the latter could be called art.

Richard Serra Drawing 1*

I enjoyed the interview and many of his words resonated with me. Probably because I too, am dealing with the issue of expressing space in my own work even though I cam not a sculptor.. Perhaps it's a more ambiguous issue in my case.

Richard Serra Drawing 2*

One of my favorite moments from the interview came when, asked for the hundredth time as to whether his drawings were inspired by figuration or objects in real life,  a visibly annoyed Serra snapped back:

"I draw space, not image!" 

Hooray! My kind of guy.

(*Drawing 1  courtesy of J. Padgett Washington University)

(*Drawing 2    http://amesadeluz.blogspot.co.uk)

On-Off-On

"Appearing & Disapprearing"                R Allen-Sherwood 2015

My Zen teacher, the late Master Gudo Nishijima used to talk about the Instantaneousness of this Universe as a way to explain the true nature of reality...

What has stayed with me was his description of how every passing moment of our lives speeds by, flickering On-Off-On-Off-On-Off.....

It's taken many years to reach a point where I think I can now understand the meaning of his words.

Then again, I could be wrong..

I'm just glad the universe happened to still be "On" when I snapped the camera shutter yesterday.. Only just.

Top 10 Most Popular Posts

FF Crispin and Roy admiring my pop-up installation at Mirfield Monastery (2012)

After last week's post about my Zen Garden article being in the top ten over at Glow Magazine, I became curious about which posts were your favourites on this blog. And so I took a look.... and found last week's post about being in GLOW's top ten in my own top ten! (Thanks everyone for your continuing visits, likes and shares.)

Here's the TOP 10 list of your favourites! Click on titles to see posts :

1.  Shodo: 100 Ways to Wield an Ink Brush 

2.  The Space Sessions # 2 - Professor John White

3.  Space is a Doubt

4.  Alkaline - Memory of Place

5.  Dances with Kuma: A Spatial Symphony in 6 Movements

6.  Chinese Rock Fantasia

7.  White Poetry Under Blue Skies 

8.  Quiet Thoughts in Tandem

9.  Top 10 on Glow Magazine   

10. Nietzsche's Space

Top 10 on Glow Magazine

I'd like to take a moment to thank all the lovely folks (including Cynthia Barlow-Marrs) at GLOW MAGAZINE for sky-rocketing my Zen Garden article into their Top 10 Most Popular posts for three consecutive years and counting!

What a surprise. Thank you! 

Taking a Line for a Ride # 2

Southeastern  ex 1                             R Allen-Sherrwood 2015

Southeastern  ex 2                             R Allen-Sherrwood 2015

Southeastern  ex 3                       R Allen-Sherrwood 2015

Southeastern   ex 4                       R Allen-Sherrwood 2015

Southeastern   ex 5                       R Allen-Sherrwood 2015

Following on from  Taking a Line for a Ride # 1  , the above drawings are the most recent samples from my ongoing investigations into the beauty, nuance and essence of Motion, Materials used include watercolour pen, ink, and graphite.