Glider

Artwork: Mural by NEAN, Glider, Wicklow, Ireland, 2023

Starting to feel like summer…great mural by NEAN (@nean_kingdom) titled Glider for The Walls Project in Wicklow, Ireland.

My Blue Moon

Artwork: Waqas Khan, My Blue Moon, 2023, Acrylic and ink on canvas

Pakistani artist, Waqas Khan’s work is about love. He recounts a story from his childhood where the village elders would gather and tell stories of Sufi saints, and Khan reflects that what resonated for him was the great quality of these saints being their universal love. Khan says of the experience: “People would come and sit in the communal space and sing about the Sufis. I was the kid holding the cups of tea. They would just talk about the good things for everybody in this world—love, peace and kindness. Sufi for me is behaviour, how you are with others.”

The word that comes to mind when encountering Khan’s work is sublime. Not the overwhelming sense of awe and terror, of an unknown natural force. While his work has a beauty ascribed to the sublime, it relates more to tranquility, a sense of the infinite as if engaging in a meditative experience with the potential to alter one’s perception of the universe, of life.

Khan began his art career in college in Lahore focused on the figurative miniaturist art from the 17th century. He adapted the precision and delicacy to his abstract process of creating minute, hand drawn circles on archival paper that requires dedication and patience of numerous hours of painstaking work, and that evolves into these patterns, both mathematical and uniquely organic in their cosmology. I’ve written two art stories for Khan’s mesmerising works: Tranquil Pool, 2012, and Breath of The Compassionate IV, 2014. Khan was recently featured in a group exhibition in Rome, TIME FUTURE: Memories, Past and Present (Alberto di Castro, Rome, December 1 2023 – January 20, 2024). Here is an exquisite work featuring one of my favourite hues of blue, ultramarine blue (deepening towards Prussian blue in this artwork), titled My Blue Moon, 2023.

Late Fragment

Artwork: Detail of Antonio Canova’s sculpture, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, 1787-93.

A simply beautiful poem by Raymond Carver, Late Fragment:

And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on this earth.

The Map of Love

The Map of Love is a beautifully written and profoundly engaging novel; one of my very favourites I read again and again. Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif weaves a love story, both past and present, with the the political history and current tensions in the place of her birth, Cairo, Egypt. Using different textual forms and voices, this tale set predominantly in 1900, is a story of worlds colliding as Lady Anna Winterbourne travels to Egypt where she falls in love with Sharif, an Egyptian Nationalist who has dedicated his life to the cause of his country and its liberation. Decades later, Isabel Parkman, a descendent of Anna and Sharif, makes the journey to Egypt with an old family trunk full of books and journals which reveals her ancestors’ story.

A passage from the book has always resonated for me and which speaks to the essence of this tale: the many meanings of “love” in Arabic:

“‘Hubb’ is love, ‘ishq’ is love that entwines two people together, ‘shaghaf’ is love that nests in the chambers of the heart. ‘hayam’ is love that wanders the earth, ‘teeh’ is love in which you lose yourself, ‘walah’ is love that carries sorrow within it, ‘sababah’ is love that exudes from your pores, ‘hawa’ is love the shares its name with ‘air’ and with ‘falling’, ‘gharam’ is love that is willing to pay the price.”

Drawing Parallels

Drawing Parallels is a three-part short film series exploring the creative collaboration of Album Surf and KORUA, and the idea of drawing parallels between surf and snow. The first film focuses on the art-making process via a discussion between Matt Parker (Album) and Aaron Schwartz (KORUA), a meditation on art, board design, functionality and the beauty of collaboration. The second film explores a trip to Mammoth Mountain with Matt Parker and the Album family, accompanied by Nicholas Wolken and Aaron Schwartz (Korua), showcasing how the custom artist boards meet the snow. Enjoy!

(Third film yet to be released.)

how deep is the sea?

Artwork: Photograph by Graziano Panfili, how deep is the sea? San Felice Circeo, Lazio, Italy.

The sky and the sea; two of my favourite elements in this one image by Italian photographer Graziano Panfili, titled How deep is the sea? What draws me in is the mirroring of colours—the intense hue of green-blue— between sky and sea, creating a strange sense of inversion, where sky and sea are almost interchangeable. The photograph was taken in San Felice Circeo, a small village by the sea in Lazio, Italy. Actually, there are four elements I love in this photograph: the sea, sky, clouds and a horizon; horizon lines fascinate me!

writing is like breathing

Image: Pablo Neruda (source: www.fundacionneruda.org)

I came across these words today by one of my favourite poets, Pablo Neruda, and it resonated greatly:

“For me writing is like breathing. I could not live without breathing and I could not live without writing.”

Kevin and his spooktacles...

Artwork: by David Zinn, Kevin and his spooktacles, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2023

From the marvellous world of David Zinn (@davidzinn), meet Kevin: “To be fair, Kevin bumps in the night because his prescription is 150 years out of date.”

Boo!

Give peace

Artwork: Oak Oak, Give Peace, Givors, France, 2022

A poetic stencil piece by Oak Oak (@oakoak_street_art) titled, Give peace. The artwork was created in 2022 with some school children in Givors who collaborated with the artist to find the grid, the majority agreeing that a peace dove should be painted flying from it.

The Green Line

In 2004 Belgian artist Francis Alÿs, who resides in Mexico, performed an action, a walk, through Jerusalem demarcating with a leaking can of green paint the “green line” representing one side of the partitioning of Jerusalem. Fifty-eight litres of paint were used to trace twenty-four kilometres. This statutory division of Jerusalem after the 1947/48 conflict between Israeli and Arab forces was along two front lines. This “green line” was marked on a map in November 1948 by commander of the Jerusalem Israeli forces, Moshe Dayan, after the ceasefire agreement was signed between himself and the representative of the Arab Legion, Abdullah al-Tel. The line made by Abdullah al-Tel was in red and between the two lines was a topographically contested area of sixty to eighty metres.  

Through the action Alÿs said he wanted to explore the axiom: “Sometimes doing something poetic can become political and sometimes doing something political can become poetic.” He further elaborates saying: “What I try to do really is to spread stories, to generate situations that can provoke through their experience a sudden unexpected distancing from the immediate situation and can shake up your assumptions about the way things are, that can destabilize and open up, for just an instant—in a flash—a different vision of the situation, as if from the inside.”

As part of the film documentation, Alÿs asked both Palestinians and Israelis to comment on the film, which can be found here: http://francisalys.com/the-green-line/.

In the context of the current situation in Israel/Palestine, such a gesture might seem arbitrary and meaningless given the lives harmed and lost, and the overall devastation on both sides. Yet as the action illustrates the conflict is rooted in a history of contested territory, conflict and divisiveness that makes any objective understanding that much harder, or as Alÿs suggested, a different vision or perspective so difficult to achieve in such incendiary times.

 

(Film documentation, The Green Line, Jerusalem, 2004, 17.41 mins. In collaboration with Philippe Bellaiche, Rachel Leah Jones, and Julien Devaux.)

Fuka

Japanese artist Kosei Komatsu is known for his ethereal mobile installations featuring light, shadows, air and nature (http://kosei-komatsu.com). The interaction of elements create beautiful environments for viewers to experience. Yet in researching his work I came across an early installation of Komatsu from 2004, Fuka, featured in a graduate exhibition at Musashino Art University. The room of red feathers, already signalling his interest in nature and lightness, sends up plumes of feathers as the viewer enters, unaware that unseen and nearby Komatsu is manually activating the feathers to explode into the air. It’s humorous and surreal, and the low-tech set-up is later featured in the simplicity of his mobile sculptural work. What I also loved is the reaction of the viewers—unexpected, wonder and just fun!

Schoolgirl with a pearl

Artwork: Mural by Seth, L’écolière à la perle / Schoolgirl with the pearl, Montréal, 2023

Artist Seth’s (@seth_globepainter) recent mural in Montréal, features one of his book-pile constructions, this time with a girl looking into the distance with a pearl earring. A nod to Vermeer’s painting (A Girl with a Pearl Earring, c.1665)? Not sure! Or the symbol of the pearl when relating it to stories and books, meaning a source of wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps. Seth had this to say about the mural and its location and significance:

“I was invited to paint the wall of the Belz school for Hasidic girls. 
Hasidism is a mystical branch of Judaism. To be a Hasid is to devote one’s life to God, and to follow a number of rules, such as speaking Yiddish, wearing specific clothing and for married women, concealing their hair.
Every day, the schoolgirls passed by the wall, watching us from the corner of their eyes. Eventually, they began to pay us a few shy compliments.
At the end, the school’s headmistress came to give us words and poems written by the students. She thanked us, emphasizing the importance of art in bringing people together. From here on out, this wall will serve as a bridge between the Hasidic community and the other local residents.
Books are fundamental to education, just as they have long been for the Jewish people, referred to as People of the Book.”

Puparia

Shingo Tamagawa’s three-minute animation Puparia, is a stunning artwork that took three years to create. The journey to make the film is woven into the piece itself. Tamagawa began making Puparia after a period of reflection on why he was involved in the animation industry, working at Sunshine studio. Tired of the process of justifying one’s work as a consumable item, and worried he’d stop enjoying the very act of drawing, he took time off to rethink his career, but also, to reconnect with what he loved about animation. The result was a choice to independently create a film exploring the shifts in his perception of the societal changes that signalled values and a world fading away; his own emotional journey of a year spent wandering around and doing very little while trying to figure out how to move forward with his life, and reconnecting with the joy of creating itself. Using colour hand drawings that were scanned and then digitally composed, Tamagawa wanted to engage the viewer in this abstract journey by making the characters and surroundings clear, direct and relatable, while simultaneously creating a dream-like, metaphysical artwork.

 “Puparia” is the plural of puparium, which is the final larval stage of a fly’s metamorphosis where the exoskeleton is hardened. The film’s meditative and mesmerising quality has a sense of unfolding; of meeting the unknown; of evolving or perhaps shifting into a new way of being. Tamagawa spoke about his motivation to create Puparia: “I make animation to create new things and generate new emotions that I haven’t felt before. I believe everybody has that joy inside of them. I think the whole industry could be happier if we could pivot in that direction, just a little more.”  

In the notes to the video, Tamagawa adds this: “Something is about to change drastically We can only be witnesses to it.”

Muanapoto

I love the energy of this track by Tshegue, Muanapoto, from the 2017 EP Survivor and produced by Paris-based label Ekler'o'shock. Listening to this on repeat! Check it out!

A window to Paradise

Artwork: Alice Pasquini, A window to Paradise, Paradise neighbourhood, Brindisi, Italy, 2023

A book, an open window to a view, a cat and music…that’s a kind of Paradise. Artist Alice Pasquini’s mural A Window to Paradise was created for the Paradise Street Art project in Brindisi, Italy. Alice quoted the wonderful Italian author Italo Calvino in reference to her mural: “Since there is a world from here and the world behind the window, maybe I am nothing but the window through which the world looks at the world.” (@alicepasquini)

Be Free

Image: David Edwards aka Be Free

One of the joys of wandering around Melbourne is finding the street art of Be Free. The work of David Edwards aka Be Free features this girl wearing A-frame dresses, striped tights and Doc Marten boots, and she’s often splashing paint on walls, hanging upside down, playing, dreaming, watering flowers. His work always makes me smile. Predominantly black and white with these vibrant splashes of colour. The whimsical, edgy and a little punk quality of the girl. Not long ago I found out David had cancer and he posted on IG that he didn’t know how much longer he had left (@befreeart). It was the first time he’d posted his face, as if he no longer needed to hide, facing the unknown. Like me, so many people have been touched by his art, and there was an outpouring of support, appreciation, love, concern and hope. I also learned that his art has been inspired by his two beautiful daughters, the loves of his life. David passed away a few days ago.

David was known to give this piece of sage advice on living: ‘Be kind to all and rock & roll through life’.

Let the lion fall...

Artwork: Mural by SATR, Let the lion fall, love will catch it, British Columbia, Canada, 2023

Amazing and dynamic mural by Shanghai-based artist SATR titled Let the lion fall, love will catch it. The mural features in the Chilliwack Mural Festival in British Columbia, Canada.

SATR wrote this about the mural: “This latest creation is a tale of love that I've penned down. A lion tumbles into a sea of flowers, vines entwining it while delicate blossoms radiate a gentle halo. People often speak of falling in love – that rush of adrenaline that makes us feel weightless in descent, a mix of euphoria and the thrill of the unknown. This marks my first time in Canada, and I've felt that love here is diverse. Each individual is free to embrace love's embrace, much like the expansive love represented in my artwork – vines that stretch limitlessly, knowing no boundaries. These vines wrap around us, igniting a myriad of thoughts, offering unwavering support for us to love freely.”

Helix giraffa

Artwork: Drawing by Codex Urbanus, Figure 627: Helix giraffa, Paris, 2023

Paris-based street artist Codex Urbanus (@codexurbanus) creates these fantastical creatures an “urban bestiary” that are drawn at night on “the cement pages of the City of Lights”. Here is one to be found at boulevard General d’Armée Jean Simon in Paris called Figure 627: Helix giraffa. Makes me smile 😊

Michelle's blu tak blob

Artwork: Chris Bond, Michelle's hand rolled blu tack blob from her work desk (replica), 2007, Melbourne (Destroyed)

Sometimes it’s the most personal artworks that resonate deeply with the audience. In the case of Australian artist Chris Bond’s artwork Michelle’s hand rolled blu tack blob from her work desk (replica) (2007) it’s a small gesture, an imprint in a sense of someone who had a habit of rolling Blu Tack into cylindrical shapes—the imprint of a hand, the warmth of skin, a repetitive perhaps anxious manipulation of a tactile material, that then gets left on a desk or discarded for no longer being useful.

Bond’s work is one of re-creation and transformation. It’s a work redolent of loss and grief and love. Such a simple material, shaped by Bond’s hands to mimic what his wife used to do, perhaps even mindlessly, habitually, before she passed away. And in the making, Bond connects not just physically but in memory, with someone no longer here, but always present because of his love and through his grief, which time and the movement of life would alter.

Here’s the poem/art story I wrote based on Bond’s artwork:


he held on

to her

touch

only to let go

every

day


© Angela Jooste