Aesthetics

Post #144 gentle perfect sounds under the full moon

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Monday 6 July 2020

My Sydney visit could not have started better than it has. I actually came up early for a girlfriend’s birthday drinks. That was so fun. While I stayed in the Campari lane (Negroni much as I love it, is too strong for me), I was also introduced to the pretty amazing flavour of an Australian “smoked gin”. Does anyone know about this? I will make efforts to penetrate the local gin distilling scene and report back.

This evening I’ve done one of my favourite things – walking at night. I can’t really walk at night in the country (a) because it is too dark (b) it puts the farm dogs into a frantic (c) walking at night is really a city thing anyway. It’s all about the quiet lights radiating from houses, glimpses of people at home in their rooms with books and paintings or in their kitchens, or watching the tv, still city gardens – intimate landscapes, the harbour, city lights, the racket of occasional flying foxes.

It feels a bit Venetian (well land-based Venetian :-))

This is a slice of my night walk, coming back over Darling Point, looking through the terraces toward Elizabeth Bay.

The best of all, is coming down the hill to Rushcutters Bay to hear one of my favourite sounds, rope gently thumping against the mast. And once there are a few boats rolling gently it’s like a gamelan orchestra. You never hear them tolling so clearly and gently during daytime.

I made a lovely little clip of the full moon and the gentle sound of rope against mast.

MG xx

Post #104 Sunday 25 November 2018 – Theatrical diversion

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Letters from America

Sunday 25 November 2018

I recently went to an interesting piece of “immersive” theatre called A Midnight Visit.  It was held in St Peters in a huge old empty furniture warehouse.  The drama was based on the stories and poems of Edgar Allen Poe.  We had to sign a waiver before entering.  We were each given a black surgical mask to wear while we stood around in the foyer.  There was an MC called The Undertaker who then selected people from the audience to enter the performance through different doorways.  We went into different rooms and spaces which were variously got up in detailed Gothic sets reminiscent of Poe themes.  The actors moved around in the spaces performing in among the audience.  There were music and dance performances woven into some of the story fragments.  Then there were features of the warehouse set which can only be described as playful – corridors and stairwells to climb through, mysterious rooms to explore.  One room was filled with CCTV screens “secretly” relaying what audience members were doing in other rooms.  Another room had a small sunken pool filled with soft pink balls and a sign saying No Jumping, and of course people did.  At one stage there was a regal seeming actor strolling around, who would seat himself strategically and beckon a member of the audience to come over.  He would then have an extended private conversation with that person.   He beckoned me at one stage and asked me, whispering, what was I afraid of.  It took me ages to decide but finally I said “uncertainty”.  He said Oh no, you don’t need to be afraid of uncertainty, you need to be afraid of people who text and drive! Lol.

It was clever in parts, apparently developed from a similar immersive theatrical adventure which has been showing for years in an extended season in New York called Sleep No More (based on Macbeth).  A Midnight Visit was ambitious and intriguing.  I could happily have stayed on exploring for another hour.  There are some great photos included in the link here to the review in the magazine Time Out.

xx MG

https://www.timeout.com/sydney/theatre/a-midnight-visit-review

https://amidnightvisit.com/about-the-experience/

 

Post #99 Sunday 26 August 2018 – In miniature

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Sunday 26 August 2018

Following a recommendation I braved windy William Street Darlinghurst and went down to the Australian Design Centre where I saw a remarkable collection of miniature streetscapes made by Joshua Smith.  They were fine works of craftsmanship recreating the patina of urban decay in  the shopfronts of poorer neighbourhoods.  Here is a photo of one of them:

It reminded me of the dioramas that used to be in the War Memorial in Canberra, which were battlefields recreated in miniature – tiny toylike scenes made for adults.

MG xx

 

 

Post #92 Sunday 24 June 2018 – Flowering trees and the allegory of the unicorn

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Sunday 24 June 2018

I haven’t posted about any flowering trees for a little while. My flowering tree this time is a lemon tree, not from local life but from a set of French medieval tapestries that have been on exhibition at the Art Gallery.

I specially like this tree because it accurately depicts that habit which many lemon trees have of flowering and fruiting at the same time.  And the flower of a lemon tree has one of the most evocative scents.

The context of the tapestries is the age of chivalry in the late Middle Ages.  But there is no trace of darkness or punishing cloistered religious life that I for one, so often associate with the Middle Ages.  Instead it’s a sensual paradise of garden, music and luxury.  The mythical unicorn appears in all the tapestries together with the virgin maiden.  The story has it that the unicorn is only tame for the virgin lady.

Curiously I found in my investigations that the original unicorn figure – a mythical wild man from Mesopotamia – was civilised only by the temple whore.  I was interested to  learn in that social reality the temple whore was a respected figure herself, charged with the responsibility of making men into better versions of humanity (than they were when left to their own devices).

MG xx

Post #90 Saturday 9 June 2018 – Fireworks fatigue

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Saturday 9 June 2018

Sometimes I get the luxury of a little fireworks fatigue. I see a lot of fireworks from the balcony.  There would not be a week that goes by without some fireworks near the City.   So would it be possible to have anticpatory Vivid fatigue?  I don’t even get to see much Vivid detail – the projections onto the Opera House are on to the West facing sails.  But I do see some of the sky lit up by the Vivid festival lights, and then there is the Bridge which gets heavy neon treatment, such as this aqua tone for example:

 

And this year, trying to avoid being a bit grouchy about the ever present bread and circuses feel of the Vivid festival, I took myself off to see some of the sights including a visit to Luna Park at Milson’s Point, where the ferris wheel was looking exceptionally pretty.

And visiting Luna Park reminded me of the short time I worked there – a while ago now – an impoverished student bravely manning the fairy floss cart in my little french navy uniform in all weather.  I didn’t do that job for long, but long enough to remember being reprimanded by management for wearing glasses (it was pre laser surgery so I was stilling wearing bookish specs), and for being too generous with the serves!

MG  xx

Post #88 Sunday 27 May 2018 – Autumn Japan

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Sunday 27 May 2018

It was another glorious Autumn weekend and I spent this one in the Blue Mountains with an old friend, who lives there with her family.  She is originally from Japan and has christened her neighbourhood Aoyama after an elegant part of Tokyo which has beautiful street trees.  I was probably one week late for the colour this year but even so there were some lovely trees still in the streets round about, including this radiant maple:

And so I have to confide I bought tickets earlier this year to visit Japan at the end of November – which will be their late Autumn.   Anticipation will be intensifying as the year progresses 🙂

MG xx

Post #78 Saturday 17th March 2018 – Back from Canberra

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Saturday 17 March 2018

I had the fastest drive home from Canberra than I’ve had in ages.   This notwithstanding there was a lot of road work – for which we all slowed down.  But as I regularly  let myself travel just above the speed limit, alas I am thinking this may be the reason for my fast trip even with roadwork and I am none too proud of it really.

It was a good stay and I collected visuals of another interesting piece of sculpture on an early evening walk near the hotel.  On reflection I could have done a better photo:

Here’s a better shot from the local Sculpture Walk Guide which I found on the net, together with a spiel about the scuplture’s name and significance, and its’ creator, all of which is quite appealing:

 

 

 

MG xx
reporting on some of this week’s adventures.

Post #76 Sunday 4 March 2018 – Black Panther, blackberries and Mardi Gras

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Sunday 4 March 2018

I went to see Black Panther during the week which was an all round adventure.  I was very taken with the animated font that was used for the credits at the end of the film.  So much so I did some searches and uncovered a version of the font that a fan had developed after having seen the film and also having been enthusiastic about the merit of the graphics.   The creative fan called the font Panther.  Here is an image I did using the font (I posted this on Twitter at the time I made it):

Perhaps the font won’t look much in this static form.  All I can say is the clever geometric unpacking of the font during the extended credit roll for the film itself was great, it was really captivating.

Something else pretty captivating happened during the week too.  I went roadside rambling in the country to pick blackberries – they are ripe just now.  These blackberries were not affected by any Council spraying (otherwise they would be well and truly dead) and the fruit was delicious.   The very day I picked the blackberries I received a wonderful photo from my resourceful friend M.E., which was a shot of his latest crop of home grown figs which he had just picked.  So I had my own fruit photo to match, just by luck.  Figs are an absolute favourite and if I am fortunate I may get a cutting of one of M.E’s fig trees to grow in the country when conditions are right.  Here is the pair of fruit bowls:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MG xx

Signing out with a Mardi Gras wonder woman

 

Post #79 Sunday 25 March 2018 – Mapplethorpe and Araki

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Sunday 25 March 2018

Earlier this month I managed to get to the NSW Art Gallery to see an exhibition of the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe.  Here I am on the stairs posing with  an enlarged self portrait of the artist himself.

 

The challenging thing in the Mapplethorpe show is the kinky erotic photography  – predominantly homoerotic BDSM style scenes – some of them very graphic.

There is a common theme in all the work – erotica, portraits and kink alike –  and that is they have a “sculptural” feel to them.  It’s a very classical form and composition and the subjects are posed and still.   These are beautiful and accomplished images.

 

 

 

Here is one of the sculptural portaits in a classical style:

Mapplethorpe makes some images of kinky “domestic” scenes which are droll.  It’s incongruent to see a tough leather clad master slave couple in a Victorian pose in a 1960s lounge room.

And on the other side of the earth right now, there is an exhibition of photography showing at the Museum of Sex in New York.  There is something of the Mapplethorpe dilemma in this work too.  The exhibition is of the work of Japanese photographer Noboyushi Araki.

Many of Araki’s kinky erotic images are brutally challenging.  It’s hard to freely enjoy the brilliant aesthetic of Araki’s work because of the troubling depiction of feminine bondage and enslavement that features in so much of it.  And it’s troubling no matter what complex quality of consenting relationship the photographic models might have had with the great man.

Unlike Mapplethorpe there is far more candid imagery, action shots, and location work all of which make for a more dynamic subject matter – there might be stillness in the work but it’s only for a moment.  The erotic world of Aaraki is Dionysian.

But like Mapplethorpe there is also great humour in some of Araki’s erotic work.  Perhaps I should be asking a less obvious question: how did comic pornographic art get itself into the gallery…

Here are some Araki images, the one on the left I have posted before and it’s of the Yakuza crouched like a dragon.  The one on the right is a the lighter relief version of “the reptile within”, the lizard having been reduced to little plastic Godzilla figures in the corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MG xx

Post #77 – Saturday 10 March 2018 – Detroit

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Saturday 10 March 2018

Recently I made a new friend who is an Australian living and working in the US.  We talked about America and he asked me where I had visited.  One of the places was Detroit where I visited for work quite a few years ago now.  My new friend immediately asked whether I knew Shinola watches (which I didn’t).  Shinola is all about the best in Detroit’s legacy of quality industrial design and processing.

I later spent time enjoying the Shinola website.   I really appreciated learning about this venture.  Here is a fine example of what they are about:

And here is a version for women that I like:

When I visited about 10 years ago Detroit it felt a city with a great past and great past wealth.  The most striking thing first up was the miles of abandoned houses in what must have once been affluent suburbs.  It was the closest thing to a culture shock I have experienced, just for a few moments, in the Anglo world.

When I first visited Detroit I had just finished reading a novel called Middlesex by Michael Eugenides which was set in part in Detroit, including Detroit during the civil unrest and race riots in  1967.

So when I arrived my conception of what had happened in Detroit was a work of my imagination based on this novel.  And as I was driven from the airport into the centre of the city through these abandoned suburbs I could not believe what I saw.  Street after street of empty boarded up overgrown and burnt out houses – a living testament to a disruptive modern historical event,  a bombed out war zone that the survivors had never rebuilt, but had just been abandoned there for 40 years.  And the houses were clearly houses that had formerly been grand.  There was an established well heeled life that went with these streets, and it was visibly wiped out.  It was just inconceivable to me that this could be part of a modern peace time consumer city culture.

I searched the internet and found photos of the once splendid houses in those abandoned suburbs. The photos I have included here show the houses all overgrown with green.  This is what it looked like to me because I visited in summer.

I recently saw  a 2017 film by director Kathryn Bigelow simply called Detroit.  It deals with a key incident that occurred during the race riots of 1967 and is quite a harrowing watch.  I had heard about this film long before I saw it, in a radio documentary about the process of depicting living history.  The documentary had remarkable interview material from people who had lived through the violence 50 years before.

Detroit already had problems by the time of the unrest in 1967 – the chief being declining manufacturing sector and car industry.

Sadly the GFC brought more disruption to the political geography of Detroit when the collapse of mortgage securities enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw more houses abandoned in outer suburbs, with owners forced to walk away (literally) from their untenably financed houses.

But there is often talk of rebuilding Detroit – with high tech, the film industry and similar ventures.  First stop Shinola watches.  Thanks to my new friend for telling me about them.

MG xx