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November 16, 2006

Ding a ling a ling

Going over half of the world to:

- kill many saudades (a literal translation; give me a break, I'm portuguese);
- revisit a place where I've spent my early childhood dreams.
- attend a wedding - the main excuse.

I'd say it's mainly an anthropological expedition.

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November 09, 2006

In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

It can be easily said of this essay that it is a set of jottings about the aesthetic power of darkness. The author's writing is like a stream that runs through architecture, takes a turn into gastronomy, goes swiftly by human beauty and ponders on old age, with a turn of prose so compelling that makes you wish you owned minimalistic decorated japanese house and were reading by candle light.

The considerations on architecture and decoration can be taken as the oriental counterpart to Bachelard's Poetics of Space, taking the way the lived experience of the space is that which matters for his aesthetics and practical purposes.

Tanizaki is a man who can write beautifully about sensuous experiences like sight or taste never losing from sight his theme.

But what exactly is the theme? It seems to me to be a mourning of a traditional way of life, or should we say of lighting, that was quickly disappearing. The view that glorifies darkness which makes lacquer and gold stand out or that softens the whites as opposed to artificial light which makes everything glitter and brings the unbearable brightness can also be just a romantic vision of a lost Japan that never existed. But that really isn't an issue if you are aiming to enjoy this book for its sheer beauty and bits of witty humor.

*****

"It has been said of japanese food that it is a cuisine to be looked at rather than eaten. I would go further and say that it is food to be meditated upon, a kind of silent music evoked by the combination of lacquerware and the light of a candle flickering in the dark."

*****

This edition is lacking a glossary of untranslated japanese terms used throughout.

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November 06, 2006

Itsy Bitsy Exhibition

My friend AP and his latest outdoor painting experiences at Quinta do Alcube...

I'm going to start charging a rent for this :)

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November 01, 2006

Fontana

I remember the first time I saw a Fontana - a spatial concept one. It was at Berardo's collection, here in Portugal, and I admired the boldness of it, a creative destruction, the turning what could be a painting into a sculpture, the possibility of dimension, the birth metaphor, etc. A breakthrough in aesthetics and art language as great as Malevich's white square.

"Spatial concept"

After roaming around some modern art museums around the world and seeing Fontanas like this all over (there are many from Lisbon to New York, London or Buenos Aires), I couldn't help thinking that this guy had been running a great business; whenever he needed a new car he just had to get some canvas, sometimes not even bothering to paint it, and slit it open in any direction. There are things that have meaning if you only make them once.

And just last year I saw this work by the brazilian Nelson Leirner at the MALBA. So clever, I'm such a sucker for witty art. I remember saying, "look, he put a zipper on Fontana!" while laughing. Very nerdy.

"Hommage to Fontana"

He made a series of these and tried to sell them at their production cost. He says: "If anyone now asks me if I make art, I reply: 'No, I make a product.' I have no wish to be an artist. Society wishes me to be one. If someone wishes to call me an artist, he can, but I’m not an artist. I’m the head of a business."

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