October 31, 2004

Trennung 1-24

 

 

Trennung, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels
                 
   
       
         
   
 
 
 
 
 
     
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
     
 
       
 
       
   
 
 
 
     
                 
   
 
 
 
 
         
 
 
   
   
Wir Fallen Er Verschwand Ich Flechte Du Nennst
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
         
 
 
 
 
     
 
   
 
   
                 
     
     
     
 
 
 
 
         
     
     
                 
           
     
       
           
         
         
       
     
   
   
Sie Hängt Es Bleibt Sie Schmelzen Sie Zögern
                 
     
 
 
   
   
   
   
 
   
 
                 
       
   
 
       
     
       
 
   
 
 
                 
     
 
       
     
   
     
   
     
 
   
                 
         
       
       
     
   
 
 
       
       
       
Er Teilt Ich Schwanke Sie Fegt Wir Entgehen
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
           
 
 
 
           
 
 
 
     
   
                 
         
 
 
   
   
         
   
 
 
     
Er Wartet Wir Stolpern Ihr Wundert Ich Ziehe
                 
     
 
 
 
 
     
   
 
 
 
                 
       
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
Wir Flattern Er Hammert Wir Vermissen Ihr Verblasst
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
       
 
 
 
 
   
     
     
 
 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
Ich Gehöre Sie Kreuzt Ich Fehle Sie Vermeidet

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:01 AM

October 30, 2004

Sie Vermeidet

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Sie Vermeidet, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:52 AM

October 29, 2004

Ich Fehle

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Ich Fehle, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:35 AM

October 28, 2004

Sie Kreuzt

 

 

                 
       
 
 
 
 
   
     
     
 
 

 

Sie Kreuzt, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 09:38 PM

Joseph Hughes essay: revision

 

 

Yet another slight revision of the recent Joe Hughes essay, thanks to Jim Harris' insightful and generous identification of four Haiku which help illustrate the idea of a visual and mental flash.

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 09:36 PM

October 27, 2004

Ich Gehöre

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Ich Gehöre, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:28 AM

October 26, 2004

Ihr Verblasst

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Ihr Verblasst, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 01:05 AM

Shih-t'ao: Drunk in Autumn Woods

 

 

From "Peach Blossom Spring: Gardens and Flowers in Chinese Painting." Richard Barnhart. 1983

"Under the Manchu Dynasty, the city of Yangchow became a thriving commerical center and headquarters of the government salt monopoly. Until then it could boast of little cultural distinction. Beginning, however, in the last decades of the seventeenth centery, it emerged as the most vital urban center in China, replacing Soochow as the artistic capital and arbiter of culture.

The painter Shih-t'ao (also known as Tai-chi, 1642-1707) lived there for a time in the 1680s and his permanent move to the city in the 1690s marks the beginning of the city's artistic resurgence. The young painter Kao Hsiang became his friend, as did Kao Feng-han; they in turn became typical of the eccentric painters of Yangchow through the eighteenth centruy, and all were heirs of Shih-t'ao. Along with his art and the art of his followers in the city, Yanghow was celebrated for its gaiety, its flower boats and fine restaurants, its superb gardens, and its wealth. Its art market flourished; certainly one reason Shih-t'ao chose to settle there as a professional painter was the expectation that he would find a thriving audience for his art. The city honored eccentricity, originality, and skill; and Shih-t'ao was undoubtedly the most eccentric, original, and skillful painter of his time.

"He wrote three separate inscriptions on his painting Drunk in Autumn Woods (No. 35), an indication of the pleasure the work brought him. He painted it in the early eighteenth century, probably 1702, to commemorate an outing he made with some friends into the autumn hills. The landscape, with pavilions, paths, and bridges, is more like a small park or garden. The friends, recalling Wang Hsi-chih and the Orchid Pavilion, wandered about enjoying the autumn foliage, drank wine, composed poems, got drunk, fell asleep. Their activities are illustrated by Shih-t'ao in the intoxicating setting of the year's end. His inscriptions testify to the pride he took in his achievement: "In an instant, mists and clouds can return to their primeval form; red trees fill the skies spread fire through the heavens. I invite your, sir, to get very drunk on my black brushstrokes; lie down and watch the frosted forest as falling leaves swirl." His theme is intoxication; the exhilaration of wine and autumn woods, of creativity, friendship, and madness: "I have three kinds of madness: I am mad, my words are mad, and my painting is mad" (ANSCHWIN LIPPE, 1962, p. 159; modified). The chaotic, vibrating autumn woods appear as the "ten thousand dots of vermilion and orange" requested by Sung-kao (the poet Mao Chi-k'o, 1633-1708, for whom the picture was done). Within the woods, young and old figures, strangely misshapen, seen as if through a haze of wine, are engaged here and there in the casual activities of a fall picnic.

"Like Yun Shou-p'ing seeking to portray and express the elation afforded him by the wind from the lotuses, Shih-t'ao attempts to create an image and a style embodying the idea of intoxication. He was often drunk on the experience of art, nature, and life, and was always quite mad..."

The image above is a scan from the book cited at the beginning of this post. This image, despite a bit of photoshoppery, doesn't show the pinks and oranges one sees even in the book. I'm startled by Shih-t'ao's loose painting, drops of color, and lush and varied texture; his command of direction- verticals, horizontals, and diagonals- is powerful. I love the blacks and grays, and the fading stacks of landscape that lead to two faint twin peaks. And what I especially love, though, are the scumbled and pressed dots of pink and orange color that trail down the painting in a kind of zigzag down to the bottom behind the figures under the bridge. This is an amazing painting.

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:55 AM

October 25, 2004

Wir Vermissen

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Wir Vermissen, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:21 AM

October 24, 2004

Er Hammert

 

 

                 
       
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
 
   

 

Er Hammert, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:23 AM

October 23, 2004

Wir Flattern

 

 

                 
     
 
 
 
 
     
   
 
 
 

 

Wir Flattern, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:29 AM

October 22, 2004

Ich Ziehe

 

 

                 
         
 
 
   
   
         
   
 
 
     

 

Ich Ziehe, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:23 AM

October 21, 2004

Ihr Wundert

 

 

                 
           
 
 
 
           
 
 
 
     
   

 

Ihr Wundert, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:47 AM

October 20, 2004

Wir Stolpern

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Wir Stolpern, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at 12:04 AM

October 19, 2004

Er Wartet

 

 

                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 
                 

 

Er Wartet, 2004, HTML, 198 x 162 pixels

 

 

 

 

Posted by chrisashley at