deborahb

“Is it my role as an artist to say something, to express, to be expressive? I think it’s my role as an artist to bring to expression, it’s not my role to be expressive. I’ve got nothing particular to say, I don’t have any message to give anyone. But it is my role to bring to expression, let’s say, to define means that allow phenomenological and other perceptions which one might use, one might work with, and then move towards a poetic existence.”
– Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor’s art is beautiful, but he doesn’t set out to make it beautiful. Some pieces smack of spirituality, but he doesn’t set out to make it spiritual. What he does is design a space for the viewer, to allow the viewer to insert themselves into the art. Like with his giant Chicago piece, Cloud Gate: it reflects the sky and the people around it.

I love the generosity of his view: that art is there to draw expression out of the viewer, not to impose the view of the artist.

It’s a reversal typical of Kapoor: his Space as Object looks like a box full of emptiness; Turning the World Inside Out II does exactly what it promises to the viewer’s gaze. And works such as Yellow feature a hollow at the centre that Kapoor repeats and updates over and over. An absence at the centre and yet a place that fixes the gaze and makes us think of infinity and mortality. Another trademark is the deep blood-red found in pieces like Her Blood, with saucers of giant reflective material that look both convex and concave all at once: an over-sized visual illusion brought to life. And also Mother as a Mountain, where shape and colour are impossible to divide.

Just beautiful.

In honour of a lovely weekend (spent partly at the fantastic Finders Keepers Markets in Sydney), I present to you Anna-Wili Highfield’s fabulous paper art.

Plenty of art at the Finders Keepers Market, much of it wearable. I found pressed metal is in, & so are teapots. I bought some $6 origami flowers & a stunning leather laptop bag that makes me WANT to be an author on the run. And now, too soon, the weekend is over.

In writing news: 32 scenes into what I’m calling the Colossal Re-Write. Slowly sloooowly … catchee … storee.

I love a good Friday night off from social engagement, committment, plans, duties, things-to-do. A Friday night on the lounge with a good book and some Law and Order episodes on TV.

And I love new pretty links.

Today:

Looking for business card inspiration, I found this awesomeness:
http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

Looking for the gift for the girl with everything? How about designing her some new shoes:
http://www.shoesofprey.com/

And here, a local blog on craft and pretty, inspirational things:
http://dailyimprint.blogspot.com/

This /w cheeseburgers is rather wonderful and I don’t know why.

But isn’t all great art like that? A little bit more, a little bit ‘other than’ something that’s easily put into words?

Also little naked person storage is kinda funny. ;p

Toothbrush, check, passport, check, notes for panel, check, copies of A Book of Endings to use as beercoasters give-aways, check, list of MEXICAN places to eat in San Francisco, check, US dollars (now over AUD$0.90, keep ‘em coming), check. What HAVE I forgotten?!

While I shut down my browser for the first time in weeks, here are some pretty things:

* Via Ellen Datlow, Vivian Maier‘s street photography of Chicago in the 50s-70s. Awesome.
* Livia Marin‘s wonderful sculptures of Broken Things. I would like for one of these to be cover art on my novel, which was called Broken Places, but which I might rename in honour of Marin’s work. I love it.

Possibly a few more distracted posts like this before I fly out tomorrow. Ahhh, Air NZ, how I love your comfy seats, supreme little TVs & excellent New Zealand reds with my meals.

is this:

Steamy Window, Alyssa Monks

And get this, it’s a painting. See more of Alyssa Monks’ work here and at her website.

A good, long chat today with author rcdaniells about the importance of visual inspiration. Oddly, I don’t hear a lot of writers talking about visual influences though I suspect it’s more prevalent than a lot of people make out. Plenty of people talk about the importance of music, ‘what music do you listen to while you’re writing’, & so on. For me, I don’t listen to music. In fact, I hardly ever listen to music. But art, I’m always seeking it out. It’s like food. Sustaining & satisfying.

So I thought I better share something visual today. And here it is: Simon Hoegsberg’s uplifting (ahem) work entitled ‘we are all gonna die‘.

And music is nice, too. It’s just that to me music is rarely… relevant.

I’m often not a fan of subversive art, finding its teenaged narcissism unattractive.

I make an exception for this guy, though. There’s just too much nutty good humour to Banksy’s art.

Described as a ‘covert graffiti artist’, the true identity of Banksy is unknown. (Instantly my mind rushed to the conclusion that it’s a consortium. I mean, if *you* had a secret identity, wouldn’t you want to share it around? It’d be far more confusing for your followers that way. And since Banksy seems to excel at thwarting expectations, it’d be an efficient way to achieve that… Just a theory).

Banksy, I think, is working in the tradition of Monty Python & other British comedians willing to look silly for the sheer fun of it. He’s suggesting a fantastical, fun, down-to-earth world. Grin-worthy art!