Well that was a poor effort on my part wasn't it? This is the thing, one needs stamina to write these days. I've been reading 'The Descent of Language' by R. Mengham (yeah, shut up, it's bloody good, I don't care), and there's an interesting part about the stigma associated with writing in traditional Western philosophy against the pedestal of speech (Plato, Aristotle, Saussure). Writing was seen as only a system of symbols for speech, and only good for recollection rather than memory, stripping language from its ability to be immediately questioned, challenged, ruminated as it was seen to be through speech. Just a theory, and cognitively balls, but imagine if, in terms of brain use, by reverting to language through typing or even just in terms of short sentences (status updates, etc), we were stripping language and our relationship with it further? (Many would say we are I'm sure, but what new results could be had that take language forward and rearrange connections in the brain...? In a good way...) Well, what I do know, which I hate and fear, is that it is sometimes a struggle for me not to speak in note form, or even think in bullet point form. How inelegant and unpoetic is that?! Anyway, enough of that. I just really like the ancient reach of the topic.
But, to art and design. I have been thinking since my MA interview about what kinds of objects I could hone in on for specialist interest, having always programmed myself towards essaying in terms of themes/trajectories rather than object domains. I know that I am interested in spaces (as you know), and dimensions, and how spaces feel/seem different according to different internal/external variations. I've been thinking about this in terms of interior design, and realised that when I look through the most excellent magazine World of Interiors, I really get a buzz when I see spaces that have used elements of mural design or trompe l'oeil. There doesn't seem to be much literature on it, so I think I might investigate that route. There's a really crazy contemporary trompe l'oeil artist called Graham Rust who's done some very large projects:
Photography by Kevin Smith
Copyright: Musée et Domaine nationaux du Chateau de Fontainebleau - RMN
Every (oil on plaster) panel (by Louis Poisson c. 1600) is of a different Royal estate belonging to Henry IV - there was more on this in an issue of World of Interiors, will look this up.
Also, I've discovered the wonder of wallpapers by Cole & Son. I've picked out an enormous amount, but it's worth it, a real feast for the eyes, wallpaper-gasm...Look at these babies: (All Copyright: 2010 Cole & Son (Wallpapers) Ltd. All rights reserved.)
(All Copyright: 2010 Cole & Son (Wallpapers) Ltd. All rights reserved)
Sorry about that! Good though eh? Not really a letter-writing norm, but you could see them as a load of swatches! Is wallpaper meant to be interior decoration that blends in and brings out the detail of other things harmoniously, or does it become or function as something different when, like many of these, it catches the eye and demands attention? Especially as part of a domestic interior, these are designs to be studied and pored over.
I shall leave things there for now, as I'd like to know what you think, and what your latest interests have been.
Yours,
Louis Poisson.
