After resolving to work bigger as a result of the modest success of my previous outing I have immediately been forced on the defensive and we can blame the weather. Today I was able to begin my work a little earlier on account of my children being ferried to their facility by their morfar, thus giving me an extra hour at the plate.1 My intention was to tackle the storm damage at Borgmästarholmen and I did make it over there but after looking around in awe at the chaos and stealing some excellent pine cones, I calculated that it would be far better to wait for a sunny day before tackling a large canvas.
The visit was no waste though as on my recce2 around the island I saw some dramatic scenery indeed and at least 100 trees down, big ones to boot and no shortage of fine views to take but unfortunately I expect the kommun workers to have it cleared up before long. This is a shame as the angles and shapes produced by the fallen trees is visually very interesting. One could imagine working exclusively on the island for months, assuring progress of a sort, but in addition to the compositional drama it is the symbolic value on offer that makes it a great DS subject.
I am getting low on paint but I think I can scrape enough money for an order from Jacksons.3
I can think of few better analogies to our present situation than the aftermath of a violent and indiscriminate storm. Having said that, from what I understand of the coming 5G mobile network, our post apocalypse will more likely resemble a smiling face and a holodeck! But we must resist the default negative and ask ourselves firstly do we love the world? My answer is yes. Progress is indeed assured in technology as in art and just imagine what would old Cezanne make of it, especially considering that a railway line and a few gas fuelled street lights was enough for him to announce a coming apocalypse.
Owing to the gloom I elected to tackle a smaller canvas of the frozen lake, a one session work. With Borgmästarholmen to the left and kärleksudden on the right I stood in the car park to take the view and I managed to find a central position that allowed the steady stream of motorists to circle around me.
You must know how popular Borgmästarholmen is for many folk, but because of the damage it has been closed off with a rope blocking the path and a sign explaining the danger. Ourself4 and a few of the more obstinate joggers ignored this of course but for the casual punter the rope and sign is enough to send them packing and consequently there was a regular stream of cars motoring down the hill, pausing at the sign then circling around my easel and straight back up the hill again. Despite this traffic I was able to scratch out a view in which some more progress was made I feel particularly in the general handling of the paint and a new confidence no doubt brought about by regular practice.
You know, the energy of what Van Gogh produced was, by my reckoning, down to practice as much as anything else, certainly more than any madness, and for all his obsession with Japan it was never about the Zen derived notions of "energy". He did not try to emulate or reproduce energy in that way but he certainly achieves something like it that others have not, in the paint I mean, and this I fancy can be put down to practice and repetition, which is of course what zen arts do involve. If you ever have the chance I urge you to look through the Taschen catalogue of Van Gogh's complete works and count how many works he does each month, especially in Arles and Auvers. It is a staggering output! Staggering!! You know it may be that the most amazing aspect of Van Gogh's oeuvre is simply that he did it at all! Perhaps the only thing that I find more astonishing than Van Gogh's output is Cezanne's perverse, almost diabolical restraint.
Yes, practice is the key and it pains me no end to have but a couple of hours per day and often not even that. Whatever becomes of my work it will never be what it could at this rate but we're in this for the sanity it brings are we not and I am grateful for it. Staying sane is both the highest privilege and best revenge, but look here, you know these last few years I’ve been throwing the dice around like a Las Vegas high roller! Now however all has boiled down to the essence, less a throw of the dice more just trying to live life. All that remains is painting and the politics of breakage. All ambition for commercial success has been abandoned. And this is all very good news. I have spent several years trying this and trying that, half because I needed money half because I needed an excuse to paint but now all that has gone but what is left is pure determination and with that comes a psychological clarity. I feel in a far better psychological state to pursue the task of plein air painting to the fullest and in the knowledge that all schemes have been tried and tested and failed. All bets are off. You know it reminds me of the moment Van Gogh could finally stop thinking and raging and concentrate purely on painting in Saint Remi. Well we’ll have to see what comes of it, I still have but two hours per day if I’m lucky but such is the situation. I look on the bright side I may but have but two hours but I have gained a clarity and determination. I have gained state of mind which cannot be distracted. Of course it is never just painting I discovered through the Torpoint Art Service project that the accompaniment of painting with a written diary, political in nature enriches and as was the case with Van Gogh, actually creates subjects and meaning. This is my task now, a full exploration of plein air painting and self institutional political reflection.
You know that pre-figurative aspect of Van Gogh's writing when he articulates something that he later is able to produce, well this has its parallels in the world of the alt right where a similar phenomenon is articulated in the context of the political potential of memes to predict or pre-figure actual Political reality. If I’m not mistaken one such alt right writer has created a meme God by the name of kek to which alt right followers are implored to pray to by creating meme after meme feeding the meme God. We see hear how the organic growth of the meme as a tool of humor has been marshaled and effectively weaponized by the alt and far right as a way to cloth ideas of violence and racism in a more palatable form that enables the proponents to deny its extreme content while at the same time getting the message across. It’s an aesthetic version of dog whistle politics of course...why is the tide so kind to them?
I will be back tomorrow to try one from within chaos of Borgmästarholmen.
With resolve,
John
PS Look here, the only thing that I find more astonishing than Van Gogh's output is Cezanne's perverse, almost diabolical restraint!
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1 Derived from an American baseball expression
2 A short visit to become familiar with a new place.
3 John purchases materials from Jacksons Art supply store in London.
4 Unusual usage, presumably refers to both John and the Dignity Scholarship as singular