Aesthetics of the Invisible World

Great ideas can happen once they are no longer within...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:47:54 -0600

Great ideas can happen once they are no longer within you.

~ü

[Image: Charles DARWIN. Tree of Life / A reproduction of the first-known sketch of an evolutionary tree describing the relationships among groups of organisms. © Syndics of Cambridge University Library]

(Thank you, chromaticities)

The colors that we see are an illusion. ~ü (Thanks End of May)

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:48:43 -0600

The colors that we see are an illusion.

~ü

(Thanks End of May)

discoverynews: Enormous Antarctic Crack NASA’s Terra...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:27:45 -0600

discoverynews:

Enormous Antarctic Crack

NASA’s Terra Earth-observing satellite captured this image of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica on Nov. 13, 2011, after a research team discovered a huge 19-mile (30-km) -long crack running across it.

Members of the Operation IceBridge mission spotted the crack during a DC-8 flight over Pine Island Glacier (PIG) on Oct. 14, 2011. It’s estimated to be up to 260 feet (80 meters) wide and 195 feet (60 meters) deep.

keep reading

The fragile Earth.

~ü

"It seems to me that art has to be ritually separated from life in order to be art, so to talk about..."

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:13:31 -0600

“It seems to me that art has to be ritually separated from life in order to be art, so to talk about it as anything more than a mirror seems problematic.”

- ~ Mike Kelley

The Artist's Dilemma:

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:11:00 -0600

Everyone gets in their own way in some form or another. Clarity comes from removing your own obstructions, your own views on how things should be and are. Things never are. Things change.

In one meeting yesterday, my creative convictions were trumped by what was financially possible. A practical “work with the tools you have.” In another, what was financially possible was absolutely dependent on the creative engine that produces a compelling product. A sort of “if you build it, they will come” approach. The topic at hand was the same: getting films made. I had to work with both approaches and ended up having a little difficulty switching gears.

The artist in me is usually trumped by the person that has to pay rent. Looking good and making something beautiful isn’t usually practical, but it turns out that it’s always necessary. Even as an artist, I forget that. Paying rent gets in the way.

Taking that time to experience something beautiful is what makes life worth living. As it turns out, those things that obscure it are usually just tools that facilitate new approaches. We just don’t see them yet.

~ü

The Power of Money: It is an unusual prerogative to me - being...

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:11:00 -0600

The Power of Money:

It is an unusual prerogative to me - being motivated by the accumulation of money and the things it purchases. I sometimes think about the freedom and comfort it can provide. Then the better person within myself realizes that that type of freedom can easily become a cage.

Steve Jobs, a man who made a lot of money, suggested this to Walter Isaacson:

and I saw these people who were really nice, simple people turn into these bizarro people. And I made a promise to myself. I said: “I’m not going to let this money ruin my life.”

But Jobs in no saint, as many have attested. A man who aided Mr. Jobs early in his career, Chuck Peddle, talks frankly about Jobs’ true shortcomings in a 2006 interview:

There is nothing nice about Steve Jobs and nothing evil about Bill Gates. Gates is a good man.

Of course, Jobs is quoted as saying that Gates is “fundamentally odd” and “weirdly flawed as a human being.” Perhaps this is because Jobs was trapped and never fully understood the value of money. He only saw the problems. Philanthropy was never a strong suite of Steve Jobs. It is of Bill Gates.

In the end, this is indeed the only true power of money - having the ability to give it away. Anything that you cannot part with possesses you. It is a difficult practice to work with but one that I’m trying to wrap my head around. Once you part with everything, you can see what you really have.

~ü

During November 1970, forty people were photographed at the...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:43:15 -0600

During November 1970, forty people were photographed at the instant exactly after the photographer said, “You have a beautiful face.” By Douglas Heubler.

Reality is often more spectacular than our imagination....

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:17:42 -0600

Reality is often more spectacular than our imagination. Sometimes I see the fierce beauty of the natural world around us and vainly think to myself I wish I made that.

~ü

Body language says more than just what the eyes see. It is more...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:21:52 -0600

Body language says more than just what the eyes see. It is more powerful, and disconcerting, when the body says something different that what the spoken word means. We see the body. We hear the words. We sense the invisible disconnect in-between. This is the intersection of language (an idea) and experience (a tangible thought) and it comes from within.

~ü

[Image: Miyako Ishiuchi]

I feel a strong desire to leave. It’s the only way to...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:22:24 -0600

I feel a strong desire to leave. It’s the only way to come back with the eyes of a child.

~ü

[Image: Helen Korpak on Flickr]

The body has its own unique ways to make the invisible, visible....

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:06:18 -0600

The body has its own unique ways to make the invisible, visible. The ugly is often easy to spot. Stress can lead to rashes, tension and illness. The beautiful is often subtle. An intangible glow. A propensity for smiling.

Awareness has to do with knowing these things before you see them. Listening to your body. Listening to your gut. Notice the word listen. We often allow seeing to obscure what we hear. Seeing is not believing. Hearing is.

~ü

[Image: Artist Unknown]

The limitations of reason. ~ü [Image: from Intermediate Anatomy,...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:06 -0600

The limitations of reason.

~ü

[Image: from Intermediate Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene, (1887)]

(via mythologyofblue)

Dreams & Nightmares. ~ü [Image: From Arthur Grottger’s...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:36:12 -0600

Dreams & Nightmares.

~ü

[Image: From Arthur Grottger’s Primeval series of Lithuania (19th Century)]

Sleep: unsolved in it its many...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:08:37 -0600

Sleep: unsolved in it its many forms.

~ü

[Image: Leon Wyczolkowski Sarkofagi (1895)]

There was just a continent without much on it under a sky...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:05:56 -0600

There was just a continent without much on it
under a sky that never cared less.
Ready for a change, the elbows waited.
The hands gripped hard on the desert.

~ William Stafford At the Bomb Testing Site from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems +

(photo: Ben Linney via pithandperiphery)

"A rock in our path. To hurl ourselves upon this rock as though after a certain intensity of desire..."

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:49:24 -0600

“A rock in our path. To hurl ourselves upon this rock as though after a certain intensity of desire had been reached it could not exist any more. Or else to retreat as though we ourselves did not exist. Desire contains something of the absolute and if it fails (once its energy has been used up) the absolute is transferred to the obstacle. This produces the state of mind of the defeated, the oppressed.”

- Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace (timeimmemorial)

Unfortunately, the invisible motivation of desire is often...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:47:43 -0600

Unfortunately, the invisible motivation of desire is often shame.

~ü

[Image: Julian Wasser Outside The Institute Of Oral Love & The Pussycat Theatre (1975)]

One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet....

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:48:45 -0600

One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away.

~ Stephen Hawking (via journalofanobody)

[Image: Ron Garan Chicago from the International Space Station (2011)]

My coffee smelled like an Amtrak train. It still tasted...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:31:56 -0600

My coffee smelled like an Amtrak train. It still tasted delicious. My scarf smelled like someone else. It definitely looked like mine. Misperceptions can hold a seed of truth.

Science doesn’t have all the answers. Our tongue only tastes the edge of reality, nothing more.

~ü

Dignity is only comfortable if it’s coupled with...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:13:26 -0600

Dignity is only comfortable if it’s coupled with honesty.

~ü

[Image: Ivan Kramskoy Portrait of a Woman (1883)]