The beginning: Hokusai
Hokusai developed late as an artist and started the series at the age of 70, drawing, printing and cutting wood blocks for publishers and other artists prior to that. At the age of seventy-five he said about himself: “I have drawn things since I was six. All that I made before the age of sixty-five is not worth counting. At seventy-three I began to understand the true construction of animals, plants, trees, birds, fishes and insects. At ninety I will enter into the secret of things. At a hundred I shall certainly have reached a magnificent level; and when I am a hundred and ten, everything-every dot, every dash — will live.”
Thirty-six View of Mount Fuji strikes the viewer with its diversity of compositions and scenes that seem never to repeat each other. The series includes close-up views of the sacred mountain where it appears alone in its majesty depicted throughout the seasons and weather conditions; as well as distant (and very distant) views where it rather serves as a constant for every-day life scenes.
The middle: Wall
After ‘Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue 1999-2000
Wall describes his work as “cinematographic” re-creations of everyday moments he has witnessed, but did not photograph at the time. “To not photograph,” he says, “gives a certain freedom to then re-create or reshape what I saw.” [..] In his new show, you will search in vain for anything as spectacularly hyperreal as A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)1993, a huge digital collage in which four figures in a landscape respond to a sudden squall that bends trees and scatters a sheaf of papers though the air. Today, most of his images resemble reportage and, as such, are likely to incense his detractors, who claim he’s not a “true” photographer.
The approach: The World Spins, The Convenience Store, Welcome to Night Vale, Paterson
I find it hard to visualise a soundscape without a story holding it up, hence why my main goal straight after choosing an image was to come up with a visual journey that I could then imagine within sound. Thankfully I came across a film called Paterson by Jim Jarmusch that really helped me find a solid starting point. This film is about a bus driver in a town called Paterson (his name is also Paterson) who has a passion for poetry. This film is lovely because it isn't based around dialogues and instead focuses on either listening to the speech of others, or talking to oneself.
I find it hard to visualise a soundscape without a story holding it up, hence why my main goal straight after choosing an image was to come up with a visual journey that I could then imagine within sound. Thankfully I came across a film called Paterson by Jim Jarmusch that really helped me find a solid starting point. This film is about a bus driver in a town called Paterson (his name is also Paterson) who has a passion for poetry. This film is lovely because it isn't based around dialogues and instead focuses on either listening to the speech of others, or talking to oneself.
Anyhow, I found the journey of the film to be the fuel to make the wheels start turning within my head. I started at the beginning - the original piece of art done by Hokusai that focused on different views of Mount Fuji and based it on this location (more so in an abstract way - I decided this would be the perfect place of inspiration my person would go to to feel peaceful). As both the painting and the photograph focus so much on the aftermath of this gust of wind, I thought it would be nice to actually think about what happened before hand.
I spent a lot of time just focusing on listening. The very top video is a piece of soundtrack from the original Twin Peaks that perfectly portrays the feelings of sadness, loss and ending, at least in my mind. It's peaceful but strong, something that really pulls at you but quietly so.
On the other hand, the second soundscape is drastically different. It's chaotic, loud and piercing; it's an interrupted story - almost as if it was broken and then glued back together. It's very unpleasant to listen to but it pushes further what we see visually.
Then lastly I thought I'd add something completely unrelated but fascinating - a podcast that focuses on a radio show in a fictional place. This made me realise just how much small details of description and noise can do to establish a mental image of what something looks like when there is no imagery to base this view on.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
On the other hand, the second soundscape is drastically different. It's chaotic, loud and piercing; it's an interrupted story - almost as if it was broken and then glued back together. It's very unpleasant to listen to but it pushes further what we see visually.
Then lastly I thought I'd add something completely unrelated but fascinating - a podcast that focuses on a radio show in a fictional place. This made me realise just how much small details of description and noise can do to establish a mental image of what something looks like when there is no imagery to base this view on.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
[1] Kira Sidorova (2010) Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji from the Met for your enjoyment.
At: http://www.galleryintell.com/thirty-six-views-mount-fuji/(Accessed on 14/2/18)
[2] Sean O'Hagan (2015) Jeff Wall: 'I'm haunted by the idea that my photography was all a big mistake'. At: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/03/jeff-wall-photography-marian-goodman-gallery-show (Accessed on 16/2/18)
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