Monday 24 October 2011

Perspective

For so long, I realise, there has been no perspective, just dealing with now and preparing somehow or other to get up and perform again tomorrow. This is not much of a life, and it's also deeply addictive to the insecure creatures that we are. Needing the familiar, needing to feel held, enclosed: can there be these, and also - even in such scary, brutal times - a view forward? Abstractions are not helpful. Light, stones and stories sometimes are. This is why old and beautiful things, old and beautiful places, aren't a luxury, but necessary to survival.

7 comments:

Peter Clothier said...

Lovely as always, Jean. And, yes, profound. The long exile of perspective from mainstream art is surely a reflection of our culture and the way we live our lives. By the way, I take your name in vain on my blog again today. Good wishes,,,

Peter Clothier said...

Make that tomorrow. Sorry, trees got in the way today...

Jean said...

Peter, how interesting, and certainly how apposite, that you relate this to the demise of perspective in 20th century art - much food for thought!

Lorianne said...

I love the light in both of these photos: luminous!

marja-leena said...

Such glorious photos of a beautiful peaceful place, is it in England? Thoughtful words, too, as well as Peter's....

Anonymous said...

How true and beautifully said.

Jean said...

Marja-Leena, this is Nevile's Court at Trinity College, Cambridge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevile%27s_Court,_Trinity_College,_Cambridge

The photo through a gate in previous post was also taken there - you can see the gate from the cloister into the riverside gardens on the left of both photos here. This is my favourite spot in Cambridge - the gentle grandeur and symmetry, the ever-changing lovely light, the gardens and river just outside...