(bigger version)
of course it was too big for my scanner, and it wouldn't scan right anyways, so.. i had to take a picture. so some of the nuance is lost.
subtleties, inspiration, and testimony of an unusually verbose pygmy:
(excuse any disjointedness)
well, it's chalk on black paper.. some (black) charcoal.. I've really wanted to paint lately, but am wary of the chemical factor.. so i was forced to get a little more creative with my chalk/charcoal techniques. I've been staring at it so much it's hard to know what I think of it.. Jason says it almost photographic. but at the same time, it seems almost abstract to me. i don't know. impressions?
the title is 'architecture of the veil'.. that is a name/description that usually refers to Islamic architecture, overtly, because there tends to be an emphasis on inward spaces (especially the courtyard), as opposed to the ornate faades of the west. in my understanding, though, it's more than that. An accentuation on obscurity... in a strict sense, that is. "obscure" doesn't mean merely dim or obstructed, originally it implied undeferentiality, a blurring of lines or boundaries (which isn't to say homogeneity, just as when you unfocus your eyes, though boundaries aren't as sharp, there is clearly a texture). Well, maybe I'll get into this later.
The priciples of Islamic architecture have always seemed intuitive to me, and somehow remind me of the Northwest landscape.
I can't find the book I had planned on quoting, this will have to do.
For many Muslims (and non-Muslims), light is the symbol of divine unity. In Islamic architecture, light functions decoratively by modifying other elements or by originating patterns. With the proper light, pierced facades can look like lacy, disembodied screens, Jones notes. Light can add a dynamic quality to architecture, extending patterns, forms and designs into the dimensions of time. And the combination of light and shade creates strong contrasts of planes and gives texture to sculpted stone, as well as stocked or brick surfaces.
In hot Islamic climates, the water from courtyard pools and fountains cools as it decorates. Water can not only reflect architecture and multiply the decorative themes, it can also serve as a means of emphasizing the visual axes. Like the images they mirror, Jones writes, pools of water are immutable, yet constantly changing; fluid and dynamic, yet static.
Unlike traditional European structures, Grube notes, Islamic buildings rarely have displayed an inherent directional or axial quality. In fact, if the building does have an actual physical direction, this often differs from the functional direction.
How is Islamic decoration used to project a feeling of weightlessness? The various means by which the effect of eightlessness is created, the effect of unlimited space, of non-substantially of walls, pillars, and vaults are well known. They range from the use of mosaic and painted decoration to tiles -- especially luster and painted polychrome -- and from molded and deeply cut stone or plaster to actual openwork and pierced walls, vaults and even supporting pillars. The multitude of decorative treatments of surfaces in Islamic architecture, the use of almost every conceivable technique and the development of a rich repertory of designs -- from geometric to abstract shapes to full-scale floral patterns, from minutely executed inscriptions in a full variety of calligraphic styles to the monumental single words that serve as both religious images and decoration -- is without parallel in the architecture of the non-Muslim world.
Its effect is extraordinary and its function quite unmistakable. It goes hand in hand with the non-directional plan, the tendency to an infinite repetition of individual units (bays, arches, columns, passages, courtyards, doorways, cupolas) and the continuous merging of spaces without any specific direction or any specific center or focus. And if a definite spatial limit is reached, such as a terminal wall, the surface that should stop the progress of anyone moving through the building will be decorated with patterns that repeat themselves, leading on visually beyond the given limit of the wall, surface, vault or dome.
so many parallels. is it just me? weightless pillars, delicate lichen arabesques, eternities contained within any given focal point, a dissolution of directionality that makes it impossible to be lost.
well, gee, i hope the drawing speaks for itself, 'cause i dont think i'm doing as good a job as i could.
On the subject, Mr. loneranger brought up the topic of expressing the ineffable a couple weeks back. You can read my comments at that link, they're pretty relevant. I'd like to hear some of your answers, as well. that "thing," that i refered to myself working on, was this drawing. in case you were wondering.
Other news... Not too much. Jason is starting to record his next album. Very tentative plans to go to Burning Man this year. I've figured out what to do for a cello, just waiting for the mooolah to roll in. Happy to have someone so lovely to hug. 
It is a little known fact that the entire western world owes its existence to the Islamic empire that existed for hundreds of years after the death of the prophet, we directly owe the renasance to the scholars, artists and architects of the islamic world who took and saved knowledge from all over the world and compiled it in thier great libraires, this was at a time when Europe was in the dark ages and the Christian world was in moral and social decline. The architecture of the muslim world gave rise to the architecture of the great cathedrals. I think that the genius of so many buildings, religious buildings or otherwise, in the muslim world is in that there is no focus, icons are forbidden by the God of Abraham and this edict was taken very seriously by the prophet as such the expression of an individual architects faith is the the building itself rather than in an icon that the building is formed around or even shaped as (Cathedrals).