May 01, 2005
Images from China, 1981
As promised in this entry, I have started to upload additional pictures from a 1981 visit to China, Hong Kong and Macau. You can find them here. More will be added in the coming days, weeks, and months.
Posted by apc at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
China 1981
In 1981 I spent about six weeks in China, Hong Kong and Macau. I am in the process of converting my pictures to digital. Here is a preview. The first is a bit of a cliche. The second might be a scene from an as yet to be written opera . . .
Posted by apc at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
China 1981
In 1981 I spent about six weeks in China, Hong Kong and Macau. I am in the process of converting my pictures to digital. Here is a preview. The first is a bit of a cliche. The second might be a scene from an as yet to be written opera . . .
Posted by apc at 08:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2005
The Floating Finger Illusion (hand characters, too)
When my children were little, I invented all sorts of hand characters to amuse them. Two of the more obvious names I came up with were Handman and Fisticuffs. As you might expect, Handman was kind and gentle and Fisticuffs gruff and mean. He went on to found the Fisticuff Corporation which, in turn, owned just about everything imaginable. Other characters included Ostraloch and Ostralich, both of whom never placed their heads in the sand and had the now requisite opposing personalities. There was also a Bee With Hayfever and the Zither, and dozens of others I failed to remember. When pressed to bring them on stage, I took my cue from Ty Corporation and said they had retired.
As my children matured to say, five, the illusions became somewhat more sophisticated. I could do that bit where it looks like you are pulling off the end of your index finger. But today, only today, I discovered the coolest trick yet. I wish I knew this way back then. It is The Floating Finger Illusion. Try this at home. Go ahead. It works. The Floating Finger Illusion is:
A visual illusion that is seen when the forefingers of each hand are held horizontally about 30 centimetres in front of the eyes, with the fingertips touching and the gaze focused on a point in the distance, and the fingertips are then drawn apart about one centimetre. A disembodied finger, with two tips, appears floating in mid-air, and it can be lengthened or shortened by varying the distance between the fingertips (see illustration). The illusion was discovered in 1928 and described in the journal Psychological Review by the US psychologist Winford Lee Sharp (1890–1975).
Source:
"floating-finger illusion n." A Dictionary of Psychology. Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 15 March 2005
Posted by apc at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2005
Patience
I have received several – well, 23 to be exact – emails about the India pictures discussed in this post. The picture that has drawn the most comments is the one I called “Patience”. It features, as you can see below, a man in a boat waiting for the tide to come in. This picture wasn't staged. It was taken from the pier at Elephanta Island. A few hours after this picture was taken, the man was still there, waiting. If you look closely, you can see some people walking or bent over reaching down to the mud. I guess they are collecting shell fish or bait. The whole scene had a zen like quality. I admire the man's ability to sit and wait and like to believe he is doing something more than simply sitting and waiting.
Posted by apc at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
Las Meninas
For about 25 years or so, I have been trying to develop a story out of Velázquez's Las Meninas.
I first saw the painting around 1988 or so, and I have always felt that there was something monstrous about it. Eventually a first line came to me that I associated with the unveiling, followed by some sort of reprisal.
"I am the girls' mother, the boy's aunt. The painter is not to be paid .."
I never really bothered about the facts behind the painting. I just thought that my scenario was more realistic than, say, Foucault's, with his overly complex interpretation of the the various perspectives in the painting. Picasso did some interesting things with it, and if you google the painting you will get lots of visual input. In any event, I haven't come up with the story in twenty five years, and probably never will, but I do hope that someone will take it up.
Posted by apc at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2005
Ryosuke Cohen (Mail Art)
In early December last year, I received a great piece of mail art from Ryosuke Cohen in Japan. It is part of his Brain Cell project. The original is 11 x 17. The image below doesn't quite do it justice, particularly since my scanner is marginal and my photoshop skills worse. Still, you can get the general idea. Visit his web page for more information. He has been creating these pieces for some time.
Posted by apc at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2005
Mumbai, India
I just returned from Mumbai, India and have placed some of the photos from my weekend wanderings here. I recommend you select the "slide show" option, which works pretty well. The images are in no particular order. I also disabled the "purchase a print" since I reduced the resolutions to speed up the download.
Posted by apc at 06:34 PM | Comments (1)