Line-Drawing = Precursor to Wire Figure

Somebody asked me how I got the first imagination to create

a Wire Figure like “St. Lucia”.

In fact there is a Spanish painting (by Zulbaran ?) of a woman who was hit

by the Good’s revelation.  The design or her posture was after this painting.

But to make it as a wire figure there was a long accumulation of practice to

configure human body into simple contour lines.

(It was not came from Manga drawings)  😀

[]

[]

Those line-Drawings were created around 1993, soon after my court case

for which I had to sell most of my professional cameras and lenses =

it’s mean I became out of business.  (I fought this case up to the Court of

Appeal without lawyer, since I didn’t know I could get Legal Aide and

didn’t need to sell livelihood. = demerit of  DIY.  Ha ha ha.   🙂 )

Out of business mean I got plenty time but not much money.  

So, I did quite a lots of drawings which costs virtually nothing.

But before this, there was an interesting discussion with

other photographers

“How we can figure out dark faint image or just a contour to

particular object ?”

“How do we know a curved one line to such as woman’s front

body or back ?”

“Is it a pattern recognition or intuitive creativity

to make-up an image ?”

[]

—– so, I experimented to draw the line, simplified to the limit,

no longer recognizable to any meaningful figure.  

Or figured out the minimum, still able to convey the meaning.

And found that the same line could be seen in the different meaning

or can be seen as other part of the figure.

—– strange discovery was that even if it is utterly illogical,

as long as it contain the recognizable parts, our brain

accepts it as what we normally understand as a pattern.

May be because our brain is not necessary seeing the things

(or drawing) as it is, but reconfigure it as we understand.  

Our thinking or even first-hand perception is never free

but always “Wishful” !

= We see the things as what we wants to see.

[]

So, the drawing above center, [Two headed woman] = our brain

accepts it as “One woman is facing front with her left hand swing back

and other woman stretching her right hand front” =

our brain never reject it all together with a reason of its 

irrationality,  but try to process each woman independently.  

Because, we are not familiar with two headed woman, the brain

ignore the conflict and stick to see it is two different woman

just happen to be in the same place, while try to think,

“She twisted her front body completely backward”.

—– So, it is a joint operation of our eyes and the brain =

the eye’s detailed vision is only the centre of our vision, about 20 degree

and the peripheral area is rather vague. = very similar phenomenon to 

selectively listen the voice among the other noise.   

(Please test it yourself  🙂 )

[]

The drawing right was my challenge (in the matter of imagination,

not a drawing or painting skill :-)) to Bosch who showed surrealistic

image in the hell, still never go to this kind of illogical confusion. 😀

—– Even Dalli couldn’t go beyond a crèche.

(May be from a religious restriction, God’s creation shouldn’t have

such freak.) If you see only a part of this drawing while hiding the rest,

your eyes accepts the image. —– One line could be a line of the hand

but it is also the line of the thigh etc.

Our brain ignore the part which is not taking part to configure one

image. ( —– And this is  what all about the Rorschach Inkblot Test =

pick up the pattern in a part, and make up familiar  image in the brain.)

= this function creates a monster from a vague image of a tree

in the woods. = we only pick-up the element which is enough to

configure monster and disregards the rests so, we see a monster.  

Seeing is believing — is it ?

[]

Some of you might see the top drawing as a kind of Hindu Goddess,

hence may be accept this image straight.   It looks strange though,

if you hide one side, it may not so strange. —– (She supposedly

sitting on a lotus flower though, I have not finished it yet.)

[]

With those (in fact 300 of ) drawings behind, to conceive and

configure the wire figure was not far away.  

And to draw 300 drawings in the same approach, it has to

get somewhere. = Zen would say

“Even rain drops can curve a rock ” 🙂

—– Drawing was done and each line was adjusted by way of copying

it on the light-box again and again until it become perfect (well, sort of)

so that those 300 are not 300 different images but lots of slightly

different same pictures.  = It was a process of step by step Kaizen.

If I were a real master of drawing, I could have done perfect drawing

straight though I wasn’t, I had to take slower process.

— May be draw a perfect circle looks much more like a Zen Master

though, I needed to know human perception, not a holy pretence. 🙂

And this approach gave me an opportunity to analyze how

we feel different if the line was slightly different or

the same line could be seen in different context. 

So, it was really interesting and a fun. 😀

[]

Unconscious ~ Subconscious ?

“There must be an unlimited possibility beyond the boundary of human consciousness”.

But there is a strange myth ” We human is only using 20% (?) of our brain,  hence to develop its hidden

potential is limitless,  blah blah ” —— according to the Guru. —- What a beautiful dream.

( With the observation by the PET Scanner, no such hidden or inactive region of brain exists)

Since it is a myth, nobody know who said it or where its original research has come from.

And such myth has been used by ignorant youth to justify the experiment to the drugs and even many

grown ups is using it as an excuse to smoke cannabis,  saying ” This is to touch my Spirituality ”

I know a lots of 19 century poets, novelists and artists were the addict of opium when it was not a banned

substance and quite a lot of their works were said to be contributed by its influence etc etc. — THOUGH,

—– Really ?  The question is even though their poems, stories were written when they were under

the influence of the drugs, their works and the imaginations couldn’t be existed without it ?

And the drugs DID OPEN any unknown horizon ?

Did, LSD actually created anything new, unknown to human culture, other than colorful

so-called psychedelic paintings or rather dull monotonous, endless music ?

——

The surrealism poet / artists, Andre Burton, Poul Eluard tried the mescaline, alkaloid  from cactus

to have a hallucinated state of the mind and produced  poetries or so-called  Automatism scripts.

I spent quite a money to buy this expensive book and looked their creation or the description of

unknown ! (?)  when I was a poor student of the Uni’.   Though, there was nothing in it.

Just the meaningless, endless continuation of the words and words —– yet more words.

( Still, it was better than  Dadaism poetry  ( Ha ha ha  😀  ) as they are at least the words ).

—-

We, some times, speak or utter a word without conscious.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the word came out of the mouth disappear at once.

What ?  What did you say ? —– What ? Did I say anything ?   I don’t know,  I don’t remember.

( It could have been a Truth ! )

Though, it is almost impossible to write unconsciously.  Yet, in the written words, our subconscious

may show up without our intention, so the skillful writer could write hidden meaning using utterly different

description —– lots of poetry, especially  Symbolism Poetry is using this technique. ( Since, it is stronger )

Our vague inspiration would take a form of concept and then converted into the word or words, using

the notion or meaning of the word to carry and to express what was the original feelings or inspiration.

Therefore, it is often the process of the compromise.  Just borrow the meaning of the word which is likely

fit to the original inspiration, but not necessary exact.  (—– Some time, a  rigid meaning of the particular

word itself may give the inspiration as a trigger )

Unlike the spoken words, the writing leaves visible evidence, which can be objectively read

again and again.  As the written letters has to be visually read and its pattern has to be configured

as the word, then converted to the notion or meaning,  it is impossible to avoid the thinking process.

So, no unconscious writing could exist, hence  Automatism couldn’t produce anything significant to

the human creativity at all. —– ( finger itself may move unconsciously though, it would be hard to create

legible letter without having visual feedback of the graphic positioning ).

_____

So,  there is a funny misconception,  lots of people thinking as if there is a secret garden in our brain where

the treasure was hidden. And suddenly its door would be opened by the drug or meditation,  and make

us a genius or superman. 😀 —– Though as I wrote in many of my early posts, there is no such magic, but

we are living with unconscious / subconsciousness as a part of our life in every moment.

We are thinking unconsciously, —— and  when we converted  its result to visible or noticeable form as in

the last process in the brain, we start to feel ” Thinking “.

Our eyes are seeing the scenery mostly  without noticing anything —– until something trigger the attention.

Then, conscious process of  WATCHING starts.  Still, during this unconscious seeing, some of the images go

to unconscious memory and  its data process is taking place. ( Some of them may come back in a dream )

So, all about the matters of unconscious / subconsciousness are how to deal with those invisible animals. 😀

How to know or see its tendency,  and to know how to control them.

—— and this is what all about the Buddhism.

—–

When I was in my junior school,  we were taught to keep the school tidy and clean.

So too, pick up the trash on the floor.  Teachers told us ” Picking it up, while you are thinking ” This is a trash,

I have to pick up” is not good enough yet.  Pick it up without thinking is what you have to do “.

In fact, effectively  we were taught Zen practice in the junior school. ( Whether a teacher was

aware, this is the Zen Practice or not —– such Ethos has been  so deeply embedded in the Japanese culture,

people are no longer bother to distinguish its origin )

Picking up a trash without thinking ( ie; in Mushin )and put it into a bin,  how many second does it need ?

And living in a clean environment all day without bothered by dirt ( ie; in Peace of Mind ). Who needs more ?

So,  we were taught and learned the way to live in the clean environment.

And this Ethos and the Practice has been  embedded into our deep subconsciousness as a habit.

—— therefore one’s room would be clean,  not mention his (her) own life.  ( Well, ideally  😀  )

You may say ” What ?  Is this All about the Buddhism ?”—–Yes it is. It’s a Dog shit isn’t it.  😀

Yet this Dog Shit would clean up your life and give you a Peace of Mind and the Nirvana.  That’s

why ” Every body was born with Dharma and anybody can get Nirvana “

( Of cause, Buddhism and the Zen practice will not end with picking up a trash.

It is a start and it is a metaphor  😀 )

And how to utilize those mechanism of subconsciousness to more proactive situations, such as

in the creative front is what I wrote before —– ( Please refer to Category / Art )

___/\___

—-