vanishing points...

a sketch by robert delunay from 1924 expressing "the contradictory rules in the use of perspective: for example, in the representation of a table - 2 according to the eastern tradition and - 1, the western." he goes on to say that the representation of space through mechanical devices has "poisoned hundreds of years of painting" and condemns cubism for not creating a new language, but simply creating a "superficial" shift in one that already existed.

of course, the drawing, intended to simply be a diagram, is beautiful. there's something pure about the lack of labor or overthinking... it's just the simple laying down of a thought - just a guy with a pencil drawing tables from different angles.

last night i went to see billy bragg perform. to be honest, i bought his first record when it came out, and haven't listened to his music in over 20 years. i haven't gone to see a straight ahead music show in a long time (largely because the last few were terrible...). while his politics were heavy handed at times, there was something inspiring about the power of a guy with a guitar, on stage, trying his best to change the world.

preaching to a room of like minded thinkers also creates shifts that might be considered superficial, but even small shifts draw attention to something within us; and action is action no matter if it is the activist, perceptual, or poetic that guides us.

as pure as delunay's simple drawing is, it not only reflects his ideas and intentions, but contains the promise of transcending these things, suggesting numerous other places of wandering. looking and listening are also action. a guy on a stage with an electric guitar, singing his ass off doesn't necessarily send me to a protest march, as much as i marvel at how powerful and moving a human being can be when they mean it.

perhaps in both cases i'm discarding the message, and finding my own meaning, but inspiration is a shift in one's being... a small one perhaps, but a far cry from superficial...