the playlist of wondering

Swamped by thoughts, reflections and introspection, we need something to accompany the process. I want to celebrate the deep loss in universes of minds with a playlist that makes wondering a fascination.

karen o - rapt

jack kilmer - tm

cass mccombs - night of the world

real estate - april's song

cat stevens - don't be shy

yo la tengo - green arrow

arthur russell - oh fernanda why

john maus - do your best

happiness is not a value but a state of comparison

 

Some words are phrased in ways so smart, they start to make you feel ditzy. When I read the paraphrase of Sylvia Whitman commenting on what Zadie Smith's literary message, I was swamped.

On hearing word 'happiness', I am automatically out of conversation. Trying to save myself from listening to mediocre life wisdom and pretentious reflections on other's traumas, I am sceptical about small talks on how to smile by changing own attitude.

Somewhere deep within, I know it all comes back to me and the zany states of my irrational mind, yet the element of comparison hit me. I started to analyse my ways of thinking founded on unconscious jealousy and unadmitted aspiration.

I am living the certain way now and I guess it is the way it is, because it was meant for me and no one else. Somehow, I feel more special now than half an hour ago.

the story of a glove by max klinger

Woman drops a glove and the man picks it from the ground. That's the moment when it becomes a fetishized object, a spark for surreal hallucinations and imaginings.

Max Klinger, a symbolist, has created a series of etchings that let the glove live a life of its own. It is a life of fantasy and dream, where everything is elusive and fleeting, such as the sights we catch or our constant pondering. The glove turns into an attribute, haunting, tormenting the man, eliciting visions, illusions, carrying his mind into an outlandish spaces and worlds. You can't live a real life when emotions are deceived.

Our ways of interpretation of the glove are boundless. The dreaming continues. There are fantasies we want to live in. 

 

And Klinger, he closes the series. Later on, an asteroid will be named after him to commemorate the  talent, art, the universe.

two women throwing flowers during carnival

When I think of impressionism I hear the names. Pisarro, Cezanne, Manet, Renoir. The pantheon of art masters is already filled, but I am not looking for technical perfection. I am looking for innovation.

If works of Mary Cassatt have never existed, impressionism would probably remain as we know it. Her painting did not revolutionize, but spoke words of her own and very private manifesto. Observing women's relationships and bonds, there is no trivality in the subject and aesthetical appeal merge with a meaning in symbiosis.

Exhibiting with impressionist in Paris by invitation of Edgar Degas, art of Cassatt was swiftly evading cheap sentimentalism. She created an image of a New Woman in pastel hue. And she embodied one.  

the utopia of walter gropius

Physical and emotional needs of the society need to merge with order of space. Good architect is the one to grasp the sociological factor, while creating practically impeccable and aesthetically innovative projects. That’s what Walter Gropius used to think so he founded Bauhaus.

The German architect surpassed his contemporaries with utopian visions of perfect community emerging from the architectonical grounds. A complex theory of Gropius embraced the educational aspect focused on practical experience that bridged with the understanding of biological processes and the industrial era was supposed to result in finest architectonical solutions. He wrote a series of essays on his predictions of the visual future of cities. Idealistic to the bone, that you seem to end up reading a well-written tale on the block of flats.

Walter Gropius is part of architect pantheon  next to Le Corbusier and Gerrit Rietveld. The concept of Bauhaus is not an archaic one. It just seems a misfit for any period in history.  

baby love girl

Let my baby stay. Baby’s wearing blue jeans. She’s really all I need. Baby. Love in stereo. She’s the one. Game of love. Another girl another planet. Crazy love.  Everybody want to fall in love. Wait for my love. Love makes it all worthwhile. Only love can break your heart. Baby let me take you home. Best of my love. Bye bye baby. Dedicated to the one I love. Girls and boys. Love rollercoaster. Girl from the northern country. Love is a rose. Jessie’s girl. Kill for love. Come back baby. Ordinary girls. Le temps de l’amour. You always hurt the one you love. I still love you. Somebody’s baby. Canadian girl. Lotta love. With a girl like you. I was made to love her. Girl. Sweet lovin’ baby. Nothin’ in the world can stop me worrying about that girl.

I figured out that all songs I constantly feel like playing on repeat always include word ‘girl’, ‘love’ and ‘baby’.

What does it say about me?

thinking of flowers

Flower is the simple form on nature. It can be treated as something untouchable, a part of the earth, its cold, brown ground. But we make it into an object, an embellishment, imposing it with beauty emphasized by a crystal vase, so as soon it wilts, we throw it away, as it reminds us that beauty is a transient.

Flowers have been painted all over the years. If part of landscapes, they contributed to the radiance of the view. If sketched as a central element of the work of art, they defined the ultimate beauty canon of the age. Then, they were applied onto fabrics and textiles. So when they folded as a cover of our duvet or a pattern on our beloved dress, we could feel our attractiveness glowing out.

The flower is a synonym of something desirable that we want to observe from a distance and possess at the same time. Our attitude to flower reflects our attitude towards love and life.