In Morocco, you can’t go into any Mosque. Well, actually there is one in Casablanca that you can go in. Personally, I think it is great that they maintain this separation. In the medinas of Marrakesh and Fes, it at times became choked with groups of tourists. To maintain some level of sanctity, the last […]
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26May
2017
SHOOT DOWN
2017
Always take advantage of the opportunity to take photos looking down. When traveling, you are given many opportunities to go up into things. This might be the camponeili of a cathedral. You might be able to walk along the top of the medieval wall of a city. The road that you are driving on might […]
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24May
2017
REASON OF OBJECTS
2017
Most of us would agree that our concept of representational drawing is “a mere feeble analogue of a reality which overflows it in every direction. “ Drawing is “an absolute positing of that which, lying beyond every object, contains in itself the sufficient reason of objects.” The above quotes are from St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium, as […]
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22May
2017
LEON FERRARI
2017
Let’s start the week off with this consideration of this great quote from Leon Ferrari: “I draw silent handwritten words, which tell things, with lines that recall voices. And I write drawings that recite memories that words cannot say.” Ferrari was an Argentinian artist who was concerned, among many other things, about meaning, drawing and […]
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19May
2017
NEO-CONCRETE
2017
Architecture or drawing can be understood only thru the filter of a viewer’s subjectivity. This is a core belief of a Brazilian group of artists working in the late 1950s. They called themselves Grupo Neoconcreto. They came into being as a reaction against the formulaic rationalism of Concrete art. This movement had as it’s core […]
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17May
2017
ISLAMIC POLLOCK
2017
I take photos of Islamic calligraphic writing on buildings. In a Madrassa in Morocco, I was struck by the caligraphic similarities of this Koranic text and Jackson Pollock’s paintings, photo above. This building was built in around 800 AD, which was just after the Islamic conquests of North Africa. I’ve seen a lot of Koranic […]
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15May
2017
FES TANNERIES
2017
The tanneries in Fes, Morocco are of course world famous. Animal hides are tanned and colored in large vats. All of the dyes are natural. Saffron is yellow. Mint is used for green. Poppies for red. Indigo for blue. Etc. All the work is done by hand. And from the descriptions that we were given, […]
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12May
2017
BEAUTIFUL FUNCTION
2017
The road from Tinghir to Midelt in Morocco has to be one of the world’s great drives. Take the R703. The mountainous scenery on either side is like no other. There was hardly any traffic. The light is clear and evocative. As usual with a rental car (Peugeot, diesel, 5 speed), we were applying the […]
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10May
2017
ACT OF DRAWING
2017
This is an excellent and concise meditation on the act of drawing: “Drawing is…at its most basic the product of no more than a pen or pencil taken to a sheet of paper. Any material that may make a mark or leave a trace may be used. Any support, from manifold varieties of paper to […]
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8May
2017
RIAD
2017
Punctured by light. That’s the best way I can describe a Moroccan Riad. This page comes to you from Morocco. I was not aware of this specific type of structure until last week and this week. We have been staying in Riad houses the past 1.5 weeks as we traverse the country. A riad is […]
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