You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>MONDAY</strong><br />
<strong>ARTPOST</strong><br />
<strong>0606</strong>-<strong>2022</strong><br />
ISSN1918-6991<br />
<strong>MONDAY</strong><strong>ARTPOST</strong>.COM<br />
Columns by Artists and Writers<br />
Bob Black / Cem Turgay / Fiona<br />
Smyth / Gary Michael Dault /<br />
Holly Lee / Kai Chan / Mak Fung /<br />
Shelley Savor / Tamara Chatterjee<br />
/ Wilson Tsang<br />
+ Camera etc (Shan Hai Jin, 4x5)<br />
words and photo by Lee Ka-sing<br />
<strong>MONDAY</strong> <strong>ARTPOST</strong> published on Mondays. Columns by Artists and Writers. All Right Reserved. Published since 2002.<br />
An Ocean and Pounds publication. ISSN 1918-6991. email to: mail@oceanpounds.com
A number of WAYS to not miss your weekly<br />
<strong>MONDAY</strong> <strong>ARTPOST</strong><br />
Subscribe inbox Notifications about new issue<br />
https://oceanpounds.com/pages/artpost<br />
Browse OCEANPOUNDS front page<br />
https://oceanpounds.com<br />
Visit OCEAN POUNDS Reading Room<br />
https://oceanpounds.com/blogs/rr<br />
Follow FACEBOOK Page<br />
https://facebook.com/mondayartpost<br />
Follow INSTAGRAM<br />
https://www.instagram.com/oceanpounds<br />
Follow TWITTER<br />
https://twitter.com/ocean_pounds<br />
Join PATREON membership<br />
https://patreon.com/doubledoublestudio<br />
“There is always<br />
Music amongst the<br />
trees in the Garden,<br />
but our hearts must be<br />
very quiet to hear it.”<br />
Minnie Aumonier
CHEEZ <strong>2022</strong><br />
at 50 Gladstone Avenue<br />
Saloon, Toronto.<br />
31 originals from Cheez<br />
series by Fiona Smyth.<br />
Exhibition runs thru<br />
June 18, <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Visit by appointment<br />
mail@oceanpounds.com
CHEEZ<br />
Fiona Smyth
ART LOGBOOK<br />
Holly Lee<br />
1. Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker (a 2011 Installation)<br />
https://www.yorkstmarys.org.uk/exhibition/2011-installation-thirty-pieces-of-silver/<br />
2. The “Big history of our world” in 18 minutes by David Christian<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqc9zX04DXs<br />
YouTube (18 min.)
Leaving Taichung<br />
Station<br />
Bob Black<br />
Trois couleurs: 最 好 的 時 光<br />
“Does the world have nothing inside but sorrow?”–Andrei Platonov<br />
“On windy or rainy days, naturally there are times when these clocks would stop…”-- 陳 黎<br />
II<br />
2014-2020: Phthalo Blue (a time for love)<br />
Toronto – Taichung – Taipei – Toronto<br />
Words, like small billows under hull, tiller the jib of my meandering thoughts. Pictures, like wisps<br />
of exhalation, rudder the carriage of my body’s hinting. I have always worked both, rhyme and flap,
Endings before the beginning had even blossomed, blue as the coal night, blue as the touch of your<br />
tongue on my body, blue as the Noctiluca scintillans familying at night along Taiwan’s islands,<br />
sparkling love and loss<br />
藍 色 的 眼 淚<br />
to set my life’s navigation right—Ballast of Boom and Keel—the steerage from which I have tried to<br />
helm my way home. A halyard in its pulling.<br />
This is how he snagged and snared, his blue eyes like Centaurea cyanus, cornflower wild in the field<br />
of his gaze and his words ran through me like my mother’s milk, for it was he who opened my taste<br />
to uncanny and wobbly things, surrendering my predilection for mistrust to care and leaps and<br />
undoing. Tangled trees our limbs became until I grew new roots that begun in the slow, waving<br />
of the east Beaches and scampered across oceans and feted itself over bowls of eels in Taichung<br />
and later singing to the distant mountains of the train station, lanterns guiding us along the spines<br />
and secret whispers of 九 份 , cats pursuing like jealous lovers, our hearts together, mine for the<br />
first time, in fire fettle and ferocious and he spoken as the sky curtained the sea: “the friscalating<br />
dusklight”, a strange love song I only learned later but that it how it began, all blue words and blue<br />
eyes and blue skies stretched over blue water and blue tea. Little did I know, then, our hearts would<br />
grow blue as well, blue as the rust on oiled, long gone steel, our hearts blue as the ghosts that carry<br />
their teeth in silk bags and render them mute, blue as the ache in his bones and his soon-to-stop<br />
raging heart, blue the color of his chest and railroading scar after his blue heart was scalped open<br />
and the black-blue valve, dead from the blue oxygen of which it was deprived and removed to be<br />
replaced by a mechanical blue-steel one and blue when I left our love and our city in the time of<br />
Covid.<br />
And then the ocean took us, as did life, all of it, gone. And I could see death’s disguise hanging on<br />
me.<br />
But the colors had yet a surprise for us, blazing through the skystar in the shape and sweet sweep of<br />
wine.<br />
In the swallowing of a new time and a new color and there it was lapping up everything in front of<br />
us,<br />
waiting.<br />
Phthalo blue, where was the halo of our love and our life, blue-deaf everywhere: the lost blue faces<br />
on the streets, the leaving blue faces on the airplane, the made blue ocean on the southern sea, the<br />
raucous blue words of my mothers and aunt and the soft blue lullaby my dead grandmother sang to<br />
him one night, of which I would find out later. All blue.<br />
The blue of the bitter melon, the blue of the magic and sea, the blue of the rain in Kenting, all gone<br />
now, or so it seemed. The blue leather flintcraw of our life, our words and teeth and bones, all laying<br />
in beds far apart.
ProTesT<br />
Cem Turgay
Greenwood<br />
Kai Chan<br />
Drawing, pastel, graphite on paperr
Poem a Week<br />
Gary Michael Dault<br />
High Flying<br />
deep sea blue<br />
with islands far below<br />
I love the stratosphere<br />
it’s cleaner<br />
than emptiness<br />
up here<br />
the whole sky shudders<br />
if I cough<br />
a tiger<br />
twelve miles below me<br />
yawns over<br />
an entire town<br />
there are icicles<br />
on my fingertips<br />
I’m drifting<br />
like a pollen of ground glass<br />
the more I sparkle<br />
the more the tiger will look up
TANGENTS<br />
Wilson Tsang<br />
The Instance
Caffeine Reveries<br />
Shelley Savor<br />
Restless Dreamers
From the Notebooks<br />
(2010-<strong>2022</strong>)<br />
Gary Michael Dault<br />
Number 140: The Ampersand Wagon (or Red Pitcher in Transit), May 9, 2020.<br />
There is a little poem-scribble beside the painting that reads (after William Carlos Williams): “So much<br />
depends / on a red pitcher / being hauled / from place / to place.”
Travelling Palm<br />
Snapshots<br />
Tamara Chatterjee<br />
Morocco (September, 2014) – From France<br />
we navigated our way to Marrakesh, slowly<br />
maneuvering the Medina and its various<br />
moorish sites. I spent the vast majority of<br />
my time; admiring the ridiculously beautiful<br />
mosaics tiles and playing hide & seek with the<br />
shadows cast from the height of the midday<br />
sun.
Yesterday Hong Kong<br />
Mak Fung<br />
Central Market (1960)<br />
The market was built in 1937. Completely revitalized in 2009 and turned into a leisure landmark of retails and<br />
eateries.<br />
Gelatin silver photograph, 8x10 inch<br />
From the collection of Lee Ka-sing and Holly Lee
Support and Become our Patreon member<br />
https://www.patreon.com/doubledoublestudio<br />
Unlimited access to all<br />
read-on-line books, patrons<br />
only contents. Collecting<br />
artworks at discounts.<br />
Patreon Membership: Friend of Double Double ($5), Benefactor Member ($10), Print Collector ($100) Monthly subscription in US currency
Camera etc<br />
(Shan Hai Jin, 4x5),<br />
by Lee Ka-sing.<br />
An excert from “Donkey,<br />
camera, and old lang<br />
syne” (Double Double,<br />
Feb edition, <strong>2022</strong>).
山 海 經 , 4x5<br />
楚 喬 說 , 這 個 就 算 是 結 婚 三 十 週 年 你 送 給 我 的 禮 物 吧 。<br />
這 具 4x5 的 照 相 機 是 大 約 在 2010 年 底 , 我 裝 嵌 給 楚 喬 拍 攝 一 組 她 稱 為 「 山 海 經 」 的 照 片 。 照<br />
片 在 她 心 中 已 醞 釀 了 一 段 時 期 ,2010 年 才 開 始 拍 攝 , 她 拍 攝 多 倫 多 的 公 園 。 其 實 也 不 一 定<br />
是 多 倫 多 , 只 是 從 周 邊 附 近 先 開 始 而 已 。 開 始 的 時 候 , 她 使 用 SINAR Handy, 用 6x12 片<br />
背 , 一 卷 120 膠 卷 可 拍 六 張 。SINAR Handy 有 可 移 動 鏡 板 , 我 們 有 90mm,65mm 及 47mm 鏡<br />
頭 可 選 用 , 都 是 鏡 後 有 螺 旋 環 可 以 調 校 焦 距 。Holly 選 用 了 47mm, 她 的 照 片 是 橫 1 比 3 的 比<br />
例 , 換 句 話 說 ,6x12 的 片 幅 還 要 裁 去 上 或 下 的 少 許 。<br />
這 個 「 山 海 經 」 計 劃 , 她 試 拍 了 一 點 , 便 換 上 了 這 具 改 裝 過 的 照 相 機 。 由 於 相 機 主 要 設 計<br />
用 來 完 善 這 項 拍 攝 計 劃 , 這 頭 工 具 , 就 也 姑 稱 之 為 「 山 海 經 」 吧 ( 下 文 簡 以 「 山 」 為 代<br />
號 )。 其 實 SINAR Handy 已 經 是 很 輕 便 的 4x5 照 相 機 , 山 的 重 量 是 SH 的 一 半 。 木 造 , 但 後<br />
組 裝 片 的 部 分 仍 沿 用 了 SINAR 的 配 件 。 鏡 頭 直 接 裝 在 機 身 並 拼 棄 了 調 焦 功 能 。 從 鏡 間 到 片<br />
背 的 距 離 固 定 在 「 無 限 值 」, 照 相 機 的 機 身 厚 度 約 為 47mm, 即 大 概 相 當 於 鏡 頭 的 焦 距 。<br />
簡 單 的 說 , 這 頭 照 相 機 是 完 全 沒 有 對 焦 功 能 ( 也 許 正 確 的 說 是 不 用 對 焦 ), 它 也 沒 有 外 置<br />
觀 景 器 。 當 然 , 有 著 高 質 素 的 鏡 頭 , 也 可 調 校 光 圈 。 這 個 拼 棄 的 過 程 , 除 了 棄 去 不 必 要 重<br />
量 , 簡 樸 以 便 服 , 更 主 要 的 還 是 一 個 哲 學 性 的 考 慮 。 拍 攝 的 過 程 也 即 是 心 理 活 動 的 過 程 。<br />
山 比 一 具 35mm 單 反 還 輕 。 使 用 一 支 我 們 手 上 最 小 號 的 Gitzo 或 Linhof 三 腳 架 已 足 夠 。 架 起<br />
相 機 先 要 固 定 好 水 平 。 這 是 觀 點 的 問 題 。 然 後 選 定 景 物 的 中 間 點 。47mm 鏡 頭 在 4x5 機 相 當<br />
於 14mm 鏡 頭 在 35mm 照 相 機 , 涵 括 點 約 105 度 , 假 若 你 心 中 有 一 枚 量 角 器 , 大 概 可 以 預 見 到<br />
從 左 方 至 右 方 會 括 進 甚 麼 景 物 。 拍 攝 如 此 景 物 , 我 相 信 大 片 幅 會 比 小 片 幅 為 恰 當 , 當 然 這<br />
是 主 觀 的 看 法 。 又 或 你 想 景 物 有 盡 量 稀 少 細 部 訊 息 , 那 麼 小 片 幅 已 是 足 夠 了 。 這 是 大 物 縮<br />
小 再 還 原 , 其 間 所 流 失 份 量 的 考 量 。 當 然 , 優 良 的 工 具 可 以 比 較 有 効 地 控 制 流 失 量 。
不 過 我 認 為 大 片 幅 與 小 片 幅 的 比 較 , 更 主 要 的 是 使 用 不 同 工 具 在 一 個 相 同 環 境 中 所 衍 生 出<br />
來 的 不 同 心 理 狀 態 , 假 若 我 們 抽 象 地 假 設 兩 者 都 可 以 給 出 完 全 相 同 的 結 像 質 素 。 一 個 比 較<br />
簡 單 的 論 述 , 用 小 型 機 你 會 多 拍 幾 幀 , 使 用 大 片 幅 照 相 機 你 會 看 得 準 確 , 或 是 醞 釀 , 或 是<br />
推 敲 , 方 才 按 下 快 門 。 是 這 個 原 因 , 即 使 不 同 的 大 片 幅 照 相 機 , 使 用 上 由 於 要 照 顧 不 同 細<br />
節 , 也 會 衍 生 出 不 同 的 心 理 狀 態 。 走 文 及 此 , 相 信 可 以 領 會 出 另 造 一 具 照 相 機 的 囑 意 。 也<br />
樸 素 也 華 麗 , 它 背 後 是 有 著 複 式 的 考 量 。 我 們 抽 掉 了 在 戶 外 使 用 大 片 幅 照 相 機 , 取 景 對 焦<br />
等 複 雜 程 序 。 甚 至 , 完 全 不 提 供 觀 看 取 景 器 的 機 會 , 不 周 旋 於 構 圖 細 節 , 你 站 在 大 自 然 的<br />
前 面 , 裸 眼 觀 察 , 物 像 與 心 像 合 而 為 一 。 併 棄 了 小 的 觀 景 窗 , 其 實 是 一 個 大 的 觀 景 窗 。<br />
楚 喬 的 「 山 海 經 」 系 列 照 片 , 屬 於 簡 約 直 接 拍 攝 , 同 時 又 是 非 常 觀 念 性 的 作 品 。 很 需 要 保<br />
留 盡 可 能 擁 有 的 細 節 , 所 以 適 宜 使 用 較 大 的 片 幅 。 此 外 , 工 具 的 可 㩗 行 性 以 及 操 作 上 的 忘<br />
我 程 度 , 拍 攝 當 刻 的 心 理 狀 態 都 可 能 與 照 片 產 生 著 關 係 。 由 於 本 文 主 要 是 談 及 照 相 機 背 後<br />
的 設 計 理 念 , 我 就 不 再 進 一 步 去 釋 及 她 作 品 本 身 。2014 年 寫 了 一 首 詩 , 有 著 一 個 很 長 的 題<br />
目 :「 正 在 下 樓 梯 的 Holly, 從 三 樓 走 到 地 面 的 畫 廊 。 她 正 準 備 外 出 到 Trinity Bellwoods 公<br />
園 拍 攝 一 張 照 片 」 我 寫 她 從 家 中 經 過 畫 廊 到 鐘 活 公 園 拍 照 。 這 個 過 程 某 程 度 也 是 多 年 來 掙<br />
扎 , 友 情 , 活 動 , 思 考 的 過 程 。 我 說 鐘 活 公 園 的 樹 梢 倒 掛 著 神 話 的 精 靈 , 也 即 是 楚 喬 述 說<br />
婆 娑 樹 影 鱗 光 閃 閃 的 背 後 。<br />
“ 你 看 透 春 天 按 下 快 門 捉 住 四 季 變 幻 於 一 身 ”<br />
我 將 該 詩 最 的 一 行 抄 下 作 為 本 文 結 語 , 以 及 附 錄 楚 喬 寫 的 一 則 關 於 「 山 海 經 」 照 片 的 序<br />
述 , 提 供 給 有 興 趣 的 朋 友 作 為 助 讀 。<br />
“Shan Hai Jing is a photographic collection of park panoramas, a travelogue through time, myths<br />
and imagination. Having lived for a number of years in Canada, I started to feel a sense of belonging,<br />
and eager to explore different textures of the city. I started to photograph parks, which are abundant<br />
in Toronto. The preoccupation of shooting parks perhaps arises from the aspiration of wanting to see<br />
things beyond specific time, space and geographic locations. A mind journey. Are there more stories<br />
to tell, things to be reckoned with in these seemingly ordinary places? My passage is not guarded nor<br />
ruled by time. Moving between the real and the imaginary, springing and bouncing off the trampoline<br />
to create free falls. In other words, my idea is to “rephrase” the ancient Shan Hai Jing texts with my<br />
own observation and narration, mixing contemporary and old, familiar and unfamiliar, visible and<br />
invisible, an acrobatic act springing back and forth in the arc of time.”<br />
Shan Hai Jin, 4x5<br />
Holly refers to this as a present for our Thirtieth Anniversary.<br />
This 4x5 camera was built in 2010 for Holly, to shoot a series of photographs in the parks of Toronto<br />
entitled Shan Hai Jin. In the beginning, Holly used SINAR Handy for the shots, with a 6x12 film<br />
back, in which a 120 roll film would take six frames. Our SINAR Handy was equipped with a shift<br />
lens board, and three lenses - 90mm, 65mm, 47mm, all with focusing devices. She picked the 47mm.<br />
Her finished photograph is in 1:3 proportion, which means, for a 6x12 image, a bit of either the top or<br />
the bottom would have to be cropped.<br />
I built this camera for her, right after she had started the project. The SINAR Handy is in fact quite<br />
a compact 4x5, but the one I built is only half the weight. I took off the focusing device, with the lens<br />
directly mounted on the body, the focal distance was preset to infinitive. This camera was made of<br />
wood, and I kept the rear portion of the original SINAR .<br />
This camera has no focusing device, it is simply unnecessary. It does not have an external viewfinder<br />
either. The idea of reconstructing a camera, apart from the weight issue, there is also a philosophical<br />
consideration. We believe the psychological aspect will surely affect the way how a photograph will<br />
be taken.<br />
It is lighter than most 35mm DSLRs, our small Gitzo or Linhof tripod is good enough for it. So long as<br />
the camera is in level (which is an important issue), and the subject at the centre is chosen, you can<br />
figure out how much will be included on the both ends. A 47mm lens on 4x5 is approximately equal<br />
to a 14mm lens on 35mm, covers about 105 degrees. For landscape photography, the larger the format<br />
is, the better. When a large piece of scenery is scaled down into a tiny frame of film, and blown up<br />
again into a large photograph, losing information during the process matters. Superior lenses can hold<br />
the quality of an image, but still can not beat the format issue. A smaller format could certainly be<br />
used, of course, if crucial detail is not that important.<br />
Put it this way - even though we assume both formats can deliver the same good image quality, the<br />
psychological factor while shooting with different sizes camera could lead to different outcome. Take<br />
for an example, while using a candid 35mm you tend to take more frames, in comparison, using a<br />
large format, the process is slower. You might consider more before pushing the shutter.<br />
Despite the fact that you are on the same boat of using large formats, the configuration of the camera
might change the way you handle the shot. Taking a photograph on location with a large format<br />
camera, focusing and composing an image through the upside down ground-glass is not a simple task.<br />
For that reason, I eliminated all the focusing and viewfinder options. The camera becomes merely<br />
simple equipment, with a piece of good optic on. You are framing and focusing on the landscape<br />
through your naked eyes - a larger and flexible viewfinder. You guesstimate the shot and click the<br />
shutter. The creating part takes over the operational part. A totally different process and experience.<br />
Holly’s Shan Hai Jin is a series of straightforward, but conceptual photo work. The subject needs<br />
more detail to hold the contents, the reason a large format was put to use. Yet, the image is more<br />
emotionally driven than just technically perfect. The camera thus, was constructed with these<br />
considerations in mind. In 2014, I wrote a poem about her going out to take a photograph at the<br />
Trinity Bellwoods Park. The journey I described, from home to the gallery, and to the park is also the<br />
journey for the years we live in this city. The struggles, friendships, activities and reflections. I end<br />
this article with the last line of my poem -<br />
“Criss crossing all the Springs, you push your shutter capturing the up-and-downs of four seasons<br />
into one”<br />
你 看 透 春 天 按 下 快 門 捉 住 四 季 變 幻 於 一 身<br />
Holly has written an introduction of her Shan Hai Jin series, I quote in the below.<br />
“Shan Hai Jing is a photographic collection of park panoramas, a travelogue through time, myths,<br />
and imagination. Having lived for years in Canada, I started to feel a sense of belonging, and eager<br />
to explore different textures of the city. I started to photograph parks, which are abundant in Toronto.<br />
The preoccupation of shooting parks perhaps arises from the aspiration of wanting to see things<br />
beyond specific time, space and geographic locations. A mind journey. Are there more stories to tell,<br />
things to be reckoned with in these seemingly ordinary places? My passage is not guarded nor ruled<br />
by time. Moving between the real and the imaginary, springing and bouncing off the trampoline to<br />
create free falls. My idea is to “rephrase” the ancient Shan Hai Jing texts with fresh observation and<br />
narration, mixing contemporary and old, familiar and unfamiliar, visible and invisible. An acrobatic<br />
act springing back and forth in the arc of time.”<br />
(trans. LKS and Holly)<br />
Holly taking photograph at High Park (2014)
“The Fence, the Garden, the Connoisseur”<br />
(DOUBLE DOUBLE, May edition <strong>2022</strong>)<br />
View Trailer Copy:<br />
https://oceanpounds.com/blogs/book/fgc<br />
Subscription:<br />
https://www.patreon.com/doubledoublestudio
Under the management of Ocean and Pounds<br />
Since 2008, INDEXG B&B have served curators, artists,<br />
art-admirers, collectors and professionals from different<br />
cities visiting and working in Toronto.<br />
INDEXG B&B<br />
48 Gladstone Avenue, Toronto<br />
Booking:<br />
mail@indexgbb.com<br />
416.535.6957