Under Construction

What moves you?

What influences you?

Under Const­­­– ruction

Sohini Mukherjee

Contents: 01.

Editorial Note

05.

Pages: 06-07

02.

Up & Up

Pages: 24-25

06.

Pages: 28-29

Pages: 08-13

Deliberate Mistakes

Wabi- Sabi

07.

03.

Calcutta/ Kolkata

04.

Pages: 18-21

Faig Ahmed

08.

Pages: 22-23

Comfortably Numb

Pages: 32-33

Dr. Amri Yahya

Pages: 30-31

09.

Grafitti art

13.

Pages: 36-37

10.

Alexander Mcqueen

Pages: 62-65

14.

Pages: 38-39

Pages: 70-71

Yayoi Kusama

The impermanent

11.

Paul Rand, Alan Fletcher, Pages: Quentin Blake, 42-57 Maurice Sendak

15.

Life of Pi, Pages: Salvador Dali, 72-84 Ruins, Shadow of the day

16.

12.

Pages: 58-61 Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo

Pages: 92-95 The incomplete, Ikigai

Editorial Note:

Every human being goes through trials and tribulations in their lives and so have I. However, that does not mean that I do not respect my life or the experiences it got me. Every bad experience that has pushed me to the edge has made me mentally stronger, bolder, and more selfaware. While reflecting on those times, I realized that without conscious effort, Wabi–Sabi is a Japanese philosophy which influences my life, work and how I make sense of things happening around me.

Wabi-sabi believes things are always more beautiful for bearing the marks of age and individuality.

Imperfect: I come from a city like Kolkata which has been forever stuck in time and doused in the clutter of inheritance. It was when I moved away from my city that I realized that I missed the chipping paint from the walls, the hand drawn rickshaws, the simple rustic tea stalls by the side of the road, how the evening sky glowed red before an impending Norwesters storm. The beauty in the imperfect.

My love for handicraft and textiles came with my love for organicness attached to the magic of flawed human touch. I was further surprised to comprehend that most of the artists/ designers I follow or whose ideas have been drawn to either have this sense of effortless imperfect perfection in their work or have lived a life of difficulty, but transform their flaws and channel their energy into

8

Under Construction

creating something beautiful.

My life has been a constant battle with perfection. Unfortunately, perfection never shook hands with me. For the longest time, this frustrated me because while I could work on some, the others just came along with my idea of existence. I was not born out of the mould of perfection, I would imagine a happy accident occurred during the act of my creation. While this does not fulfil the standards of something to look up to, it makes me

unique, quirky. I have started to stop fighting it and growing into it with time. Acceptance, letting go, maturity and most importantly building something beautiful out of something broken is what I think Wabi–sabi truly is.

Impermanent/ Transient: The most memorable parts from all my travels are the moments of being overwhelmed by the beauty and massiveness of nature in solitude, taking it all in as I know that this fleeting moment is about to expire. I love how nature, time, space is always changing, there are so many thoughts that go through our head every single day, in our sleep our subconscious mind thinks 200 times faster than its wakeful hours. These thoughts all go away, which I sometimes wondered, where? But the good thing is that you get to live a lifetime constructed of seconds which are filled with so many different experiences and stories. When I feel my trouble are too much, I look up at the sky and see a shooting star, and realise that if a universe that vast, a part of the system that defines existence can also be constantly evolving, so can I. ‘This too shall pass’.

Incomplete: I believe my soul is under construction still trying to identify what it’s true purpose in life is. I feel there are still many unanswered questions about my identity which leaves a sense of incompleteness in me. I like to push myself to see how far I can go and what are the hidden abilities in me, each day is a new self-discovery. The quest for my ultimate purpose has driven me to a lot of different fields of study, and somehow this helps me unravel a new chapter to my identity that I was not aware of. My journey is reflected on the work I do, and I think a huge factor that influences me.

Editorial note

9

Wabi– Sabi

Wabi-Sabi refers to the beauty of the impermanent, the imperfect, the rustic, and the melancholy. It derives not from the love of invincibility, youth and flawlessness, but from a respect for what is passing, fragile, slightly broken and modest. Wabi-sabi believes the things are always more beautiful forbearing the marks of age and individuality.

When it comes to what things look like, the Western world is obsessed by perfection, by symmetry, and ideal proportion. This is a taste for beauty shaped by reverence for universal laws, mathematics, and an appetite for the perfect and the eternal.

Japanese aesthetics are, however, very different indeed, and the core of the difference is captured in a term for which Western languages have no direct equivalent: a term known as Wabi-Sabi [pronounced: Wah-bisah-bi]. Wabi-Sabi refers to the beauty of the impermanent, the imperfect, the rustic, and the melancholy. It derives not from the love of invincibility, youth and flawlessness, but from a respect for what is passing, fragile, slightly broken and modest. Wabi-sabi believes the things are always more beautiful forbearing the marks of age and individuality; A trickle of glaze or a beautifully repaired crack on a piece of pottery are to be appreciated rather than made invisible. Wabi-sabi’s history is intimately linked with Buddhism

10

Under Construction

and its suggestion that wisdom comes from making peace without transitory, imperfect and unheroic natures Kyushu, Japan.

1191. A monk known as Eisai returns to Japan from China, with plans to create Japan’s first Zen Buddhist temple. Zen presents a challenge to Japan’s indigenous religion; Shinto. Zen offers a complex philosophical system which presents nature with its constant cycles of life and imperfect patterns as a focus of meditation and a lens through which to understand our own transients and emptiness. Zen will go on to be the philosophical bedrock of Wabi-sabi, 14th Century, Japan.The meaning of two words: Wabi and Sabi begin to evolve and become more positive than they had been. Wabi had originally meant the misery and loneliness of living in nature, away from human consolation, but, its meaning now shifts to refer to an almost exquisite bitter sweet melancholy a being on ones’ own. Sabi, meanwhile, which had originally meant chill, lean, or withered, started to denote the marks of aging and wear, which can enhance an object.It refers to a positive impermanence and the welcome and noble signs of time. The ancient pattern of a pot or a crack beautifully mended are now called Sabi.

Wabi-Sabi refers to the beauty of the impermanent, the imperfect, the rustic, and the melancholy. It derives not from the love of invincibility,

youth and flawlessness, but from a respect for what is passing, fragile, slightly broken and modest. Wabi-sabi believes the things are always more beautiful forbearing the marks of age and individuality.

Pottery mended with Gold to celebrate it’s imprerfection.

Old/ reclaimed furniture is said to have more character. Naturasl idiosyncrasies of material is celebrated.

Marks, scratches, mistakes, age, wear and tear is perceived as beautiful and something to be appreciated.

Wabi- sabi

11

Some rug makers used to deliberately make mistakes to make their rugs one of a kind. The collectors look for those mistakes as a sign of authentication.

Paint chipping of the walls, Rust on iron is a sign of endurance and hence adds to it’s character.

12

Under Construction

Fungi or lichen growing on trees moss gowing on old statue.

Life finds a way.

part 1 // The Imperfect

13

rus·tic The Term "Rustic" could be called the

adjective

Western Kin of Wabi- Sabi.

In it’s most basic definition, rustic

1. relating to the countryside; rural.

describes a design that’s natural, rough, aged, and casual, so there are many styles—each drastically

2. made in a plain and simple fashion.

14

Under Construction

different from the other—that can be rustic. Some include Tuscan,

and handmade.

Rustic Is An All-Encompassing Term It Emphasizes For Many Different The Natural Design Styles. coastal, cottage, or what you might

traditionally think of as rustic—lodge.

Rustic

15

The Imp– erfect

Marks, scratches, mistakes, age, wear and tear

20

Under Construction

Calcutta/ Kolkata

Over the years, Calcutta acquired many names: City of

parochial/

Palaces, Black Hole, Grave-

modern

yard of the British Empire. In 2001, it was christened Kolkata — slower, rounder, ostensibly more Bengali-sounding.

To me, it has always been the city of green

shutters. They are a singular fixture of old Calcutta houses. They glow in the steamy heat of the afternoon. Trees sometimes sprout from moldy ledges.

Calcutta today is as parochial as it is modern. It lives in the past as much as it lets its past decay. India’s first global city, it is littered with the remains of many worlds: the rickshaws that the Chinese brought; an Armenian cemetery; dollops of jazz left by Americans in the war years..

Calcutta from the start has confronted some of the most acute debates of modernity. Over three centuries, the folly and ingenuity of global capitalism have left their mark on my city, and then, too, so have the Communists, who have been elected to power for an uninterrupted 31 years. Now New India pokes its finger into Calcutta’s languid belly. The old houses are making way for tall glass and steel, their Calcutta Deco details tossed away like fish-heads. The hammer and sickle remains the refrain of Calcutta graffiti, interrupted now by posters for English classes, the hammer and sickle, you might say, of Indian aspiration today. ‘Great cities get old and somehow renew themselves’, said Mani Sankar Mukherji, whose remarkable 1962 novel, Chowringhee, chronicled life inside a roaring midcentury Calcutta hotel. Calcutta, he confessed, cannot be called a great city.

-A Walk in Calcutta

By SOMINI SENGUPTA, APRIL 29, 2009, The New York Times.

part 1 // The Imperfect

21

22

Under Construction

Calcutta today is as parochial as it is modern.

It lives in the past as much as it lets its past decay.

part 1 // The Imperfect

23

24

Under Construction

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Is there anybody in there?

Just nod if you can hear me Is there anyone at home?

Come on now I hear you’re feeling down Well I can ease your pain Get you on your feet again Relax I’ll need some information first Just the basic facts Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain you are receding A distant ship smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying

When I was a child I had a fever My hands felt just like two balloons Now I’ve got that feeling once again I can’t explain you would not understand This is not how I am I have become comfortably numb Okay Just a little pinprick There’ll be no more, ah But you may feel a little sick Can you stand up?

I do believe it’s working, good That’ll keep you going through the show Come on it’s time to go There is no pain you are receding A distant ship, smoke on the horizon You are only coming through in waves Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye I turned to look but it was gone I cannot put my finger on it now The child is grown The dream is gone I have become comfortably numb

The child is grown The dream is gone

part 1 // The Imperfect

25

Fixing up a car to drive in it again Searching for the water, hoping for the rain Up and up Up and up Down upon the canvas, working meal to meal Waiting for a chance to pick your orange field Up and up Up and up See a pearl form, a diamond in the rough See a bird soaring high above the flood It’s in your blood It’s in your blood Underneath the storm an umbrella is saying Sitting with the poison takes away the pain Up and up Up and up, it’s saying We’re gonna get it, get it together right now

26

Under Construction

Up & Up by Coldplay

Gonna get it, get it together somehow Gonna get it, get it together and flower Whoa We’re gonna get it, get it together I know Gonna get it, get it together and flow Gonna get it, get it together and go Up and up and up Lying in the gutter, aiming for the moon Trying to empty out the ocean with a spoon Up and up

Up and up See the forest there in every seed Angels in the marble waiting to be freed Just need love Just need love, when the going is rough saying We’re gonna get it, get it together right now Gonna get it, get it together somehow Gonna get it, get it together and flower Whoa We’re gonna get it, get it together I know Gonna get it, get it together and flow Gonna get it, get it together and go And you can say what is, or fight for it Close your mind and take a risk You can say "It’s mine" and clench your fist Or see each sunrise as a gift We’re gonna get it, get it together right now..

part 1 // Imperfect

27

Deliberate Mistakes I once worked with a stone mason who was repairing a great fireplace, with the chimney stoned all the way from the mantle to the cathedral ceiling peak. He stood back and surveyed the stone work. What makes this artwork, what makes it beautiful is not a bunch of samesize stones all perfectly lined up in rows. The beauty is in the way the mason works his way out of a ‘problem.’ He gets himself trapped in a corner, and there seems no way out. His symmetry is broken.

But he works around it, finds a new pattern to break him free. Those are the most beautiful stretches of stonework.

That perfection-in-imperfection reminds me of the Navajo rug.

I’m told there is always an imperfection deliberately woven into the corner of the rug. It looks perfect—then there’s this mistake.

Except it’s intentionally put there.

Why? The Navajo say it’s where the Spirit moves in and out of the rug.

That’s hard for us to understand.

Flaw in Navajo Rug

32

Under Construction

God’s Spirit moves in and out of

Traditional, hand-made Persian rugs have intentional flaws because the Muslim artists feel that only God is perfect and can create perfectly. There is a certain ironic arrogance here in that the artist assumes that the intentional imperfect stitch is what makes the rug imperfect.

imperfection? a mistake? We’ve spent our whole life trying to get rid of all imperfection. If we’re not there yet, surely God is!

Tough times always make a mess of our lives. The beautiful pattern you were just about to finish is ruined. When you’re conditioned to manage everything, that’s how it seems. The career pattern is not going to be perfect. The lifestyle design is flawed. The house will never be renovated to match the perfect image in your mind. That’s when it’s time to remember the Navajo rug.

God cannot weave in and out of our lives when we have them all buttoned up tight, sleek, polished to cold perfection. There’s no room for God—no need!

We may not have the spiritual courage to weave those mistakes deliberately, but at least we can accept them as a gift when the fabric of our lives is inevitably torn.

-Deliberate Mistakes, June 18, 2012,

by David Anderson

part 1 // The Imperfect

33

Faig Ahmed Textile Artist

34

Under Construction

is well known for his conceptual works that utilize traditional decorative craft and the visual language of carpets into contemporary sculptural works of art.

His works reimagine ancient crafts and create new visual boundaries by deconstructing traditions and stereotypes. The artist experiments with traditional materials and colors such as the rug weavings in AzerFaig Ahmed is an internationally

baijan or Indian embroidery, yet he explains that he

recognized artist from Baku, Azer-

is not interested in merging the past and present, but

baijan, who represented Azerbaijan

is interested in the past because it’s the most stable

at the Venice Biennale in 2007. He

conception of our lives.

part 1 // The Imperfect

35

Dr. Amri Yahya

The batik tradition is firmly rooted in the design and manufacturing of fashion textiles, and batik as an art form emerged only in the second half of the 20th century under the

Batik Artist

leadership of the Malaysian artist Chuah Thean Teng in the 1950s and the Javanese artist Amri Yahya in the 1970s.

Initially, batik paintings concentrated on rural scenes and figures, but now they run the gamut of styles, from Pop Art to Abstract Expressionism.

AMRI YAHYA (b. 1939, Indonesia) studied at the Indonesian Art AcadBatik by Dr Amri Yahya, who lives and works in

emy (ASRI; Institut Seni Indonesia)

Java. The colourless background of the batik has

in Yogyakarta, the place in which

been completely covered with beeswax. Although

he settled. In 1971 he trained at the

most of the colours have been painted directly onto

State Teachers Training Institute,

the fabric, the blue and green areas were dyed by

and the following year opened Amri

immersion. The gauzy areas of crackle are the result

Gallery, in Yogyakarta. He started

of using paraffin wax. The tjanting’s calligraphic

experimenting with batik painting

marks produce feathery rippling textures in the

and the medium in the 1960’s, and

painted sections.

exhibited in this form from 1974 onwards. Amri Yahya is today recognised as a pioneer of the batik medium in Indonesia.

36

Under Construction

Traditional Kawung and Parang Java Batik motifs

Yahya Amri | The Swamp (1990)

part 1 // The Imperfect

37

Graffiti Art

40

Under Construction

‘People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that’s only if it’s done properly.’

part 1 // Imperfect

41

There is a distinct tendency for art critics and scholars to place Yayoi Kusama into the history of feminist art, although Kusama herself says that she has never thought about feminism and was always too busy with herself to worry about man-woman problems. So why and how has this connection been made? Has the context of the work had a strong influence on how it was seen and interpreted during that time in history?

Yayoi Kusama artist

Kusama has always felt like an outsider due to her mental illness and so immigrated to New York alone in 1958. It was a strug-

gle for her to survive and make Art as well as being taken seriously as an artist. Similar issues were also being experienced by other feminist artists so it is not hard to see how Yayoi Kusama has been honoured as a great forerunner of feminist art.

I think there’s a sort of managing madness about Kusama, which is

44

Under Construction

so utterly sane and interesting.

By doing Freudian analysis, I could analyse my psy-

She’s used her trauma, she’s used

chological problems. The feelings behind my works

these experiences in her past,

are subconscious and psychosomatic. My work is

she’s been able to harness

based on developing my psychological problems

experiences, that might drive

into art.

other people insane to enormously productive ends.She’s an extraordi-

My father had lots of lovers and I had to spy on him

nary person in that way.

for my mother, because my mother was very angry it made even the idea of sex very traumatic for me.

Quotes:

My work is always about overcoming that bad experience.

I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb

I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only

the stairs to Heaven, and I will look

method I have found that relieves my illness is to

down on my beautiful life.

keep creating art. I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me

Accumulation is the result of my

to live.

obsession and that philosophy is the main theme of my art. Accumulation means the stars in the universe don’t exist by themselves nor does the earth exist by itself. It is just like when I saw the flowers everywhere and when I chased them, I felt panicked and so overwhelmed that I wanted to eat them all.

One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe. I felt as if I had begun to self­obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness.

part 1 // The Imperfect

45

Paul Rand Graphic Designer

48

Under Construction

A self-taught-designer, Rand used to spend time in bookshops where he discovered ‘Commercial Art’ and ‘Gebrauchsgrafik’, two leading european graphic arts magazines which introduced him to Bauhaus-ideas.

Bringing intelligence to advertising, Rand was a seller.

He knew that everything should communicate the message to sell.

A lover of minimal typography, Rand used strictly the most functional serif and sans-serif typefaces, combined with his own handwriting and he was one of the first creative minds that was absolute certain on this: a brand identity IS more important than a billboard.

To achieve an effective solution to his problem, the designer must necessarily go through some sort of mental process. Conscious or not, he analyzes, interprets, formulates. He is aware of the scientific and technological developments in his own and kindred fields.

He improvises, invents, or discovers new techniques and combinations. He co-ordinates and integrates his material so that he may restate his problem in terms of ideas, signs, symbols, pictures. He unifies, simplifies, and eliminates superfluities. He symbolizes — abstracts from his material by association and analogy. He intensifies and reinforces his symbol with appropriate accessories to achieve clarity and interest.

He draws upon instinct and intuition. He considers the spectator, his feelings and predilections.”

Paul Rand’s organic Handwritten typography is what attracts me the most in his work. There is a certain sense of effortless perfection in those confident strokes.

part 1 // The Imperfect

49

source of wit, elegance and inspi-

Alan Fletcher

ration. At over a thousand pages, it

Graphic

While designers and design

Designer

students rifle through its pages

is a spectacular treatise on visual thinking, one that illustrates the designer’s sense of play and his broad frame of reference.

for ideas, others enjoy its gently provocative mind-teasers. Assembling the most ambitious of settings for his work, against a background encompassing art, design and literature from pre-history to the present day, Fletcher con-

Synthesising the graphic traditions of Europe and

structs a convincing argument for

North America to develop a spirited, witty and very

graphic design’s role in the course

personal visual style, Alan Fletcher is among the

of civilisation.

most influential figures in British graphic design as a founder of Fletcher/Forbes/Gill in the 1960s and

Alan Fletcher is one of the most

Pentagram in the 1970s.

influential figures in post-war British graphic design. The fusion

50

Designed to be opened at random, The Art of Looking

of the cerebral European tradition

Sideways, Alan Fletcher’s 2001 book, is an unfailing

with North America’s emerging pop

Under Construction

culture in the formulation of his

helped to establish a model of combining commer-

distinct approach made him a pio-

cial partnership with creative independence. He also

neer of independent graphic design

developed some of the most memorable graphic

in Britain during the late 1950s

schemes of the era, notably the identities of Reuters

and 1960s. As a founding partner

and the Victoria & Albert Museum, and made his

of Pentagram in the 1970s, Fletcher

mark on book design as creative director of Phaidon.

part 1 // The Imperfect

51

Quentin Blake Children’s book Illustrator

Quentin Blake was born in the suburbs of London in 1932 and has drawn ever since he can remember.

He went to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, followed by National Service.

Then he studied English at Downing College, Cambridge, going on to do a postgraduate teaching diploma at the University of London, followed by life-classes at Chelsea Art School.

He has always made his living as an illustrator, as well as teaching for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, where he was head of the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986. His first drawings were published in Punch while he was 16 and still at school. He continued to draw for Punch, The Spectator and other magazines over many years, while at the same time entering

58

Under Construction

the world of children’s books with A Drink of Water by John Yeoman in 1960.

He is known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, John Yeoman and, most famously, Roald Dahl. He has also illustrated classic books, including A Christmas Carol and Candide and created much-loved characters of his own, including Mister Magnolia and Mrs Armitage.

Since the 1990s Quentin Blake has had an additional career as exhibition curator, curating shows in, among other places, the National Gallery, the British Library and the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris. In the last few years he has begun to make larger-scale work for hospitals and healthcare settings in the UK and France where his work can be seen in wards and public spaces. Most recently he has completed a scheme for the whole of a new maternity hospital in Angers.

His books have won numerous prizes and awards, including the Whitbread Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Emil/Kurt Maschler Award and the international Bologna Ragazzi Prize. He won the 2002 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the highest international recognition given to creators of children’s books.

In 2004 Quentin Blake was awarded the ‘Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres’ by the French Government for services to literature and in 2007 he was made Officier in the same order. In 2014 he was admitted to the Legion d’Honneur, an honour accorded to few people who are not French nationals. In 1999 he was appointed the first ever Children’s Laureate, a post designed to raise the profile of children’s literature. His book Laureate’s Progress (2002) recorded many of his activities and the illustrations he produced during his two-year tenure. Quentin Blake was created CBE in 2005, is an RDI and has numerous honorary degrees from universities throughout the UK. He received a knighthood for ‘services to illustration’ in the New Year’s Honours for 2013, and became an Honorary Freeman of the City of London in 2015.

part 1 // The Imperfect

59

Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most im-

Mr. Sendak’s characters, by con-

portant children’s book artist of the 20th century,

trast, are headstrong, bossy, even

who wrenched the picture book out of the safe,

obnoxious. His pictures are often

sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it

unsettling. His plots are fraught

into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful

with rupture: children are kid-

recesses of the human psyche.

napped, parents disappear, a dog lights out from her comfortable

Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr. Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children.

62

Under Construction

home.A largely self-taught illustra-

tor, Mr. Sendak was at his finest a

without supper. A pocket Odysseus, Max promptly

shtetl Blake, portraying a luminous

sets sail:

world, at once lovely and dreadful, suspended between wakefulness

And he sailed off through night and day

and dreaming. In so doing, he was able to convey both the propulsive

and in and out of weeks

abandon and the pervasive melancholy of children’s interior lives.

His visual style could range from intricately crosshatched scenes that recalled 19th-century prints to airy watercolors reminiscent of Chagall to bold, bulbous figures inspired by the comic books he loved all his life, with outsize feet that the page could scarcely contain.

He never did learn to draw feet, he often said. and almost over a year In 1964, the American Library Association awarded Mr. Sendak

to where the wild things are.

the Caldecott Medal, considered the Pulitzer Prize of children’s book

There, Max leads the creatures in a frenzied rum-

illustration, for ‘Where the Wild

pus before sailing home, anger spent, to find his

Things Are.’ In simple, incantatory

supper waiting. In simple, incantatory language,

language, the book told the story

the book told the story of Max, a naughty boy who

of Max, a naughty boy who rages at

rages at his mother and is sent to his room without

his mother and is sent to his room

supper. A pocket Odysseus, – Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83

By Margalit Fox, The New York Times..

part 1 // The Imperfect

63

Vincent Van Gogh PaintingWheat Field with Crows

Wheat Field with Crows remains as Vincent van Gogh’s most contentious painting. The many interpretations of the work are probably more varied than any other in Van Gogh’s oeuvre.

68

Under Construction

Some see it as Van Gogh’s "suicide

that broke several months of silence, Van Gogh com-

note" put to canvas, while others

pared himself to a bird in a cage, and commented. But

delve beyond a superficial overview

then the time comes when migratory birds fly away. A

of the subject matter and favour a

fit of melancholy - he’s got everything he needs, say the

more positive approach. And some

children who look after him - but the sky is brooding

more extreme critics cast their

and stormy, and deep within he is rebelling against

vision even further - beyond the

his misfortune. ‘I am in a cage, I am in a cage, and I’ve

canvas and the brushstrokes - in

got everything I need, fools! I’ve got everything I could

order to translate the images into

possibly want! Ah, dear God, freedom - to be a bird like

an entirely new language of the

the other birds! A human idler of this variety is just like

subliminal. In an important letter

a bird that idles in the same way."

part 1 // The Imperfect

69

Frida Kahlo

Her reputation soared posthumously, beginning in the

Painter

1980s with the publication of numerous books about her work by Mexican painter

feminist art historians and others.

Frida Kahlo is known for creating striking, often shocking, self-portraits that reflected her political ideology, cultural identity, and her turbulent personal life.

Frida Kahlo lived during the first half of the 20th century changed the art history in a way that she put her own dreams in her artworks. She was affected from several occasions as she had a bus

Kahlo was the third of four daughters born to a German Hungarian-Jewish father and a mother

accident and many love affairs that she expressed in an open manner.

of Spanish and Mexican Indian descent. She did not

She used Christian symbolism

originally plan to become an artist; rather, Kahlo, who

merging with her own dreams that

was a polio survivor, entered a prestigious pre-medical

she called her reality.

program when she was 15. Three years later, Kahlo was

After her periods of depression and

gravely hurt in a bus accident. She spent more than a

miscarriages in her life she gave

year in bed, recovering from multiple fractures of her

herself into pets around her.

back, collarbone, and ribs, as well as a shattered pelvis and shoulder and foot injuries. Kahlo spent the rest of

Frida Kahlo’s most significant

her life in constant pain, finally succumbing to related

self-portrait was Self- Portrait with

complications at the age of 47.

Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

According to some art historians,

During her recovery, Kahlo started painting in oils,

Kahlo wanted to depict that she

creating deliberately naive self-portraits and still

was resurrected and started

lifes filled with the bright colors and flattened forms

to a new life with this painting.

of the Mexican folk art she had always loved. In 1929,

As a symbol of this opinion,

Kahlo married the much older Mexican muralist

hummingbird was taking its place

Diego Rivera, whose approach to art and political

in her necklace. Hummingbird

activism complemented her own. Theirs was a volatile

symbolizes hope and good luck

relationship that underwent marital infidelities, the

in Mexican culture. However,

pressures of Rivera’s career, a divorce and remarriage,

audience may notice the black cat-

and Kahlo’s deteriorating health.

known as bad luck symbol- taking its place behind the right shoulder

Kahlo and Rivera traveled to the United States and

of Kahlo. Different interpretations

France, where she encountered many influential

offer that hummingbird pendant

figures from the worlds of art and politics. In 1938,

refers to Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec

she had her first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy

god of war, which hurts Kahlo

Gallery in New York. She enjoyed international success

internally.

beginning in the 1940s.

70

Under Construction

Other important symbols of the

rebirth in life after the accident.

painting were butterflies and thorn

Furthermore, thorn necklace she wears may be the

necklace. Butterflies symbolize

symbol of Jesus’s crown thorn, which was worn while

resurrection and it may refer to her

dragged and crucified.

part 1 // The Imperfect

71

(Gary) Lee come in with the idea of having an invitation for a show that had that metamorphosis.

He wanted his face to transform into a skull.

Everything in his life had just led to these feelings of torment.

Lee was HIV positive.

Even though it isn’t a death sentence as such, I think it was always in the back of Lee’s mind.

You’d feel the bad vibes when Lee was down.

There was a real depression that was brought with that as well.

(Slow stringed music) (Janet) I think the trouble is with Lee, after a show, when you’ve done

72

Under Construction

that build-up and you’ve worked hard, you could see there was a little bit of a down.

And then onto the next show.

Again.

Yeah, it was just show after show.

I don’t know how Lee did it.

(McQueen) The pressures kind of quite immense now because of the Gucci contract and, erm...

You know, the...

I do the men’s now and now I also do McQ, so it’s about 14 collections a year again, same as when I was at Givenchy, so it’s hard work.

(Gary) He would have liked the idea of moving away and just leaving everything behind, but as it was his name above the door and his reputation as a person and everything he had built, he couldn’t just abandon it.

If I ever get that old and I’m still around and I leave my company, I’ll just burn the place down so there’s no one working there.

(Reporter) Really?

So you’d never let someone carry on the McQueen tradition or the McQueen brand if you weren’t actively involved?

Erm...

I don’t think so. I mean, it doesn’t...

It... Because that person will have to come up with the concepts for my show

and my shows are so personal.

How can... How can that be?

(Janet) I said, Why don’t you just step away, Lee, for a year?

And he just said, You don’t understand.

He said, I’m responsible for 50 people.

They’ve got to pay their mortgages.

I can’t just stop.

(Viglezio) I was always thinking there’s so much sadness in him, and that was sad, you know, because he was this successful, flamboyant being who actually was so lonely deep inside.

It can be. lt can be really lonely.

And I think...

You know, I think there’s more to life than fashion and I don’t want to be stuck in that bubble of, This is what I do.

It’s nice because you see everyone in the office.

They go home and they can shut off but I’m still Alexander McQueen after I shut the door.

Do you know what I mean?

I’ve got to go home with myself, so...

You know, if you’ve had a bad day, I’ve only got myself to answer to, so...

(Laughing) I mean, with us, he was, like, behaving...

All right, OK, but deep inside we knew that he wasn’t...

He wasn’t 100%.

He could hear voices.

He was telling me that they were chasing him.

One thing he used to say, Paranoia will destroy ya.

The idea behind Plato’s Atlantis is where people come from the land and go back into the sea.

(Tape plays) (McQueen speaking) (Tape stops) (Gary) He loved swimming, scuba diving.

He loved that feeling of just being in a different world unden/vater, just away from everything, almost like you’re back in the womb, floating.

You know? And that kind of serenity you would get through that.

(Sebastin) Plato’s Atlantis was kind of like a study in his head with all the digital printing and all the experimenting, pattern-cutting.

And the robots were there again.

He said to me, I designed my last coflection, Sebastian.

And he told me, I’ve had enough with all this.

I am gonna kill myself.

What do you mean, you’re gonna kill yourself?

He’s like, Yeah, I...

I am fed up. I’ve had it with this.

(Reporter 1) The fashion world is in shock over news that Alexander McQueen has died...

(Reporter 2) The darling of British fashion has been found dead after...

(Reporters speaking other languages)

part 1 // Imperfect

73

74

Under Construction

(Sebastin) He used to say that a lot.

One day I’m gonna come home inside a body bag.

And that day when...

The news opened again that day of him leaving his house inside a body bag.

(Rebecca) I’d taken my kids to Hamleys’ 100th-year celebration and my partner picked me up and said, I’ve got...

I can’t do it. It’ll just be really silly. I’ll just cry.

He said, Lee’s dead.

And it was just such a shock and I was so angry for a really long time.

Because you think just...

How do you...

How did that happen?

You know? He’s...

I think that perhaps after my mum went that he felt there was nothing that could make him happy any more.

And I just think it was in that moment that he had that emptiness.

I miss him a lot, yeah.

I miss that... That... You know...

He could have had, like, some really great happiness in his life and he didn’t quite have that in his personal life.

And... That’s what I wish...

Wished for him most.

Yeah.

I’m so happy I got to...

To meet him and to...

To share part of my life with his story and everything.

But I miss him.

I wish things ended in a different way.

(Plum) He wanted to make really beautiful things and he sculpted in clothing.

He was a sculptor really, I think, and that’s where that silhouette came from.

(Mira) His clothes made me feel that you could be feminine, but at the same time, you know, Don’t fuck with me, I’m a bitch.

(Laughs) (Sebastian) The thing I remember best is seeing him working.

It was magical.

For me, he was like a magician.

(Kidd) One outfit would just be insane and then the next one would just be genius.

(Viglezio) Nobody could create emotions in a show like Lee McQueen did.

(Gary) Fashion for Lee was a way of just communicating a whole world and he wanted to take himself out of the picture, for people just to focus on this art that he was creating.

(Simon) Raucous, bolshie, incredibly funny, incredibly driven.

Not only did he have a singular vision, but he was a very singular individual.

And his strength of personality was quite phenomenal.

You just don’t see many people like that.

They don’t...

They don’t come up very often.

part 1 // The Imperfect

75

The Imp– perma nent

78

Under Construction

transient, fleeting, change, birth, death, growth, rebirth

part 2 // The Impermanent

79

Imperm –anence

Pratitioners have always understood impermanence as the cornerstone of Buddhist teachings and practice. All that exists is impermanent; nothing lasts.

Therefore nothing can be grasped or held onto. When we don’t fully appreciate this simple but profound truth we suffer, as did the monks who descended into misery and despair at the Buddha’s passing. When we do, we have real peace and understanding, as did the monks who remained fully mindful and calm.

As far as classical Buddhism is concerned, impermanence is the number one inescapable, and essentially painful, fact of life. It is the singular existential problem that the whole edifice of Buddhist practice is meant to address. To understand impermanence at the deepest possible level (we all understand it at superficial levels), and to merge with it fully, is the whole of the Buddhist path. The Buddha’s final words express this: Impermanence is inescapable. Everything vanishes.

Therefore there is nothing more important than continuing the path with diligence. All other options either deny or short-shrift the problem.

Sometimes I wonder whether life and death isn’t merely a conceptual framework we confuse ourselves with. Of course, people do seem to disappear, and, this having been the case generally with others, it seems reasonable to assume that it will be the case for us at some point. But how to understand this? And how to account for the

80

Under Construction

many anomalies that appear when you look closely, such as reported appearances of ghosts and other visitations from the dead, reincarnation, and so on.

It is very telling that some religions refer to death as ‘eternal life,’ and that in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta the Buddha doesn’t die. He enters parinirvana, full extinction, which is something other than death.

In Buddhism generally, death isn’t death—it’s a staging area for further life. So there are many respectable and less respectable reasons to wonder about the question of death.

There are a lot of older people in the Buddhist communities in which I practice. Some are in their seventies and eighties, others in their sixties, like me. Because of this, the theme of death and impermanence

other day a friend about my age, who in her youth studied Zen with the great master Song Sa Nim, told me, He always said, ‘Soon dead!’ I understood the words then as being true—very Zen, and almost funny.

Now they seem personal and poignant.

‘All conditioned things have the nature of vanishing,’ the Buddha said. What is impermanence after all?

When we’re young we know that death is coming, but it will probably come later, so we don’t have to be so concerned with it now. And even if we are concerned with it in youth, as I was, the concern is philosophical.

When we are older we know death is coming sooner rather than later, so we take it more personally. It’s not that something vanishes later. Right now, everything is in some way—though we don’t understand in is always on our minds and seems to come up again and again in the teachings we study. All conditioned things pass away. Nothing remains as it was. The body changes and weakens as it ages. In response to this, and to a lifetime’s experience, the mind changes as well. The way one thinks of, views, and feels about life and the world is different.

Even the same thoughts one had in youth or midlife take on a different flavor when held in older age. The

what way—vanishing before our very eyes. Squeezing uncomfortably through the narrow doorway of now, we don’t know whether we are coming or going. Impermanence may be a deeper thought than we at first appreciate.

Impermanence is not only loss; it is also change, and change can be refreshing and renewing. In fact, change is always both good and bad, because change, even when it is refreshing, always entails loss. Nothing new appears unless something old ceases. As they say on New Year’s Eve, ‘Out with the old, in with the new’, marking both a happy and a sad occasion.

As with the scene in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, there’s despair and equanimity at the same time.

Impermanence is both.

Change is always both good and bad, because change, even when it is refreshing, always entails loss. Of course, time is impermanence and impermanence is time! Time is change, development, and loss. Present time is ungraspable. As soon as it occurs, it immediately falls into the past.

– Impermanence is Buddha Nature by Norman Fischer

part 2 // The Impermanent

81

Life of Pi Film Quotes: Adult Pi Patel: Faith is a house with many rooms.

Writer: But no room for doubt?

Adult Pi Patel: Oh plenty, on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested.

Adult Pi Patel: I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.

Santosh Patel: I much rather have you believe in something I don’t agree with than to accept everything blindly,

82

Under Construction

and that begins with thinking rationally.

Adult Pi Patel: When I thought God was indifferent about my sufferings, He was watching, and gave me rest.

Writer: It is a lot to take in--to figure out what it all means.

Adult Pi Patel: I f it happens it happens, why should it have meaning?

Santosh Patel: In a few hundred years science has taken us farther in understanding the universe than religion has in 10,000.

Gita Patel: That is true. ... Science can teach us more about what is out there..., but not what is in here (heart).

Adult Pi Patel: It’s important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go.

Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.

part 2 // The Impermanent

83

84

Under Construction

part 2 // The Impermanent

85

Salvador Dali

Persistence of Memory depicts a dream state, the melting and distorted clocks symbolize the erratic

86

Paiting- Persistence

passage of time that we experience

of Memory

while dreaming.

Under Construction

Have you ever woken up and

while we go about our days, keeping time while we are

expected it to be still the middle

asleep is another story. There are many different ways

of the night and are surprised to

to interpret the meaning of Persistence of Memory. If

find that it is already morning?

we look at the art through the perspective of a dream

While we often are pretty good and

state, the distorted clocks don’t have any power in the

keeping track of what time it is

dream world and are melting away because of that.

part 2 // Impermanent

87

90

Under Construction

The Timeless allure of

Ruins Mankind has always lived among its own ruins. Since our earliest history, we have explored ruined places, feared them and drawn inspiration from them, and we can trace that complex fascination in our art and writing.

Perhaps because the broken parts in a ruin require our imagination to fill them in, ruins have always been associated with the occult and with dreams. They are places an observer can get lost, where time slips away.

Ruins remind us that the human body will one day degrade, that life is fragile and fleeting.

True artistic representation of ruins began with the Renaissance. In that flourishing of art and science, the ruins of classical civilisation became symbols of enlightenment and repositories of lost knowledge. Ruins began to appear in the backgrounds of the etchings that illustrated volumes of anatomy. Even here, the ruins spoke to the passage of time, reminding readers that the human body will one day degrade, that life is fragile and fleeting. (http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180112-the-timeless-allure-of-ruins)

‘Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.’

— Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

part 2 // The Impermanent

91

92

Under Construction

part 2 // The Impermanent

93

94

Under Construction

Shadows of the day by Linkin Park

I close both locks below the window I close both blinds and turn away Sometimes solutions aren’t so simple Sometimes goodbye’s the only way,

oh And the sun will set for you The sun will set for you And the shadow of the day Will embrace the world in gray And the sun will set for you In cards and flowers on your window Your friends all plead for you to stay Sometimes beginnings aren’t so simple Sometimes goodbye’s the only way, oh And the sun will set for you The sun will set for you

And the shadow of the day Will embrace the world in gray And the sun will set for you And the shadow of the day Will embrace the world in gray And the sun will set for you And the shadow of the day Will embrace the world in gray And the sun will set for you.

part 2 // The Impermanent

95

Coming back to life by

Pink Floyd

Changing seasons, colours, scenes, transformation, evolution.

96

Under Construction

Where were you when I was burned and broken While the days slipped by from my window watching Where were you when I was hurt and helpless Because the things you say and the things you do surround me While you were hanging yourself on someone else’s words Dying to believe in what you heard

I was staring straight into the shining sun Lost in thought and lost in time While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted Outside the rain fell dark and slow While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime I took a heavenly ride through our silence I knew the moment had arrived For killing the past and coming back to life I took a heavenly ride through our silence I knew the waiting had begun And headed straight..into the shining sun

part 2 // Impermanent

97

98

Under Construction

part 2 // The Impermanent

99

The In– com– plete

fragmentary, inadequate partial, unfinished, unresolved, out of place

What’s your reason for getting up in the morning?

The Japanese island of Okinawa, where ikigai

The Incom– plete

has its origins, is said to be

home to the largest popula-

tion of centenarians in the world.

Buettner suggests making three lists: your values, things you like to do, and things you are good at. The cross section of the three lists is your ikigai.

Studies show that losing one’s purpose can have a detrimental effect. American mythologist and author Joseph Campbell once said, My general formula for my students is Follow your bliss.

Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it.

Your ikigai is at the intersection of what you are good at and what you love doing, says Hector Garcia, the co-author of Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. He writes, Just as humans have lusted after objects and money since the dawn of time, other humans have felt dissatisfaction at the relentless pursuit of money and fame and have instead focused on something bigger than their own material wealth. This has over the years been described using many different words and practices, but

What you deeply care about can

always hearkening back to the central core of

unlock your ikigai. Follow your cu-

meaningfulness in life.

riosity. Philosopher and civil rights leader Howard W Thurman said,

Want to find your Ikigai? Ask yourself the follow-

Ask what makes you come alive

ing four questions:

and go do it. Don’t ask what the

1. What do I love?

world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because

2. What am I good at?

what the world needs is people who have come alive. The problem for

3. What can I be paid for now — or something

millions of people is that they stop

that could transform into my future hustle?

being curious about new experiences as they assume responsiblities

4. What does the world need?

104

Under Construction

and build routines.

Their sense of wonder starts to escape them.

But you can change that, especially if you are still looking for meaning and fulfilment in what you do daily. Albert Einstein encourages us to pursue our curiosities. He once said: Don’t think about why you question, simply don’t stop questioning. Don’t worry about what you can’t answer, and don’t try to explain what you can’t know. Curiosity is its own reason. Aren’t you in awe when you contemplate the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure behind reality? And this is the miracle of the human mind — to use its constructions, concepts, and formulas as tools to explain what man sees, feels and touches.

Try to comprehend a little more each day. Have holy curiosity. A classic example is Steve Jobs’ curiosity for typefaces which led him to attend a seemingly useless class on typography and to develop his design sensibility.Later, this sensibility became an essential part of Apple computers and Apple’s core differentiator in the market. We are born curious. Our insatiable drive to learn, invent, explore, and study deserves to have the same status as every other drive in our lives.

Fulfilment is fast becoming the main priority for most of us. Millions of people still struggle to find what they are meant to do. What excites them. What makes them lose the sense of time. What brings out the best in them.

Our intuition and curiosity are very powerful internal compasses to help us connect with our ikigai, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles write.

– Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Might Just Help You Live a More Fulfilling Life, Thomas Oppong My journey via the many fields of study and going to different places, working in different sectors have been because of my search for my Ikigai. I feel that the search is incomplete and is what influences drives me the most to learb and create something in the best way I can.

part 3 // The Incomplete

105

What you love

Passion

What you are

Mission

Profession

be paid to do

Under Construction

needs

Vocation

What you can

106

What the world

Ikigai

good at

Ikigai The ultimate purpose/ A reason for being

Ikigai is seen as the convergence of four primary elements: What do you love (your passion)?

What does the world needs (your mission)?

What you are good at (your vocation)?

What you can get paid for (your profession)?

Discovering your own ikigai is said to bring fulfilment, happiness and make you live longer.

part 3 // The Incomplete

107

Under Construction

Sohini Mukherjee // 2019