berger on drawing

"For the artist drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick phrase, it is quite literally true. It is the actual act of drawing that forces the artist to look at the object in front of him, to dissect it in his mind's eye and pit it together again; or, if he is drawing from memory, that forces him to dredge his own mind, to discover the content of his own store of past observations." p3

Berger on Drawing // John Berger

Tweet

chiswick house

introducing chiswick house and gardens.

as far as i'm concerned, there are few places as beautiful in the south west of london (outside of richmond). how gorgeous is this house? the slow-moving river and the beautiful railings, a conservatory full of camellias which unfortunately don't bloom until february.
i realise, the more i go to these heritage houses and properties that i'm a hopeless romantic at heart. i've surprised myself how much i love the english gardens, how the ivy clings to the brick walls. how i can't help daydreaming about what i must have been like to live in a house like this.

does anyone else have the feeling sometimes that they were born in the wrong country and wrong era?

Tweet

re: revisiting the gaze and mr. berger

i've long been crushing on john berger's mind.

for a good while now and finally picked up another one of this books, about looking. because it's saturday morning and i'm feeling particularly intellectual at the moment (it's fleeting so i should grasp it while it's there) i wanted to share a quote from the book and something i jotted down in my notebook while on the go.

"The eyes of an animals when they consider a man are attentive and wary. The same animal may well look at other species in the same way. He does not reserve a special look for man. But by no other species except man will the animals' look be recognized as familiar. 

Other animals are held by the look. 

Man becomes aware of himself returning the look." (chapter one: why look at animals, p4)

an animal looks. their stare stops other animals in their tracks. they're stopped. arrested in time. yet man does something different. he meets an animal's stare but it's with a look of power and dominance. some argue the animals don't have a gaze, because they're not aware of themselves looking. man is the only species who sees himself in the reflection of the water and knows it's himself looking back.

we see ourselves looking and when confronted with an animal, we also recognize that we are being looked back at. does it all go back to when narcissus first saw his face in the pool's reflection?

Tweet

le parc richmond

i love going out for the first time in a place, a new neighbourhood when everything is fresh. it's so big because it's your first time. new shops, new cafes, new streets and new parks. i'm just getting to know east sheen and i already love it. it's got that small town feel to it, but is still just a 20 minute train ride from waterloo station.

the other bonus? our new home is minutes from richmond park. in 1637 good 'ol king charles the first decided he wanted a park, for his deer (both red and fallow) and so you have it, richmond park. it's so quiet in the evenings, last night we spotted more than 50 deer grazing. their huge antlers! i'm not entirely a city girl, but there's something so magical about being able to get so close to wild animals, and know that you can just walk and see deer in the forest and fields just a few minutes from your apartment. i like this a lot.

figures though, that i didn't bring my phone with me last night in case we ran into any rioters.

but here are some photos from a previous walk in the park, enjoy!

(as you can tell, i'm definitely into instagram right now, if you like, you can follow me, i'm kfar)

Tweet

hello london, it's nice to meet you

i'm very good at ignoring this blog. did you notice? or at least moving is such hard work that i've hardly had a moment to sit and contemplate. reflect or muse. until yesterday.

at last. a full afternoon to do things i think i never did in budapest but i remember so fondly doing when i was spending a lot of time in european capitals a few years ago. i took tan early afternoon train into the city and got off the tube at euston station. a friend recommended a trip to the wellcome collection, so i headed there to see what's the hype about.

you must go. honestly. there is no other place on earth that you can see a pair of florence nightingale's moccasins, napoleon's toothbrush and a lock of henry v's hair + some funny japanese sex aids all in one room. for real this guy, sir henry william wellcome, kept a collection of some pretty curious objects.

post-museum and a serious case of square eyes i made my way to a park for some fresh air, then to a very old bookstore where i perused. i picked up a copy of john berger's about looking. i'm already pulled into the way he writes about something so simple as a glance, as complicated as a gaze.

a tall flat white later, i headed back to euston station to pick up a friend i hadn't seen for ages. we found the tackiest and cheapest chinese buffet in camden town we could find and ate our hearts out. it was a perfect day. i miss just wandering around new streets, picking up new literature nad feeding my mind on art and philosophy. those were the good old uni days and i had another little taste of it yesterday. time to go for my masters? i reckon it is about that time.

image one: pretty scientific bottles
image two:canvas bag from the wellcome collection shop
image three: classicly british, on my walk

Tweet