Put your nose near the screen at the midline of the image and use the cross-eye method. To see details, click on the image to view it larger.
This is a vue d'optique in progress.
waking dream
14 years ago
4.29.2009
Isle of Penglai in 3D
Put your nose near the screen at the midline of the image and use the cross-eye method. To see details, click on the image to view it larger.
This is a vue d'optique in progress.
4.25.2009
Finished: Tang Ao's Fart & The White Gibbon Manuscript
[There] appeared a white gibbon with red eyes and red spots all over its fur, which stood two feet tall, and was holding some rock fungus in its hands.
'Look,' said Old Tuo. 'That must be a magic plant the gibbon is holding. Why don't we try to get it from him?'
He chased the gibbon down the road back, and Tang Ao followed. Soon, the gibbon disappeared into a cave, Tang Ao crawled in after it, and discovered that it was a very shallow one. Without much difficulty, he grabbed the gibbon and took the fungus from its hands and gave it to Old Tuo, who devoured it with great relish."
I think I can continue on this series forever, new compositions and reworkings. Especially at this pace...
all images © 2009 Paula Peng
3.27.2009
3.16.2009
3.03.2009
The Typing Machines We Have Loved
Back when I didn't believe in owning computers, I foolishly pawned my hermes rocket, on which I wrote my first college essay. It was a 250 ft long page.
Bulgarian Typewriter?
2.25.2009
Amargosa Haunting
Almost a year ago, a dear friend and I made a pilgrimage to the Amargosa Opera House.
Marta Beckett is no longer the the dancer she was in this photograph, though her spirit still commands the stage with graceful gestures. Her performance that night was profoundly stirring for the audience members of a packed and dim theater.
Of her life and discovery of the hall where we sat, she said,
She spoke with the concentration of a spirit medium, from some distance down the tunnel of her vivid memories. In the first few sentences it seemed that her mind expanded to encompass the entire house, and we had all turned to spellbound listeners, painted into our chairs.
Her excerpts from the musicals she and her collaborators had produced in earlier days retained the flavor of an unassuming sense of humor, and a former vaudevillian self emerged before us, observing and interacting with Grand Junction residents.
Her ability to create characters which interact and mimic real life, merging with the local culture and landscape, and keeping herself somewhat apart from her surroundings - this paradoxical life reminds me of something I read recently by Orhan Pamuk about his habits as a writer. There is some kind of magic that happens in between our interactions with other people and what we make out it. We all do this, and are conscious of it in very different ways. To see how Ms. Beckett has done this, and continues living with these characters after 40 years, is truly astonishing and mysterious. Forget the red carpets! She winks and dances there with the desert stars.
Go to Death Valley and see for yourself.
Marta Beckett is no longer the the dancer she was in this photograph, though her spirit still commands the stage with graceful gestures. Her performance that night was profoundly stirring for the audience members of a packed and dim theater.
Of her life and discovery of the hall where we sat, she said,
Peering through the tiny hole, I had the distinct feeling that I was looking at the other half of myself.
She spoke with the concentration of a spirit medium, from some distance down the tunnel of her vivid memories. In the first few sentences it seemed that her mind expanded to encompass the entire house, and we had all turned to spellbound listeners, painted into our chairs.
Her excerpts from the musicals she and her collaborators had produced in earlier days retained the flavor of an unassuming sense of humor, and a former vaudevillian self emerged before us, observing and interacting with Grand Junction residents.
Her ability to create characters which interact and mimic real life, merging with the local culture and landscape, and keeping herself somewhat apart from her surroundings - this paradoxical life reminds me of something I read recently by Orhan Pamuk about his habits as a writer. There is some kind of magic that happens in between our interactions with other people and what we make out it. We all do this, and are conscious of it in very different ways. To see how Ms. Beckett has done this, and continues living with these characters after 40 years, is truly astonishing and mysterious. Forget the red carpets! She winks and dances there with the desert stars.
Go to Death Valley and see for yourself.
2.24.2009
Weekly Scanning
Aka, weakly scanning, Images from the desk of Yours Truly.
An Æ (ash) flake I made during the holidays while listening to their recordings. It's a floating pun.
© 2009 sweetemploy
And a package of the very smelly "Takabb Anti-Cough Pill"
An Æ (ash) flake I made during the holidays while listening to their recordings. It's a floating pun.
© 2009 sweetemploy
And a package of the very smelly "Takabb Anti-Cough Pill"
2.06.2009
Moustashe Magic
Gorgeous Georgian Polyphony Playlist.
The last video is the same song as 2nd, but is a stronger example of the expressive mustaches, profound woolly-bear brows, and gentlemanly chops. Thank you, Hamlet.
Wikipedia says "At the height of his fame, he died in 1985 in a fall from an apple tree." Maybe this is why the men in my life aren't like this?
The last video is the same song as 2nd, but is a stronger example of the expressive mustaches, profound woolly-bear brows, and gentlemanly chops. Thank you, Hamlet.
Wikipedia says "At the height of his fame, he died in 1985 in a fall from an apple tree." Maybe this is why the men in my life aren't like this?
2.05.2009
Lucy Zhao
On my visits to Minneapolis, I try to stay the onslaught of Midwestern Boredom by visiting museums and parks. One of my favorite places to go is the Chinese scholar’s room at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. They have a rather tacky website for their Asian collections, as I found while looking for cricket ticklers.
But, now we can admire the scholar’s study cyber-spacially.
Lucy Zhao/Chao, or Zhao Luorui (someone else figure out the graphs), was the author of the first complete Chinese translation of Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. She grew up in a courtyard-style home in Beijing, which later, after surviving the Cultural Revolution, succombed to demolition despite her brother’s spirited fight to preserve the 400 year old house. Their family furniture was donated to museums and private collections around the world.
One of a pair of folding chairs belonging to the Zhao family ended up in Minneapolis, in the collection I regularly pay my respects to. Sarah Handler’s book, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture (what a Chinese-sounding name for a book), describes the chair as “the property of Zhao Lourui” in her chapter on folding armchairs.
I’ve probably admired this chair at the museum. Lucy may well have translated Leaves of Grass sitting in it.
This is her handwriting.
But, now we can admire the scholar’s study cyber-spacially.
Lucy Zhao/Chao, or Zhao Luorui (someone else figure out the graphs), was the author of the first complete Chinese translation of Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman. She grew up in a courtyard-style home in Beijing, which later, after surviving the Cultural Revolution, succombed to demolition despite her brother’s spirited fight to preserve the 400 year old house. Their family furniture was donated to museums and private collections around the world.
One of a pair of folding chairs belonging to the Zhao family ended up in Minneapolis, in the collection I regularly pay my respects to. Sarah Handler’s book, Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture (what a Chinese-sounding name for a book), describes the chair as “the property of Zhao Lourui” in her chapter on folding armchairs.
I’ve probably admired this chair at the museum. Lucy may well have translated Leaves of Grass sitting in it.
This is her handwriting.
1.21.2009
the Hard One from Macedonia & next door Raçenitsa
You think the film is slow motion but the lead dancer twirls his kerchief.
1.16.2009
12.30.2008
New Year Garden Window
Use cyan-red (rather than green-red) glasses and click the right-hand image to get a closer view of the 4th dimension.
Ingredients:
Shikishi board, Art paper, Anaglyph Lattice Art with Colored Pencil, Paper and Cellophane Glasses with Seaweed, Braided String
Made for the JACCC Doizaki Gallery.
12.27.2008
Animation Against Naturalist Writers' Block!
Collage fashion show I made about a month ago. Still can't get some of the effects to upload well, but.
Love,
Agent P
Muzik: Oi Va Voi vs. Taraf de Haidouks
12.26.2008
Returneth Thy Vomit to the Earth
"Sure, of course you can post a description of the vomit experience...The trailer one was a different time (I was alone)- when both Neba and I succumbed to heat exhaustion we were hiking in Big Sur...leaning over the trail puking with the redwoods..."
This is research for a painting, titled "There Tapped a Deeper Root" for E.S.C.M.N. Colt, regarding Trials and Redemption and earth, which heals all. Two images above were found on a wonderful site about whippets in art history.
Take Heed: If you Must, Do It Out-of-Doors!
11.23.2008
11.12.2008
2.5 Horas Art Challenge, Assignment Exchange
At approx 20:32 on Sunday, November 9, 2008, Señor Oliveras delivered upon me the task of Creation for some kind of dubious "zine" he's in charge of. Nevertheless, the prompts given titillated in my memory a reference to the Erya, and I embarked at once upon the race to the 11pm deadline. I also caused him to make something for my own purposes, by way of reciprocation. I would perhaps be proud of the result posted here, but due to constraints of time and Photoshop not having any free Chinese fonts for Mac...I didn't have time to do real handiwork to give it balance. Let the critique begin!
Oh, and some haunting Albanian poliphony. I love the track Qerpiku.
11.10.2008
11.01.2008
Treats for Tricks!
[On a UFO]
Taken from The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature.
NOW FOR MY NEXT TRICK:
Click on the comment link to leave me the treats you now owe!
In the Chia-yü period [1056-1063], a "pearl" appeared in Yang-chou. It was very large and frequently appeared at night. At first it emerged from the swamps of T'ien-ch'ang county; later it moved to Pi-she Lake; and finally it was at Hsin-k'ai Lake. For more than ten years, residents and travelers would constantly see it.
My friend had a study by the lakeside and one night saw that the "pearl" was very near. At first it opened its door very slightly, and a light shot out from the crack like a golden ray. After a moment, it opened wider to the space of half a mat; within there was white light like silver. The "pearl" was as big as a fist and so bright you couldn't look at it directly. For over ten tricents, the trees cast shadows, exactly as when the sun has just come up. In the distance you saw only a sky reddened as if by a forest fire. All of a sudden it went far off, moving as if in flight, floating over the waves, shining like the sun.
In the past there was a "moongem," but its color was unlike th e moon' shimmering with sharp flames, it rather resembled the sun. Ts'ui Po-yi once wrote a "Rhapsody on the Bright Gem." Ts'ui was from Kao-yin and so must have seen it often.
In recent years, it hasn't appeared again; no one knows where it has gone. Fan-liang-chen is where the "pearl" used to appear, and when travelers reach there, they usually tie up their boats for a few nights to watch for its appearance. The pavilion there is called "The Playful Pearl."
Translated by Richard W. Bodman
Footnote: In Chinese folklore, pearls are endowed with the magic power to give off their own light, to protect their owner from sickness, and to repel water (when their owner is swimming).
Taken from The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature.
NOW FOR MY NEXT TRICK:
Click on the comment link to leave me the treats you now owe!
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