piercing beauty—the consolation of isolation
During the time of the coronavirus pandemic and social (physical distancing), early morning became my ecological niche to enjoy life while avoiding contact with other people. Although it would have been most obvious to take pictures of places without people and practice the Japanese art style of absent motifs (留守模様), nothing drew me to anything human.
I preferred nature and particularly trees that became my personal obsession of that time. Whenever looking at these different trees, there always came a quotation from the ancient Chinese Daoist philosophy of Zhuangzi to my mind 是不材之木也，無所可用: “It’s not a timber tree, there's nothing it can be used for” ―― except of course for enjoying it just as it is …
However, I think that there is more behind the tree pictures than Zhuangzi’s typical praise of uselessness. Eventually, I became aware of a state of mind I never thought of as a possibility, but that became appealing: Biedermeier. Although I had never thought of Biedermeier art as anything other than "stuffy" or "boring," I could suddenly understand the concentration on the domestic and the non-political, the longing for stability, security, honesty, modesty, decency, sobriety, a simple elegance. I am also able to empathize with the predilection for everyday life and its details, ist tranquility and coziness. Am I becoming Biedermeier’s best friend?
Finally, I have to ruminate over a quote from a philosopher of the Biedermeier age who died from a pandemic of that time (Cholera):
“History is not the soil in which happiness grows. The periods of happiness in it are the blank pages of history.” (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel)
{Zeiss Loxia 2/50 Planar on Sony Alpha 6600}
piercing beauty—the consolation of isolation
During the time of the coronavirus pandemic and social (physical distancing), early morning became my ecological niche to enjoy life while avoiding contact with other people. Although it would have been most obvious to take pictures of places without people and practice the Japanese art style of absent motifs (留守模様), nothing drew me to anything human.
I preferred nature and particularly trees that became my personal obsession of that time. Whenever looking at these different trees, there always came a quotation from the ancient Chinese Daoist philosophy of Zhuangzi to my mind 是不材之木也，無所可用: “It’s not a timber tree, there's nothing it can be used for” ―― except of course for enjoying it just as it is …
However, I think that there is more behind the tree pictures than Zhuangzi’s typical praise of uselessness. Eventually, I became aware of a state of mind I never thought of as a possibility, but that became appealing: Biedermeier. Although I had never thought of Biedermeier art as anything other than "stuffy" or "boring," I could suddenly understand the concentration on the domestic and the non-political, the longing for stability, security, honesty, modesty, decency, sobriety, a simple elegance. I am also able to empathize with the predilection for everyday life and its details, ist tranquility and coziness. Am I becoming Biedermeier’s best friend?
Finally, I have to ruminate over a quote from a philosopher of the Biedermeier age who died from a pandemic of that time (Cholera):
“History is not the soil in which happiness grows. The periods of happiness in it are the blank pages of history.” (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel)
{Zeiss Loxia 2/50 Planar on Sony Alpha 6600}