Points of reference
Wednesdays, I always leave college beaming and inspired, none the less today. Paul Lowe showed and talked about his own work. I can’t even begin to express how much I admire his work and the thought process that has gone into his work. This was one of the most inspiring lectures.
I couldn’t possibly summarise a stimulating lecture here. So I won’t even try to give a verbatim account or summary of the lecture. What I want to talk about are, however, the points of references that Paul mentioned influenced his work, in particular his more recent work on Israel and Palestine.
Paul quoted Rembrandt and Bach as being his points of references. For a visual art such as photography, it is easily understandable if not obvious that Rembrandt can serve as a point of reference. But Bach? A composer? Bach is the quintessential reference point for composers such as Mozart or Beethoven. He was the master of the fugue and composed divine choral works; his work was inspired by a deep religiousness and almost mathematical structure. But could his work inspire a visual discipline as well?
The more I thought about this, the more it made sense. Different art forms serve ultimately as a form of (personal) expression and communication, if you like they are a way of telling a story, as loose as the narrative may be. So it is not surprising that art forms that refer to one set of senses ultimately can serve as influences or reference points for other art forms that cater to different senses.
Obviously, that led me to think about my own musical reference points. I have always been inspired by Pink Floyd. In fact, one of the very first albums I ever bought was ‘The Wall’, shortly followed by ‘Ummagumma’. And recently, I have rediscovered them and have listened to a lot of Pink Floyd music, in particular to their early work. Albums such as ‘Atom Heart Mother’, Meddle’ or ‘Obscured by Clouds’ are simply masterpieces of modern music. I can’t get enough listening to them. ‘Echoes’ is one of my favourites. The judgement is still out on how much that will influence my photographic output. Maybe it will come through in my final project.
I couldn’t possibly summarise a stimulating lecture here. So I won’t even try to give a verbatim account or summary of the lecture. What I want to talk about are, however, the points of references that Paul mentioned influenced his work, in particular his more recent work on Israel and Palestine.
Paul quoted Rembrandt and Bach as being his points of references. For a visual art such as photography, it is easily understandable if not obvious that Rembrandt can serve as a point of reference. But Bach? A composer? Bach is the quintessential reference point for composers such as Mozart or Beethoven. He was the master of the fugue and composed divine choral works; his work was inspired by a deep religiousness and almost mathematical structure. But could his work inspire a visual discipline as well?
The more I thought about this, the more it made sense. Different art forms serve ultimately as a form of (personal) expression and communication, if you like they are a way of telling a story, as loose as the narrative may be. So it is not surprising that art forms that refer to one set of senses ultimately can serve as influences or reference points for other art forms that cater to different senses.
Obviously, that led me to think about my own musical reference points. I have always been inspired by Pink Floyd. In fact, one of the very first albums I ever bought was ‘The Wall’, shortly followed by ‘Ummagumma’. And recently, I have rediscovered them and have listened to a lot of Pink Floyd music, in particular to their early work. Albums such as ‘Atom Heart Mother’, Meddle’ or ‘Obscured by Clouds’ are simply masterpieces of modern music. I can’t get enough listening to them. ‘Echoes’ is one of my favourites. The judgement is still out on how much that will influence my photographic output. Maybe it will come through in my final project.
posted by rupert beagle at 11:52 pm
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