Lets try an experiment...
It seems to me, that the collection of fave's is a double sided sword.
Positively, it gives us the opportunity to feast ourselves upon a limiltess
bounty of ever changing deviations from all across the world. We can grab and
collect and consume and move on...

Whatever happened however to the reverential adoration of the 'one' piece of art.
One piece that, no matter how many times you look into it, offers more.
A piece that enchants and delights and challenges and leaves the viewer to so
much speculation, adoration, and contemplation.
Do these pieces exist anymore?

In my way of thinking, of course these pieces exist!
What has changed however, is our attitude towards them.
Perhaps the world is speeding up, and perhaps the frantic need to accumulate
is serving some unknown purpose.
Who knows.

What i do know however, is that we are immensely powerful human beings
who are akin to sleeping giants. Familiarity and 'opular' modes of communication
ie. emoticon happy faces and expressions such as 'thanks for the fave'
have now become meaningless.

What i propose is this...
Choose one piece of art that you believe has depth and resonance.
Favourite it, and comment on it every day for a week.
Really contemplate it...and explore it like its the great work of
one of the Masters in the National Mueseum.

Believe in the work, and offer the art real time.
And even if its not worthy of such attention,
recognize that you have pushed the
envelope just a little...

Are you up for the challenge?

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. If the mind is clear, what ever we do or say the mind will bring happiness that will follow you like your shadow.
We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. If the mind is polluted, what ever we do or say leads to suffering which will follow you as a cart trails a horse.”

the first two verses from The Tibetan Dhammapada:

Thankyou Tim for sharing the inexpressible....
I feel contemplation of Asemia is important for everyone.
Similarily to wabi-sabi, the asemic spirit walks with me in my journies.
from:[link]


It looks like writing, but we can't quite read it.

I call works like this "asemic writing".

Asemic writing seems to be a gigantic, unexplored territory.

Asemic writing has been made by poets, writers, painters, calligraphers, children, and scribblers, all around the world. Most people make asemic writing at some time, possibly when testing a new pen.

Educators talk about children going through distinct stages of "mock letters", "pseudowriting" and so on, when they're learning to write. Many of us made asemic writing before we were able to write words.

Looking at asemic writing does something to us. Some examples have pictograms or ideograms, which suggest a meaning through their shape. Others take us for a ride along their curves. We like some, we dislike others.

They tend to have no fixed meaning. Their meaning is open. Every viewer can arrive at a personal, absolutely correct interpretation.

Asemic writing has been presented by means of books, paintings, scrolls, single pages, mailed envelopes, walls, cinema, television and computers, particularly via the internet.

Henri Michaux, who wrote the piece up above, was a poet and a writer and a painter.

Asemic magazine is devoted to this area. Please check out:
#~1: [link]

#1: [link]

#2,1: [link]

#3: [link]
Some of the artists' addresses have changed since publication.

Asemic #4 is a 100 page perfect-bound book.
Price: $17.50 within Australia, $21.50 (Australian) outside Australia, including airmail delivery.
To order a copy, please send a cheque or money order in Australian dollars to Tim Gaze at:
P O Box 1011
Kent Town
SA 5071
Australia

If you’re curious to discover more works in this tradition of illegible writing or wordless writing, please try any of the following in your favourite search engine:

abstract calligraphy

asemic

asemisk

Guy de Cointet

Concrete Poetry

controlled scribble

Jean Degottex

Mirtha Dermisache

doodles

Christian Dotremont

Jean Dubuffet dessins

earliest writing

Max Ernst Maximiliana

escrita assêmica

experimental calligraphy

Gedewon

Brion Gysin

ideograms

illegible writing

Inism

jazzwriting

Marvin Jordana

Kandinsky shamanism

Tom Kemp

Paul Klee

Rashid Koraichi

Kruchenykh Kruchonykh zaum

Ungno Lee letter abstracts

Lettrisme

Mail Art

André Masson automatic drawings

Georges Mathieu

Henri Michaux alphabets narrations

Joan Miró

mock letters

Morita Shiryu

J B Murray J B Murry

pseudowriting

scrittura asemantica

Hélène Smith Martian

Austin Osman Spare sigils

Taoist magic diagrams

Antoni Tàies

Mark Tobey

Cy Twombly

Vin?a script

Visual Poetry

Made Wianta calligraphy period

Ulfert Wilke

Wosene Kosrof

Zhang Xu Crazy Zhang wild cursive

Compiled by Tim Gaze tg @ asemic.net
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Kiitoksia Jukka-Pekka Kervinen
a "no frills" website

We have bigger houses but smaller families;

More conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less sense;

More knowledge, but less judgment;

More experts, but more problems;

More medicines, but less healthiness;

We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.

We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever

but have less communication.

We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;

Tall men but short character;

Steep profits but shallow relationships.

It's a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

After travelling Europe and walking faraway streets, i discovered a bittersweet yearning to understand the land of my home Australia more deeply. Upon returning, my gaze drifting up to the middle of Australia's map and to red Desert Heart of Australia.
I concluded that i would teach in a remote Aboriginal Community.

In 2008 i embarked upon a year contract in Fregon (Kaltjiti) community. It is situated in the far northwest corner of South Australia in the Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands; it is approximately 1300kms from Adelaide by road.

In October 2009, I have returned to that Centre.
There was a pull, a feeling of things unfinished...
maybe of things not even begun...

Similiarily to my Pathworkings in the South East of Australia,
most of these images are taken on walks with my dog friend
Maxi Jazz. It is a meditation of dusk and dawn.
The path i choose is simple.
What i seek is subtle.

These are my pathworkings in this land...
With Love, Alexander.