a question of framing

It's a long way from rural New South Wales to rural n/e France or more precisely the other way around but with the right light and a morning mist and possibly the squinting of eyes, a paddock with a haystack here could be there or there here. Though of course it would only be a trick of the mind and the light, the paddocks and the haystacks carry their own stories which would refuse to engage in such deception but they may be captured in their own elements, engaged in that moment of mist filled eye-squint, to mingle and enmesh with the viewers stories/ memories/ passages and possibly here or there or both be dabbed upon a canvas. Stolen from its place of Being, a haystack out of context with its reason. Later to travel the world, a representative of it's time, locale, people. (…)

A journey along a path can be claimed to be a paradigmatic cultural act, since it is following in the steps inscribed by others whose steps have worn a conduit for movement which becomes the correct or 'best way to go. There is usually a good reason for following in a particular direction linking places in a serial

. . .
I have driven this road many times over, a journey of repetition and change. The cleared field with haystacks painted at different times of the year (a reference to Hokusais' 36 Views of Mt Fuji) speak also of the humanity not included in the frame. Linked places along the journey may be read in terms of temporal relationshipssof precedence and power. "How did he get the light the way he has?" "He used more white than most". Like the source of light that is always just out of the picture so is the subject within the subject. The course has changed a number of times with Bypasses built around towns and the remembering that went with them. The general comes toward while the specific is moved to, evoking a mood or whispering a history or prodding a memory. Objects/thoughts depart, move through the field of vision/thinking to make way for others. Does the view come to me or I to it or both? (…) Perception delivers all three. The memory of that particular point of the journey; - so much time travelled, a certain distance covered, equals what remains to complete, is layered with a different view, a redrawing of real and mind maps, an altered sense of history. (Tilley 94)

This road has become one of my paths, travelled back and forth across my life, the journey integral and distinct from the departure or arrival. Time passing for the subject, Artist and the viewer. The years and I have seen changes to the landscape that rushes headlong towards my windscreen or slides past my window. What is in view and not, what comes into view and leaves. New experiential bridges or rock-walls to mark the passage, detours for a more direct route.

Common topics in this essay:
National Gallery, South Wales, It's Artist, Katsushika Hokusai, Mt Fuji, Canberra Australia, , Encyclopedia Britannica, becoming memory, tilley '94, morning mist,

Approximate Word count = 1077
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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