Nothing can dim the light which shines from within…. Maya Angelou
Yesterday afternoon I went to the local Art Museum to attend an exhibition. To me all such visits are like reading a book. One of my professors used to tell me (I am so lucky that I have so many good teachers in my life), when you read a book or attend a class or listen to a lecture, you should always measure the difference in your knowledge level (after – before); and if that is BDL (below detectable level); that was a waste of time. He used to say, try, and make those ‘waste of time’ to a minimum 😊
David Hockney English,
born 1937,
Woldgate, 24 november 2005
Oil on canvas
So, my visit to this David Hockney exhibit was extremely rewarding and certainly well above BDL! I was familiar with Dave’s work before, he was well known for making gigantic paintings like his famous work of the Grand Canyon. Something like that you can’t possibly ‘see’ on a computer screen. You must experience it in person. Just like the real Grand Canyon. But that said, I was not familiar with Dave’s works and the scale of his achievements. Now I am. That is well above BDL.
This exhibit is mostly about his landscape work, in relation to Vincent Van Gogh, but that is not something that moved me. I mean, I am already a fan of Vincent’s work from all angles, and I am also loosely familiar with Dave’s work. What intrigued me however, is Dave’s miraculous experimentation with perspective and mediums. In his late years, for someone who is 80+, he is doing most of his work on iPad/iPhone now! He has these 10 ft tall 4 ft wide prints made from painting done on a $3 app called brushes that is available in iPhone! Then he mounts a grid of 9 cameras on a car… and drive them on a country road of Yorkshire and stiches the video of the same street in 4 seasons!
I like the winter one the best (again, very difficult to get the experience on a computer screen)
Here is the 4 season one…
And here is the grid of 18 cameras to produce the ‘illusion’..
Dave says, the illusion works because the different movements of the camera resemble the way we look at a landscape. The human gaze never focuses on a single point in front of us, but wanders, zooms in and our mentally, and changes direction and perspective. So, a single picture or a movie, however grand it might be, can never replicate the experience of being there. The grid of cameras used here tries to approach that experience and makes the point. The scale in which this is reproduced is mesmerizing and I was thinking about Amor a lot while I was visiting the exhibit. He often mentions that he understands art and films but not paintings. To that I say…what is the difference?
That brings me back to the title I used. Knowledge and learning today has no boundaries. I strongly believe that we can be anyone who we want to be. The light is within us Amor.
Art by 
-Editor
যদি কোনো পৃথিবীর কিশলয়ে বেসে থাকো ভালো
যদি কোনো আন্তরিক পর্যটনে জানালার আলো
দেখে যেতে চেয়ে থাকো, তাহাদের ঘরের ভিতরে —
আমাকে যাবার আগে বল তা-ও, নেবো সঙ্গে করে ।
ভুলে যেওনাকো তুমি আমাদের উঠানের কাছে
অনন্ত কুয়ার জলে চাঁদ পড়ে আছে ।
আজ সেই ঘরে এলায়ে পড়েছে ছবি
এমন ছিলো না আষাঢ় শেষের বেলা
উদ্যানে ছিল বরষা-পীড়িত ফুল
আনন্দ-ভৈরবী।
আজ সেই মাঠে আসে না রাখাল ছেলে
কাঁদে না মোহনবাঁশিতে বটের মূল
এখনো বরষা কোদালে মেঘের ফাঁকে
বিদ্যুত্-রেখা মেলে।
সে কি জানিত না এমনি দু:সময়
লাফ মেরে ধরে মোরগের লাল ঝুঁটি
সে কি জানিত না হদৃয়ের অপচয়
কৃপণের বামমুঠি
সে কি জানিত না যত বড়ো রাজধানী
তত বিখ্যাত নয় এ হদৃয়পুর
সে কি জানিত না আমি তারে যত জানি
আনন্দ-সমুদ্দুর
আজ সেই ঘরে এলায়ে পড়েছে ছবি
এমন ছিলো না আষাঢ় শেষের বেলা
উদ্যানে ছিল বরষা-পীড়িত ফুল
আনন্দ-ভৈরবী।
---শক্তি চট্টোপাধ্যায়
-Recited by 
লা ফ্যান্তমে দে লা লিবার্তে (দ্য ফ্যান্টম অফ লিবার্টি) (১৯৭৪) সিনেমায় একটা সিকোয়েন্স আছে যেখানে তিনজন পাদ্রি তিনটে ভিন্ন ভিন্ন দরজা দিয়ে বেরোয় আর ভিন্ন দরজা দিয়ে ঢোকে। এই সিকোয়েন্সটা সিগনিফিকেন্স হলো, ঠিক কিছুক্ষণ আগেই আচানক এক কাণ্ড ঘটে গেছে, ওর ড্রামাটিক ভাবের রেশ এখনও রয়ে গেছে। বুনুয়েল দর্শককে ফুসরত দিচ্ছেন পরবর্তী ড্রামার জন্যে তৈরি হতে। এই সিকোয়েন্স বস্তুত ঝড়ের পর শান্ত, নিরুদ্বেগ পরিবেশের মত।
ঝঞ্ঝাটহীন হওয়া উদ্দেশ্য, অথচ এই সিকোয়েন্স কিন্তু একদমই মেন্দা পারা পানসে নয়। দরজা বন্ধ ও খোলার একাধিক ম্যাচ-কাট শট সিনগুলোকে জোড়া লাগিয়ে বেশ টাইট আর ফাস্ট পেইসড সিকোয়েন্স বানায়। যদিও স্ক্রিনে আদৌ তেমন কিছু হচ্ছে না, দর্শকের মনে হবে দ্রুতগতিতে অনেক কিছু হয়ে যাচ্ছে।
পুরো সিনেমাতেই এই ধাচের ধরি মাছ না ছুই পানি এডিটিং আছে, যা কিনা এই সিনেমার আপাত গল্পহীনতাকে ছাপিয়ে যেন সিনেমার ভাষার জয়গান গায়!
সিকোয়েন্সটা দেখা যাবে এখানে —
Summer - what a joy it is; even the scorching heat that makes you feel like a cooked meal, summer is still very special. Where some are still enjoying the nice warm glow of Spring, here at this part of the world we'll be celebrating the first day of the year aka the very first day of summer. Look at it this way, we're ahead of you, aren't we? Apart from the skin-melting weather, other specialties of this season would be mangos and storms. Yes, people like storms; they get somewhat annoyed when the electricity goes away due to some malfunction, but the oh-so-cool and natural gust of wind are always welcoming. I enjoy the summer evenings; still with the hotter-than-ever attitude but the sun god won't be raging, it's somewhat bearable. You'll talk about the air condition and fan and they create a very comfortable atmosphere; yea, tell that to your sunburns. We don't worry much about it before the new year celebrations; we celebrate our New Year's Day on the very first day we mark when the summer begins.
Pohela Boishakh holds a very special place not just in our hearts but in our life; we celebrate the day with much grandeur. If you look up Pohela Boishakh, you'll find a surprising amount of pictures of how the day is usually spent; the glorious 14th of April. The colorful processions, the accessories, the celebratory mood will definitely lift your soul; but that's not what's happening this year. This year, like last year, things are quite different; with the rising death and infected toll, we're already going through another lockdown. I know it makes you anxious and so am I, but let's forget that for a while. 14th of April, the start of the calendar.
My mother was sharing one of her childhood memories, she was probably 7 or 8 years old and my grandfather took her and her father to a fair, yes, Boishakh fairs are popular even now. They bought all sorts of fruits and toys; my uncle had bought a wooden whistle and he was merrily playing it. While being the happy-go-lucky kid playing with a fiddle, my uncle tripped and fell and that fiddle pierced mouth; he needed three stitches. My mom was telling me every little detail of her day like it was yesterday; everything fruits she bought, the dress she was wearing, and how carefree her brother was acting; she almost went back to the day spiritually. After she was done narrating her story I started to visualize my very first summer celebration; although I remember bits and pieces of it those bits and pieces are still very clear. I was 6 years old at the time; my mom had a thing for matching dresses for me and my sister. We had a recreational center nearby the colony we lived in at the time and they were making posters, clown hats, masks, and what-not; I had no clue about what the fuss was all about. I was the kid playing around with other kids in the midst of preparations. On the day of the festivity, my sister and I were in matching clothes, and just so people could tell us apart, she chose to wear a large cone-shaped hat and I wore a tiger mask; funnily I still remember the tiger mask. It was very early in the morning and so many people gathered for a procession; everyone dressed in traditional clothing except for the funny hats and mask.
This only made me wonder that the celebration is far grander than it used to be and the innocence of it is slowly gone in bits and pieces. Just like my mom remembers her earliest Pohela Boishakh, I remember mine and perhaps we'll both keep those memories in the far corner of our hearts to use them later for inspirations.
Do not forget to join our next weekly hangout on at Friday 10 pm GMT +6
@notacinephile
@surrealfia