28.11.14

LISTEN TO M PEOPLE

THE TIME HAS COME
THERE'S NO WAY BACK

TIME TO BID FAREWELL TO THE LAND OF BLOGGER

THANK IT FOR ALL THAT'S BEEN

BUT LOOK FORWARD

AND MOVE ON UP

DRIPPING GOLD'S NEW HOME IS


AND IT'S SHINEY AND NEW, AND HAS SO MANY GADGETS AND BUTTONS TO PRESS
 YOU'LL THINK YOU'RE IN A BRAND NEW CAR

WITHOUT WHEELS


xx

20.11.14

THE REAL RABBIT FOR ALWAYS


“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”


"Once you are real, you cannot become unreal, it lasts for always"

—The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, 1922

GREAT MINDS - PEOPLE WHO THINK GOOD

"IMAGINARY TIME"
STEPHEN HAWKING
I IMAGINE THE TIME I AM SITTING ACROSS FROM YOU AT THE DINNER TABLE


xx

18.11.14

THE BRIGHTEST OF US

SOMETIMES WHILE GAZING AT THE NIGHT'S SKY,
I IMAGINE STARS LOOKING DOWN MAKING WISHES ON THE BRIGHTEST OF US
JUST AS WE DO THEM

FRENCH ARTIST THIERRY COHEN HAS 
IMMORTALISED THE UNLIT NIGHTSCAPES OF SOME
OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST CITIES IN HIS PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES 

VILLES ETEINTES AKA DARKENED CITIES

“The sky grew darker, painted blue on blue, one stroke at a time,
into deeper and deeper shades of night.”  
 HARUKI MURAKAMI - Dance Dance Dance

WHILE A PHOTO OF SHANGHAI, HONG KONG OR NEW YORK
WITH NOT A SINGLE LIGHT SHINING WOULD BE INCREDIBLE

ALAS COHEN'S WORKS ARE PHOTOSHOPPED.
BUT.... AND HERE LIES HIS CONSIDERABLE THOUGHT

IN EACH WORK HE HAS PHOTOGRAPHED BOTH THE NAMED CITY,
AND A SECOND LOCATION OF THE SAME LATITUDE,
BUT WHERE THE CITY LIGHTS DO NOT SHINE, AND THE BLANKET OF STARS

CAN BE SEEN BRIGHTLY

THE PHOTO OF PARIS INCLUDES NOT ONLY PARIS,
BUT THE NIGHT SKY OF THE WESTERN SAHARA DESERT.


THE GROWING URBAN LIGHT POLLUTION MEANS THAT EACH NIGHT,
MANY STARS AND POINTS OF OUR WIDER GALAXY AND UNIVERSE
GO UNSEEN, AS WE FLOOD THE ATMOSPHERE WITH NEON AND LED.
SO WHEN YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO BE FAR FROM CITY LIGHTS,
THERE IS SOMETHING QUITE OVERWHELMING ABOUT A FULL SKY
AS IF A HEAVIER WINTER BLANKET HAS BEEN PULLED OVER THE GLOBE

“Even today the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years it still takes my breath away.”
CARL SAGAN - Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.


HONG KONG


HONG KONG


NEW YORK


PARIS


RIO DE JANEIRO


SAN FRANCISCO


SHANGHAI


SHANGHAI


TOKYO


xx 



BUY THE DRUGS

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LITERARY CURATORS WAS ASKED ABOUT HIS PROCESS OF SELECTION
AND WHERE HE SOURCES HIS COLLECTION OF POETRY, PROSE
AND ACCOMPANYING ARTWORKS FROM

THIS WAS HIS RESPONSE

You are asking the drug dealer for the source, the magician for the trick 
behind the illusion, and the chef for the recipe — 
 I still want you to buy my drugs, believe in magic, and dine at my restaurant. 

WE ALL WANT TO BELIEVE IN MAGIC, BUT CAN'T HELP BUT ASK THE SECRET TO THE TRICK.

xx

A JOURNAL ENTRY

I AM SIMPLY THANKFUL FOR YOUR EXISTENCE

I WROTE.

WHETHER I AM MEANT TO BE PART OF IT OR NOT

xx

RUSSIAN MARKS OF A DIFFERENT KIND


FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN TATTOOS AND HISTORY 
PAY ATTENTION

FUEL IS CURRENTLY PRESENTING A PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION 
IN LONDON AT THE GRIMALDI GAVIN GALLERY

RUSSIAN CRIMINAL TATTOO POLICE FILES IS A SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS 
GATHERED BY ARKADY BRONNIOV BETWEEN 1960's AND 1980's.

AS A SENIOR EXPERT IN CRIMINALISTICS AT THE USSR MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS 
FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, BRONNIKOV CAN BE REGARDED AS
RUSSIA'S LEADING EXPERT ON TATTOO ICONOGRAPHY.

HE VISITED CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE URAL
AND SIBERA REGIONS WHERE HE INTERVIEWED AND DOCUMENTED
IMAGES OF CONVICTS AND THEIR BODY ART, GOING ON TO BUILD
ONE OF THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ARCHIVES OF THIS CATEGORY. 
HE REGULARLY HELPED SOLVE CRIMINAL CASES ACROSS RUSSIA, EXCLUSIVELY GRANTING THE COLLECTION FOR POLICE USE TO AID THE IDENTIFICATION OF CULPRITS AND CORPSES. 












HIS PHOTOGRAPHS OF NAMELESS FIGURES PRESENT A VISCERAL
REPRESENTATION OF CRIMINAL SOCIETY; THEIR BODIES ILLUSTRATE AN UNOFFICIAL
PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THEIR HISTORY, IMBUED IN SYMBOLISM AND METAPHOR.

xx