i

Hi CP! :))…hey, no worries…and yup yup yup…it’s all about the negative space :)))…as Lao Tzu reminds in Tao Te Ching: its the hole in the middle around which the wheel revolves :)))…same true in life…thanks so much for popping in…hope all is well with you, mrs. you and the little lion cubs! :))))

big hugs
bob

Been out of the loop for a bit but wow what great work. Two words dear to my heart says it all (for me) – negative space! ;) :)

Big ups to you and the family,

CP

“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I LOVE YOU BOBBY !!! I LOVE YOU ALLLLL !!!
civi
the Greek fighter

FIRST of all, again, thanks so much! I will answer all comments, but will take a few days off so that others can concentrate on my friend Lijie’s remarkable and important essay. She deserves the spotlight now and I hope everyone takes the time to look at both The Innocent as well as all her work. :)))

FROSTFROG :))

I’m so happy you’re enjoying your time in Hawaii. I could us a vacation myself and hopefully they’ll be alohoa pictures on your blog soonest ! :))…Welcome back!

FEANARE! :)))

Thank you so much for that. That’s so lovely and well, what else is the waking life for but to allow for the continuation of those dreamsongs that visit us along our lives :)))…the hope for more and for richer and more crazy as well! :))

AKAKY! :)))…i hear ya, i hear ya…especially about the stale danish…

PANOS! ;))…yea, or at least are thinking of something else, but are to hesitant to say ;))

CIVI! :))…nice to see your beautifully excitable self back…feels like old times!…what a lovely return :)))

GORDON I: ME TOO…me too!!!! :)))))

GORDON II: :))…yes, i cant wait and will let you know when i come west…yes, i LOVE LOVE color too and love to look at color pictures and am making baby steps with color photography…for me though, graphic intensity is about b/w…color about abstract feelings and emotions…and, well…i guess i answered that color vs. b/w on saturday… :))

DAVID :)))

THANK YOU amigo for everything you’ve done here with Loomings and everything you do. That’s another great post and damn, you’ve been on a roll with great comments under loomings…something I hope that over time people will return to see what you’ve written…i agree in total….sharing as a way of setting the spark that burns the body and the head and the heart incandescent!…alive…hugs hugs :)))

DQ :)))))…thanks so much amigo…indeed indeed..

AKAKY: hahahahahahaah…well, never really loved Poud as a poet either (and read his entire Cantos)…and he was a traitor and antisemetic……but he was also mentally hill…shouldnt be hung…maybe only G.Bush II ;)))

PAUL :)))…it has been my pleasure and a real joy…and I would keep going on and on…but time now to switch folk’s attention to a different artists work :)))

IMANTS ;))…well, i believe that LOOMINGS was published because its decent work and I hope that people wrote alot here because they were interested and curious and they knew that I would answer all questions and comments and I hoped that this sparked a good and interesting dialog…it would have been interesting to hear from negative commentators (surely Jim or others must not have liked it) and i would have loved to engage in a discussion…but the series didnt (nor does it ever) work for everyone and so that’s all ok…i’ve really tried to give it my all to be there for everyone and to be open about my life and the work and the process of both the making and the thinking :)))…so, hopefully people responded to that not because I comment often at BURN but because the work warranted the interest and my responses helped people to feel comfortable to ask questions :)))))…be well…

JULIA :))

bolshoi bolshoi spasibo dorogoiya!!…bolshoi privet Davidka tozhe…and kiss to the little ones..:))))

HERVE! :))))

I thought you just won election to Thai Parliment?…or was that a rumor I heard from one of my friends in BKK? ;))…THANK YOU so much for Being herve and for being so generous and so sensitive with this work. Actually, about watching it in Thai cafe, when i first showed my son, i looked at it with his earphones on listening, i think, to hiphop ;))…andyway, i hope i get to see you this year when you return…i mean, you should be able to get some trip as a newly electred representative to visit Toronto on some cultural venture…I’m waiting for you herve…its been long enough :))…thanks so much for your wide and generous heart!..

HUGS ALL
BOB

Plus I do not think it is a project that we should have absolutely something to say about right there. You are more in the category of artists whose appreciation has not to come forcibly in a timely or scheduled manner, and for instant gratification kicks.

Still, in your constant experimentation to probe and dance (especially dance!) around your own truth and self, you are nothing but inspiring for all of us to search those depth in ways we might not always be ready to undertake but that your own work dares us to have the courage to find.

Hopefully, what David once wrote, that the best essays on BURN are the least commented, is not really the case.

Thanks for being Bob Black, and thanks for being my friend.

first of all thanks so much for that DAvid and everyone…and yes, I’ll be back to answer the rest of the comments…

but for now, I want to shift focus and have everyone take a look at Lijie’s project and essay….she deserves the spot light now, please :)))…

so, i’ll be back to answer, but just want her work not to get some of the attention

with lots of love and hugs :))

ha ha! cheers!

we rarely publish commentators work here…in 2012 only only MW and Gladdy i think….and now Bob, and of course you several times in 2010,11…commentators are of course always welcomed, but few submit work….

frankly , i think this crowd is pretty straightforward in their assessments of work regardless of source and i certainly choose based on the work..i would have no reason to do otherwise…

I’m absolutely sure it’s 100% work and nothing to do with being a regular round here.

well i used ultimate correctly in referring to art the first time, and then awkwardly misused penultimate..thanks…fixed!!! i am always having my penultimate beer!!

“Poetry is what happens when nothing else can”.
Charles Bukowski

this has been one of the most interesting discussions yet on Burn in terms of getting to the seed of “what makes Johnny run”…….i thank Bob for, not surprisingly, jumping in and really giving us all some insight into his thinking and reasoning process…never presenting himself to have empirical knowledge, yet simply telling it like he sees it…again, Bob IS the way he writes, the way he photographs, the way he lives…

as Bob has so eloquently pointed out, it does not matter how you get there, as long as you get there…to strike a chord in the human experience that goes beyond the utilitarian use of our craft, our art…clearly Bob appreciates many styles/approaches/methods, yet only does his thing…we can really only do a few things, or maybe only one thing really well, yet all of us can surely do our one thing better if we soak up the blood , sweat, and tears of those who do other things…

the human animal is limited individually..in basic survival terms one man is a better hunter, another is better at building a fire, and another is better at cooking the meat..once everyone is well fed, and a roof is over our heads, and we are warm and safe, then art comes in…art is the ultimate fulfillment beyond pure survival…the ultimate symbols for all societies once food, shelter, clothing and territory have been attained by gut instinct, and war, and all of the other positive and negative aspects of human nature, then it is time to build the opera house…

does this make art a luxury? well sort of…it surely makes it the last thing in the chain of human experience after all else has been attained….however, even in military combat, during bombing runs etc., works of art are generally spared…not targeted…there must be a real need..a real appreciation beyond governments, beyond war, beyond politics….after all a brilliant stone sculpture is still only a piece of rock chiseled by a man into a specific form…to what purpose? to what end?

we need i think more than anything to be fulfilled by what is not utilitarian….poetry, music, films, literature, painting, sculpture, and yes photography all serve to fulfill this “need”…for us to rise above the nitty gritty of pure survival….perhaps our ultimate purpose….after all, in the end, it is only art that survives….

ok, sure, this is only one essay by one man…yet the exponential effect will reach many…no, not because of the number of times it will be seen, not by the circulation of the magazine, or number of books sold etc., but by the way that it will affect others to do their own thing…the passing of an idea, a thought, a philosophy, is i think the most important thing one can do with their life…to do something, and then tell others how you did it in its most basic incarnation…..again, simply sharing….

Bob Black is one giving dude…with a small spark comes fire….and with a good fire going, we all gather…

cheers, david

Of course it’s a pointless discussion I’m sure. One is not better than the other, but the syntax and the experience of viewing either one is different.

Your view of the world Bob, as a one-eyed visually impaired person is surely different than most people’s . I assume I’m seeing that in your photographs. In your photos I see simple graphics, big forms, movement, a nuance not usually experience by us normally sighted people. Clearly this is your gift to us. To point out what is obvious, but is usually obscured by detail and complexity.

Looking forward to hosting you here on Vancouver Island.