Jonathan, I clearly sound like an idiot when reading back my comments,(I forgotten how to talk I think) 😏 so I apologise. I meant that when the ego shrinks, (I.e. the identity built upon the other’s expectations of us), then the Self grows. And that’s what I think you’ve done (from where I’m looking). That’s extraordinarily brave. And to create this interaction with us allowing us to witness that, it’s an act of love. Well you are loved and we are very proud of you. You are the unknown friend for many of us who don’t know you in person. Our lives have been interwoven through your creations and that’s a real achievement. And now we witness the Self. Everything happening around us conspires for this. It’s a time of growth. As Rea used to shout, jumping and caressing the soil happily when she was a toddler ‘Spring is hiding under here. Spring is coming up!’. Take care of yourSelf.
The ripples that you've created in the past and with this work are profound and beautiful. I sense the depth here now more fully than years ago. Perhaps number of views is an indicator based on current/old beliefs. What would you need to believe to trust your investment in Fragments and its power to transform? Rather than "how many views," what different question(s)--stemming from new beliefs--might you ask yourself before falling asleep? Happy to explore more if helpful. Sending love. -Jamie
Jamie, these are excellent questions that I will begin to ask myself. I have been finding that "what if?" questions can be especially potent: that they somehow trigger the quantum field to reveal unexpected and yet perfectly resonant responses. Very grateful for your reflections and words of encouragement.
Jonathan - this work is extraordinary. Do NOT doubt yourself. These reflections are exactly what the zeitgeist needs right now in amongst all the crazy noise. Thank you for creating them and sharing them with us. Sharing the shit out of your work all over social ❤️
Wow I had no idea you provoked such strong reactions. Congratulations. What else could an experimental artist hope for? And all those prior works, (as part of the eliminating process of life), have lead you to different points of view, (via satisfying the needs of your audiences). Perhaps that circle of progress has closed? Could it be that more directions and dimensions of interaction are born this way?
If you don’t ride the waves, you cannot fake it, as sand is my witness.
Eleni, yes, it is interesting to reflect on the "directions and dimensions of interaction" that can be unexpectedly born through honesty and vulnerability — which indeed has been my experience this week.
You are making the work that you want to and clearly need to make right now. Doing that is sometimes a lonely road but the people who can join you there are the ones you need at this time. In your reflections about the "sparse response" to this series of your work you compare it in part to a project like Cowbird. The participation and appreciation for a project like Cowbird was, for many of us, not about you or about being a part of your project, but about the platform you created where we could explore our own projects and networks within. It was a gift. In this series you have stepped over a threshold into your own world where people may choose to observe, follow, care, or not. The "or not" part has less to do with being a response to you or your work and more to do with me/us/them being fully engaged in other divergent projects and activities. Sometimes these paths are parallel, or cross, other times you/me /us/we are like seperate campfires on distant hills, small lights in a dark world, like starts in the night. Go well.
Hi Kathy, it's good to hear from you. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Yes, it's true that a project like Cowbird offered a more straightforward invitation to participate, and was in that way more traditionally "a gift." And yet, despite how intensely personal it is, I hope that In Fragments can serve as a different kind of gift: offering a mirror for others to reflect, and that out of its wordless silence, new insights can arise, unique to each individual. I love your image of our separate campfires on dark and distant hills. Perhaps those faraway fires can add to the beauty that we each perceive in the places where we are.
Hi Jonathan, good to hear from you as well and to see from your postings what you are thinking about and making. Art, in all its forms is both a gift and a conversation. It is a conversation with our own self and our ghosts, and also a dialogue with all of the past but projecting into an unknowable future. The audience for any art will ebb and flow. No doubt your work can be a thoughtful catalyst and connection for and with others, in unpredictable ways and at unspecified times. Inspiration inspires and certainly more beauty, and reflections on that quality are appreciated wherever there is a need or a void to fill. So you could see art, and artists' work as like the filling of potholes and frost heaves in a road after a long winter, and an artist is a sort of cultural maintenance team. Given the news of the day, and of the world there is a long road ahead with much work to be done.
Right, from the places where they live, and from there it can ripple outward. Like they say on airplanes for the safety talk to make sure you put on your oxygen mask first and then you can help others. Some people have criticized art for being self-indulgent but that is not the case. If you have worked toward self-knowledge/awareness, have tamed your own demons and created a roadmap for that process then you can share this experience with new perspectives and possibilities for expressing your human experience in another language, be it in paint, sculpture, photography, film, dance, music, etc. Wishing you all the best in your creative process and journey, and thank you for having the courage to share what you do.
Hi Jonathan, big hugs🌸 It sounds like you have just identified your next big challenge. Our challenges never seem to get easier. Exploring the ‘outer’ world, is a whole heap easier I think than exploring our ‘inner’ world. Work that you produced, or should I say ‘your shared journey’ was initially very hard for me to grasp, considering my limitations. Without being defacing, it was hard work! My brain, at the time throbbing. Your work ‘is a gift’…. To all! But, for me, as excited as I am to be offered this gift, I currently have several situations that will not allow me to fully immerse myself in this journey with you. Some thing to consider I think, re interest in your new work… is it possible that some of your followers were more interested in profiting from your work, it is inspirational and useful, but in the outer world. You only profit from this new work is if you participate in following you down the rabbit hole to depths of ones own psyche! And, as you have experienced, it is painful! Am I the only one who is taking time to prepare for this? And I so want to do it. Its like preparing for surgery, its scary, its going to change your life, are you going to survive it? When I muster the courage to ‘go there’, a part of me will die, and something new and exciting will grow in its place. I think Im sounding weird. It would be super frustrating if you did not keep your works available in entirety so that ‘chickens’ like me could have access to it when the courage is mustered. You cant underestimate the power of your work Jonathan, and neither can you overestimate the time it will take for this ‘seed to germinate, grow flower and fruit’. Trusting yourself, is a challenge. This work is challenging, as you are asking people to ‘give’ something of themselves, not just take and use! ……also, is this something you are doing for yourself and those that actually need it… or are you wanting approval? You dont need to prove anything. Thank you Jonathan for your work🙏🌸
Hi Cath, thank you for sharing these reflections. It is interesting to think of the more directly commercial applications of past projects in data visualization and "storytelling" — and that those external utilities may have been part of their mainstream appeal. In the case of In Fragments, your image of the seed is helpful, and resonates for me. Yes of course, it will sprout and grow fruit when the time is right.
Jonathan, I wonder if you would be open to a bit of criticism? Its hard to offer criticism when there are such polarities and possible cancellations at every meeting or media opportunity, though I feel this would not be such. I looked at part of the work In Fragments and and saw it as a reflection to my own individuation over the past 8 years. Something I discovered about 5 years ago was that I could not keep up "the self" that I was envisioning or even had become over the course of 30 something years. I realized I needed to regroup and find my fecund zero point and from starting with this nothingness I can gain an understanding of what it is I am here for and to do in this vast and "generous present" moment. I believe rituals are apart of nearly every culture in the world and in no way do I see "ritual" being too old fashioned for the zeitgeist, it occurs to me that many, including myself, and perhaps even you with In Fragments have confused ritual with offering?
You elluded to you own astrological chart and provided its time signature and maybe could find a way to meditate on the Uranus transit to your natal position of Chiron, the wounded healer in your 9th house. There could be a lot of insight from the analysis of this pressure point on your particular configuration. Doubt seems to be often seen as a personal weakness, however how can one see light without darkness and darkness without light? There can be so much gained from having a season of musty feelings especially if one can dial into their origins. When we met you were undoubtedly a human with propolsion from the vital source so even with a season of mustiness I trust you know how to connect back to source for your way.
Hi Melissa, thank you so much for your insightful reflections — in particular the pointer to the Chiron / Ninth House placement, which I found helpful and illuminating. Hope all is well in your world...
The marbles popping out of your mouth made me uncomfortable at first. Then I found it humorous. Not sure if that was your intention, but I think people who make art for a specific reaction are limiting art. For example, I prefer to paint abstracts that...remind someone of their favorite childhood pajamas, while another viewer thinks of it as clouds at sunrise. Meanwhile another viewer sees the color mashup as a sensory overload. As someone who hasn't made instant "hits," but has continued making art...keep going. Success should not be defined by others. Success is born from learning. Not all learning results in straight A grades, or instant "hits."
I checked in and checked out at the cremation video.
Because it hit too close to home.
At my mother’s funeral, 20 years ago, I didn’t do well at the visitation, to have my mother of 45 years displayed like some Madame Tussaud’s figure in a box on a stage with flowers.
I found it a horrid and morose custom. To look at a life reduced to a wedding cake figure in a box. Plastic.
And then the funeral director took my father and I back to the crematorium to show us the process, just as you show.
My father, a career electrical engineer was fascinated with it all - how we could take a whole body and reduce it to a pile of dust to put in a box.
I was repulsed. ‘Dust to dust’? Yeah, I knew that, but my mom? I found it horrid. And disrespectful. How can you take a whole woman’s life and put it in a box?
Disassociated are we?
I’ll watch the rest of the series but I need a break now. Thank you.
Hi David, thank you for sharing these reflections. I can understand that the cremation film was challenging for you to digest at the time. I hope that perhaps you can return to the latter set of films whenever you feel the time is right. With best wishes.
Sometimes sincerity is not persuasive. Sometimes vulnerability does not lead to connection. Sometimes, it leads to 'vulnerability hangover'. In any case- the internet is weird.
It's actually been my experience this week that the vulnerability from this essay has led to meaningful new connections. But yes, the Internet is indeed weird :)
I empathize but am indifferent towards this entire collection as you accurately assessed and delineated.
I do enjoy the writings surround it as they are very calming in comparison to a dumpster fire that we are all collectively experiencing in. Just no headspace for time piece like this series.
Just do your thang. Who cares? U are already contributing to partly solve the climate by not minting a coin. If u do, please consider SOL even though I don’t entirely trust if it’s any better than ETH.
U have that chip in your brain that no one else has. I do have high hopes u will re-enter the “civilization” to make work that practically resolve anything of your choice.
Hi Tsum, glad you are enjoying the writings. I would encourage you to stick with the films to see how the series resolves and concludes. The early films are indeed rather abstract and difficult to grasp, but the later ones become much more understandable, with more traditional narrative structures and more accomplished filmmaking. Best wishes.
Jonathan, I clearly sound like an idiot when reading back my comments,(I forgotten how to talk I think) 😏 so I apologise. I meant that when the ego shrinks, (I.e. the identity built upon the other’s expectations of us), then the Self grows. And that’s what I think you’ve done (from where I’m looking). That’s extraordinarily brave. And to create this interaction with us allowing us to witness that, it’s an act of love. Well you are loved and we are very proud of you. You are the unknown friend for many of us who don’t know you in person. Our lives have been interwoven through your creations and that’s a real achievement. And now we witness the Self. Everything happening around us conspires for this. It’s a time of growth. As Rea used to shout, jumping and caressing the soil happily when she was a toddler ‘Spring is hiding under here. Spring is coming up!’. Take care of yourSelf.
The ripples that you've created in the past and with this work are profound and beautiful. I sense the depth here now more fully than years ago. Perhaps number of views is an indicator based on current/old beliefs. What would you need to believe to trust your investment in Fragments and its power to transform? Rather than "how many views," what different question(s)--stemming from new beliefs--might you ask yourself before falling asleep? Happy to explore more if helpful. Sending love. -Jamie
Jamie, these are excellent questions that I will begin to ask myself. I have been finding that "what if?" questions can be especially potent: that they somehow trigger the quantum field to reveal unexpected and yet perfectly resonant responses. Very grateful for your reflections and words of encouragement.
Jonathan - this work is extraordinary. Do NOT doubt yourself. These reflections are exactly what the zeitgeist needs right now in amongst all the crazy noise. Thank you for creating them and sharing them with us. Sharing the shit out of your work all over social ❤️
Cindy, thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I'm grateful for all your support over the years, and now. Hope to see you again soon.
Wow I had no idea you provoked such strong reactions. Congratulations. What else could an experimental artist hope for? And all those prior works, (as part of the eliminating process of life), have lead you to different points of view, (via satisfying the needs of your audiences). Perhaps that circle of progress has closed? Could it be that more directions and dimensions of interaction are born this way?
If you don’t ride the waves, you cannot fake it, as sand is my witness.
Eleni, yes, it is interesting to reflect on the "directions and dimensions of interaction" that can be unexpectedly born through honesty and vulnerability — which indeed has been my experience this week.
You are making the work that you want to and clearly need to make right now. Doing that is sometimes a lonely road but the people who can join you there are the ones you need at this time. In your reflections about the "sparse response" to this series of your work you compare it in part to a project like Cowbird. The participation and appreciation for a project like Cowbird was, for many of us, not about you or about being a part of your project, but about the platform you created where we could explore our own projects and networks within. It was a gift. In this series you have stepped over a threshold into your own world where people may choose to observe, follow, care, or not. The "or not" part has less to do with being a response to you or your work and more to do with me/us/them being fully engaged in other divergent projects and activities. Sometimes these paths are parallel, or cross, other times you/me /us/we are like seperate campfires on distant hills, small lights in a dark world, like starts in the night. Go well.
Hi Kathy, it's good to hear from you. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Yes, it's true that a project like Cowbird offered a more straightforward invitation to participate, and was in that way more traditionally "a gift." And yet, despite how intensely personal it is, I hope that In Fragments can serve as a different kind of gift: offering a mirror for others to reflect, and that out of its wordless silence, new insights can arise, unique to each individual. I love your image of our separate campfires on dark and distant hills. Perhaps those faraway fires can add to the beauty that we each perceive in the places where we are.
Hi Jonathan, good to hear from you as well and to see from your postings what you are thinking about and making. Art, in all its forms is both a gift and a conversation. It is a conversation with our own self and our ghosts, and also a dialogue with all of the past but projecting into an unknowable future. The audience for any art will ebb and flow. No doubt your work can be a thoughtful catalyst and connection for and with others, in unpredictable ways and at unspecified times. Inspiration inspires and certainly more beauty, and reflections on that quality are appreciated wherever there is a need or a void to fill. So you could see art, and artists' work as like the filling of potholes and frost heaves in a road after a long winter, and an artist is a sort of cultural maintenance team. Given the news of the day, and of the world there is a long road ahead with much work to be done.
Yes, another beautiful image: a cultural maintenance crew, artists serving a healing and a mending function in the places where they live.
Right, from the places where they live, and from there it can ripple outward. Like they say on airplanes for the safety talk to make sure you put on your oxygen mask first and then you can help others. Some people have criticized art for being self-indulgent but that is not the case. If you have worked toward self-knowledge/awareness, have tamed your own demons and created a roadmap for that process then you can share this experience with new perspectives and possibilities for expressing your human experience in another language, be it in paint, sculpture, photography, film, dance, music, etc. Wishing you all the best in your creative process and journey, and thank you for having the courage to share what you do.
Hi Jonathan, big hugs🌸 It sounds like you have just identified your next big challenge. Our challenges never seem to get easier. Exploring the ‘outer’ world, is a whole heap easier I think than exploring our ‘inner’ world. Work that you produced, or should I say ‘your shared journey’ was initially very hard for me to grasp, considering my limitations. Without being defacing, it was hard work! My brain, at the time throbbing. Your work ‘is a gift’…. To all! But, for me, as excited as I am to be offered this gift, I currently have several situations that will not allow me to fully immerse myself in this journey with you. Some thing to consider I think, re interest in your new work… is it possible that some of your followers were more interested in profiting from your work, it is inspirational and useful, but in the outer world. You only profit from this new work is if you participate in following you down the rabbit hole to depths of ones own psyche! And, as you have experienced, it is painful! Am I the only one who is taking time to prepare for this? And I so want to do it. Its like preparing for surgery, its scary, its going to change your life, are you going to survive it? When I muster the courage to ‘go there’, a part of me will die, and something new and exciting will grow in its place. I think Im sounding weird. It would be super frustrating if you did not keep your works available in entirety so that ‘chickens’ like me could have access to it when the courage is mustered. You cant underestimate the power of your work Jonathan, and neither can you overestimate the time it will take for this ‘seed to germinate, grow flower and fruit’. Trusting yourself, is a challenge. This work is challenging, as you are asking people to ‘give’ something of themselves, not just take and use! ……also, is this something you are doing for yourself and those that actually need it… or are you wanting approval? You dont need to prove anything. Thank you Jonathan for your work🙏🌸
Hi Cath, thank you for sharing these reflections. It is interesting to think of the more directly commercial applications of past projects in data visualization and "storytelling" — and that those external utilities may have been part of their mainstream appeal. In the case of In Fragments, your image of the seed is helpful, and resonates for me. Yes of course, it will sprout and grow fruit when the time is right.
Jonathan, I wonder if you would be open to a bit of criticism? Its hard to offer criticism when there are such polarities and possible cancellations at every meeting or media opportunity, though I feel this would not be such. I looked at part of the work In Fragments and and saw it as a reflection to my own individuation over the past 8 years. Something I discovered about 5 years ago was that I could not keep up "the self" that I was envisioning or even had become over the course of 30 something years. I realized I needed to regroup and find my fecund zero point and from starting with this nothingness I can gain an understanding of what it is I am here for and to do in this vast and "generous present" moment. I believe rituals are apart of nearly every culture in the world and in no way do I see "ritual" being too old fashioned for the zeitgeist, it occurs to me that many, including myself, and perhaps even you with In Fragments have confused ritual with offering?
You elluded to you own astrological chart and provided its time signature and maybe could find a way to meditate on the Uranus transit to your natal position of Chiron, the wounded healer in your 9th house. There could be a lot of insight from the analysis of this pressure point on your particular configuration. Doubt seems to be often seen as a personal weakness, however how can one see light without darkness and darkness without light? There can be so much gained from having a season of musty feelings especially if one can dial into their origins. When we met you were undoubtedly a human with propolsion from the vital source so even with a season of mustiness I trust you know how to connect back to source for your way.
Hi Melissa, thank you so much for your insightful reflections — in particular the pointer to the Chiron / Ninth House placement, which I found helpful and illuminating. Hope all is well in your world...
The marbles popping out of your mouth made me uncomfortable at first. Then I found it humorous. Not sure if that was your intention, but I think people who make art for a specific reaction are limiting art. For example, I prefer to paint abstracts that...remind someone of their favorite childhood pajamas, while another viewer thinks of it as clouds at sunrise. Meanwhile another viewer sees the color mashup as a sensory overload. As someone who hasn't made instant "hits," but has continued making art...keep going. Success should not be defined by others. Success is born from learning. Not all learning results in straight A grades, or instant "hits."
Yes indeed — learning can come from so many angles.
The true Nature of Perception has it's Awareness in Bodily conscience...
It is IN the Physical experience of our senses that we find/create our spiritual perceptions which are returning lessons of what we were.
As you define the parameters of thought, be reminded to take all your tools.
hop
I checked in and checked out at the cremation video.
Because it hit too close to home.
At my mother’s funeral, 20 years ago, I didn’t do well at the visitation, to have my mother of 45 years displayed like some Madame Tussaud’s figure in a box on a stage with flowers.
I found it a horrid and morose custom. To look at a life reduced to a wedding cake figure in a box. Plastic.
And then the funeral director took my father and I back to the crematorium to show us the process, just as you show.
My father, a career electrical engineer was fascinated with it all - how we could take a whole body and reduce it to a pile of dust to put in a box.
I was repulsed. ‘Dust to dust’? Yeah, I knew that, but my mom? I found it horrid. And disrespectful. How can you take a whole woman’s life and put it in a box?
Disassociated are we?
I’ll watch the rest of the series but I need a break now. Thank you.
Hi David, thank you for sharing these reflections. I can understand that the cremation film was challenging for you to digest at the time. I hope that perhaps you can return to the latter set of films whenever you feel the time is right. With best wishes.
Sometimes sincerity is not persuasive. Sometimes vulnerability does not lead to connection. Sometimes, it leads to 'vulnerability hangover'. In any case- the internet is weird.
It's actually been my experience this week that the vulnerability from this essay has led to meaningful new connections. But yes, the Internet is indeed weird :)
please keep going. keep pushing. this series is powerful and fascinating and inspirational. thank you
Thank you so much, Nick — I really appreciate your support and encouragement.
I hope you continue writing these reflections. They have had a profound impact on me. Thanks for continuing to share them.
Kimberly, thank you for this sharing — I'm so glad to hear it.
I empathize but am indifferent towards this entire collection as you accurately assessed and delineated.
I do enjoy the writings surround it as they are very calming in comparison to a dumpster fire that we are all collectively experiencing in. Just no headspace for time piece like this series.
Just do your thang. Who cares? U are already contributing to partly solve the climate by not minting a coin. If u do, please consider SOL even though I don’t entirely trust if it’s any better than ETH.
U have that chip in your brain that no one else has. I do have high hopes u will re-enter the “civilization” to make work that practically resolve anything of your choice.
Hi Tsum, glad you are enjoying the writings. I would encourage you to stick with the films to see how the series resolves and concludes. The early films are indeed rather abstract and difficult to grasp, but the later ones become much more understandable, with more traditional narrative structures and more accomplished filmmaking. Best wishes.