My first experience of Art Fair Philippines was one of awe on the seemingly huge number of art enthusiasts there are, if the crowd at the Link in Ayala Center during the third day of the fair was any indication. Art fairs are growing in popularity and one of its appeal is that it is more democratic than art galleries because it eliminates the “VIP treatment” accorded to celebrity art collectors as opposed to the “standard treatment” for other visitors, that is usually very pronounced in a gallery setting (Ratnam, 2014). Will Ramsay, the Founder of Affordable Art Fair stated that a good art fair is one which gives off a welcoming vibe by making the audience feel that it is not a prerequisite to be knowledgeable about art to buy it, and that one does not have to be filthy rich to be able to afford it (Morgan-Feir, 2015). Ratnam and Ramsay both echo what I would characterize as the democratization of art. When I was faced with the throng of audience in the recent Art Fair Philippines, I wondered if that was a successful democratization of art happening right before me.

Democratization of art refers to making art accessible to the masses. In, “Democratization of Art: A Contextual Approach”, the author Kate Booth discussed three conceptualizations of the democratization of art in the context of a museum, as follows: does the visitor demographics reflect the national demographic profile; was it successful in making high culture accessible to the masses; was it successful in making art more meaningful to a broader audience; In the absence of an actual framework that measures the degree of art democratization in the context of an art fair, and thereby posing this paper’s limitation, I will be using Booth’s three concepts to evaluate if Art Fair Philippines is an attempt at democratizing art.

The first measurement looks at the the demographic profile of the visitors and evaluates whether it is reflective of the national demographic profile (Booth, p. 215). In the case of Art Fair Philippines, the venue location identifies what type of audience traffic it attempts to capture. The choice of a car park as its venue is symbolic of it deviating from the proverbial “white cube”, thereby, welcoming to all people from all walks of life. However, Ayala Center in Makati is typically more popular with the affluent crowd. According to the observation of one Art Fair visitor in 2016, the crowd was a good mix of teenagers, students, well-dressed individuals, “millennials with their big cameras”, and expatriates (Mangampat, 2016). Another writer identified the consumers of the fair as “art enthusiasts, students, and art collectors (Lago, 2018). My personal experience aligns with the observations above. The crowd age seems to range from teenagers all the way to individuals in their 50’s or 60’s. Many appeared to be students and white-collar working adults with their very visible cameras and smart phones. There appears to be art collectors and buyers too based on the artwork price discussions I overheard while gallery – hopping.

Despite the number of participating galleries increasing every year, from 40 in 2016, to 46 in 2017, and 51 in 2018 (De La Cruz, 2018), the Art Fair Philippines audience through the years has been consistent. It is comprised of students, white-collar working adults, art enthusiasts, and art collectors. It may seem then that it is only targeting these specific demographics and has not succeeded so far, granting there is an attempt, to be more inclusive of the other socio-demographics like the blue-collar workers and those that are deemed as not affluent.

The second measure for democratization for art is if it was successful in making high culture available and accessible to as many types of people as possible (Booth, p. 215). Art fair’s employ of multiple platforms such as art talks, special exhibits, and the most recent addition to its programming, photography, can be deemed as an earnest attempt to reach out to as many people’s interest as possible. However, its capitalist aspect in terms of the ticket prices as well as the artwork tag prices limit accessibility to only those who can afford to pay the ticket and the artwork prices, and therefore diminishes its art democratization aspects.

The third measure for art democratization asks, “were the individuals given freedom to engage with art on their own terms, thus, making art more attractive and more meaningful to a broader audience?” (Booth, p. 215).

I have a personal preference for curated art exhibitions. I tend to draw meaning of the exhibits from the narratives provided about the artist, the artworks, and the exhibit as a whole. Predictably, I was drawn to the curated exhibits and paid lesser attention to the un-curated ones. I took the un-curated exhibits to mean that the artworks were just there for the selling, or for the audience to use as backdrops for their selfies. On hindsight though, the variety of having curated and un-curated exhibits may be intentional and purposive. Perhaps curated exhibits cater to individuals like me who can only appreciate an artwork if they know the narrative behind it. On the other hand, the un-curated exhibits cater to individuals who prefer to conjure their own meaning of artworks sans the leading narratives from the artists or curators. Also, the variety of art platforms and presentations used such as Daniel dela Cruz’ Imaginarium, Nilo Ilarde’s Hot Wheels cars installation, and the very-advertorial exhibit by Plet Bolipata, among others are all visible attempts to create a spectacle and invite interest from a wide range of audience. The wide range of artists featured, from national artists, to social realists, to contemporary visual artists, and photographers is also a positive indicator that the art fair was making an attempt at showcasing a multitude types of artworks to appeal to a wider type of audience. Still, one also has to bear in mind that the art fair is first and foremost a “market event” (Osental, 2017), where the participating galleries hope to sell the artworks that they exhibit, hence, the artworks on display usually cater to the dominant taste – the ones that have been proven to be sellable.

In the article, “The rise and rise of the art fair”, the author echoed my initial description of the art fair, which is essentially a “tiangge” for artworks when she said, “ I used to feel that art fairs were like malls; they are but there is something honest in that. The typical fair environment – loud, bright, undiscerning – is bad for the mystique that keeps artists elite, but good for feeling out what you like without being led there” (Pricket, 2012).

At the helm of the crowd in the vibrant and spectacular Art Fair Philippines, despite the ticket price and the chosen location, I am convinced that if audience volume and the ability to make 51 galleries accessible to individuals is a good measure to say that Art Fair Philippines was an attempt at democratization of art, then I would say that it was successful. On a deeper level, however, art democratization is also “about enhancing the quality of life for a wider section of community through the promotion of an appreciation and understanding of artwork” (Bailey, Miles, and Stark, 2004), and as I mull about this, the collective image of a selfie-snapping audience comes to mind. And I am reminded of the documentary, “The Curse of Mona Lisa”, when Robert Hughes narrated, “they did not come to look at Mona Lisa. They came in order to have seen it. And there is a crucial distinction. Since one is reality and experience. And the other one is simply phantom,” (Robert Rauschenberg in The Mona Lisa Curse, 2008). And there goes the chain of questions in my head – why do art fair goers go to art fairs? What is their purpose in visiting the art fairs? Do they come out more well-informed and with greater understanding of the artworks? These questions need to be answered for one to be able to assess if indeed, the Art Fair Philippines successfully democratized art.

Deducing from its website, Art Fair Philippines’s mission is to “make art accessible to enthusiasts and to those who want to discover one of Southeast Asia’s most exciting art landscapes”. However, given its claimed success in getting bigger and grander each year, I  strongly opine that it also needs to look at “inclusion”, of striking a good balance between its capitalist agenda and its social responsibility. Specifically, its role in making art accessible to the masses and its commitment to enhance “the quality of life of a broader section of the community through appreciation and understanding of artworks” (Bailey, Miles, and Stark, 2004). As a platform to democratize art, the Art fair Philippines has to make more visible effort to be more inclusive of the audience from the lower social demographics through less steep ticket prices, by increasing the representation of affordable art, and choosing a location that captures the most variety of audience in terms of socio-demographics. The organizers overt encouragement of the audience to interact with the artists and gallerists as a “way of expanding the knowledge of the viewer on how to engage with contemporary art” (Lago, 2018), is one way by which the show promotes understanding and appreciation of art works. Most importantly, in my opinion, the inclusion of art talks is the most visible way by which it democratizes art. Through the art talks, the un-initiated gets initiated into the art world, hence, increasing their capacity to understand and appreciate the artworks and thinning the distinction, as described in Pierre Bourdieu’s, “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste” (Bourdieu, 1984), between high and low culture of the dominated, “working-class aesthetic” and the “dominant aesthetic of the ruling class”. I am looking forward to my next Art Fair Philippines experience, where instead of just bargaining prices and taking selfies, I can actually overhear conversations about the artworks, and what possibly qualifies them as “the best in modern and contemporary Philippine visual art”.

References

1.  Booth, K. (2014). The Democratization of Art: A Contextual Approach”.

2.  Mangampat, A. (2016). I went to Art Fair Philippines and Didn’t Even Pretend to Know Anything About Art.

3.  Lago, A. (2018). How to Enjoy Art Fair PH 2018: Take Your Time, but Skip the Selfies.

4.  De La Cruz, C. (2018). The SPOT.ph Guide to Art Fair Philippines 2018.

5.  Bailey, C., Miles, S., and Stark, P. (2004). Cultural-led urban regeneration and revitalization of identities in Newcastle, Gateshead and the North East of England.

6.  Ratnam, N. (2014). The rise of the art fair – and the death of the small gallery.

7.  Prickett, S. N. (2012). The rise and rise of the art fair.

8.  Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.

9.  Osental, D. H (2017). Art Fair Philippines 2017: A Review

10. Morgan-Feir, C. (2015). Will Ramsay Discusses the Future of Art Fairs

My art novice eyes can spot an Elmer Borlongan figuration from a roomful of artworks. His human figure, which is bald, has to be bold so that it can speak to its spectators. Borlongan started drawing his characteristic bald figuration in the year 1993. In one of his interview clips, Borlongan shared that, “By removing the crown which is a character marker itself, I hope to capture my subject’s barest essence”. As an spiring minimalist, his stripped-down to essentials style is probably what draws me to his subjects.

Borlongan grew up in Mandaluyong. At a young age, he displayed a keen interest and talent in drawing. When he was 11 years old, he trained under the known artist Fernando Sent and later became his apprentice I the art workshops he conducted in Tondo, Manila and nearby suburbs in Montalban and Antipolo, Rizal province. I walked the expanse of the ground floor of the Metropolitan Museum, looking at all two hundred of Elmer Borlongan’s artworks, many in monumental sizes and colours and forms, traversing his twenty-five years of artistic career. The general subject of the artworks are people going about their lives, both in the city and rural settings. Many of the artworks portray subjects from the less privileged communities, “pedalling” and “peddling” their way to earn a livelihood. Imageries that he may have collected from his own neighbourhood and the communities he was exposed to as Sena’s apprentice. “Pedalling” as a livelihood is using a peddled vehicle to provide paid transportation usually within a community. This is shown in Elmer Borlongan’s painting of a tricycle driver with his two passengers; and a pedicab driver on the lookout for a passenger; “Peddling” on the other hand is more locally known as “paglalako”, where a person uses a pedalled mode of transportation, or sometimes just the human feet, to walk around and sell their wares. Borlongan’s artwork on this subject includes a man manoeuvring a bicycle with one hand while holding a bunch of blue balloons with the other, seemingly rushing to deliver it to a party; a labourer carrying a sackful of rice on his shoulders; A fish vendor couple hauling two pails full of their merchandise fresh from the boat behind them; A young cigarette boy vendor and a young sampaguita girl vendor, quite like those street peddlers found in the major highways of Metro Manila, zigzagging the traffic, boarding on and off public buses to offer their wares, oblivious to the road perils that could happen; Paintings of a man peddling religious images and popular readymades such as a painting of horses, and copy of “The Last Supper”; A furniture delivery man; A man balancing a stack of filled egg trays; Indeed, Borlongan’s recurring bald figuration allows him to focus all emotions on his subject’s eyes. Borlongan’s figures are far from patronising, and neither do they reflect dispiritedness. In all these paintings, the subjects display a stoic character, a Realistic portrayal of people in the streets toiling to get through the day. The subjects are very reflective of the hardworking, persevering, and determined nature skilfully mastered by individuals performing odd jobs, which is the usual means of livelihood among informal settlers.

At the suggestion of his mentor artist Fernando Sent, in 1983, Borlongan attended the UP College of Fine Arts where he majored in Painting. It was during this time that he became a founding member of Grupong Salingpusa, an artist group known for their murals imbued with social commentary. Borlongan also cited Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco, a well-know historical muralist, as one of his strong influences, a year before he entered UP. In 1987, his fellow Salingpusa founder Manny Garibay, engaged Borlongan’s help to finish a mural for student activist Lean Alejandro’s funeral procession. This was a milestone in Borlongan’s artistic career, as it directed his works towards social realism as evident in his artworks from 1988 to 1992. “Pag-ahon”, the massive painting that welcomes you to the exhibit shows a group of boatmen collectively hauling a boat from the water. The working class and their struggles is one recurring theme in Philippine social realism. Another painting that echoes this theme is “Kapit-Bisig”, which shows a group of individuals, their Armes linked, in a stance of strength, solidarity and unity. In the realm of social realism, I find Borlongan’s artworks less loud and more pensive, and illuminating a certain feeling of restrained strength waiting to be liberated at the right circumstances.

His father’s lesson on how adaptability allows an individual to thrive no matter the circumstances permeates in Borlongan’s artworks. His many paintings of persons with disability which includes a painting of a fish vendor with amputated arm, a blind masseuse, three blind musicians guiding each other while walking under the care of their guide, portray one’s capacity to still provide for one’s self despite his handicaps. A man in a wheelchair playing a violin, one-legged man playing violin while balancing on crutches, and a man with both arms amputated playing guitar with his toes. These are paintings of virtuosos in unlikely circumstances. The subjects are captured not in their celebratory state but as you would see them in the streets, absorbed in putting up a good performance, so that the passersby may look past their handicaps and admire them for their musical talents instead. These paintings also remind me of of my first encounter with Borlongan paintings at Pinto Museum, and in particular, his artwork titled, “Hating Kapatid”. The painting shows two of his trademark bald male figures sharing a wooden bench seemingly for a nap. A rather mundane subject, but as you look more intently on the two figures, you would know that each is occupying exactly half of the bench. The bench can only accommodate their torsos, hence, their knees are bent so that they could both fit in. The peacefulness of their faces, typical of someone who is sound asleep, betrays the discomfort of their contorted bodies. At this point, I realised that the picture vividly captures the Filipino value of unconditional and selfless sharing, a fact of life, no matter the discomfort, especially among siblings.

Elmer Borlongan’s “Extraordinary Eye for the Ordinary” is the artist’s 25-years retrospective exhibition, and quite expectedly, his artwork collection on exhibit quite covered the whole nine yards. The display of 150 paintings and 50 drawings was successful in featuring the vastness of the subjects that the artist has mastered through the years. It is also a statement that Borlongan, as an artist, has come full circle. He has progressed from his juvenile formalist and mimetic foundation, to creating artworks that are socially relevant, and on to finding his style which he describes as figurative expressionism, or as defined by art experts, “a prime example of Neo-figurative movement in the Philippines where precise shades of human expression is rendered in slightly distorted forms” (Vega, 2014). Borlongan’s massive artwork display spanning the whole ground floor of the Metropolitan Museum is a statement on the artist’s unquestionable prolificness. As a prolific artist, it was almost imperative for his retrospective exhibition to make the statement that the artist was also commercially successful. Hence, alongside the display of his artworks, is also the “name-dropping” of his collectors, which includes the National Artist Benjamin “Bencab” Cabrera, well-known art collectors Paulino and Hetty Que, and his celebrity collectors Christine Bersola, Julius Babao, and Karen Davila.

The massive number of artworks on display meant that I needed visual cues in navigating the artworks to better understand the artist and his artworks. As this was my first experience of a retrospective exhibition of this scale, I was expecting a chronological presentation of the artworks highlighting his biographical and career milestones, juxtaposed with the prevailing social mileu. This style of curation would address my objective of getting to know more about the artist, his artworks, style, and themes in the context of the prevailing social conditions through the years. There was an attempt at chronological presentation using the visual aids. However, this was not sustained throughout the whole exhibition as it only covered the social context from the artist’s birth up to the Marcos regime. The rest of the artworks were clustered according to subject such as religious art, man and animals, children playing street games, musicians playing their instruments, among others. While this style of curation was effective in displaying the myriad of subjects covered by the artist, without a clear information at which in the artist’s career these were painted, it was not effective in helping me understand his artistic evolution, which is what I expected from a retrospective exhibition. The exhibit narratives elucidated Borlongan’s artistic evolution, but this could have been more effectively reinforced visually if the artworks were curated chronologically.

Borlongan’s paintings consists of prosaic subjects, but beyond the ordinary form, one easily notices the deeper values and meanings illuminated through the artworks. The massive and expressive paintings lure one to look deeper into the banalities of human life. In the way he embeds the poignant theme of human resilience, perseverance, and determination in unremarkable everyday situations, Elmer Borlongan most definitely possesses an “extraordinary eye for the ordinary”.

Reference: Vega, P., http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/350029/art-review-elmer-borlongan-and-the-art-of-the-daily-grind-story/, 2014.

Rock balancing, also referred to as stone balancing or gravity art, is the art of stacking stones on top of each other, with as little contact as possible and using only gravity as adhesive, resulting to creative and ephemeral art installations. Many artists points to its meditative process, its oneness with nature aspect, and the feeling of awe that the art production process and the art produced invite from the creator and spectators alike, as the top reasons that draw artists to this form of art. While most practitioners usually create their installations in the vastness of nature, rock balancing is also now seen as an added element in landscaped gardens. And with this, one questions, like a site-specific installation, does rock balancing art lose certain aspects of its nature aesthetic quality when taken out from its usual setting in natural environments like rivers, streams, and creeks, and into a landscaped garden? And what accounts for the aesthetic difference of the artworks in these two settings? These queries pivot from Arnold Berleant’s question in The Aesthetics of Art and Nature, “Is the aesthetics of art distinct from the aesthetics of nature?”. And grounded on this question, I will attempt to compare the aesthetics of rock balancing art created in two different environments – the ones sprawling on a riverbed in Daranak Falls, and the ones installed in the coiffured setting of landscaped gardens.

One important characteristic of nature art is oneness with its organic environment, which, in R.W. Hepburn’s Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty, “requires that the aesthetic object should be at the same time the natural environment or some part of it”. Beautifully and naturally polished stones are usually found in beaches, rivers, streams, and creeks, hence, most artists usually work in these locations. In Daranak Falls, the artist used stones found in the same river where the artwork was installed. The colours and textures of the stones mimic the colours and textures of its surroundings. The artworks created blend in perfectly with the colours and textures of its surroundings. Michael Grab, a famous rock balancer said that,“…rock balancing is always an extension of the natural landscape (http://gravityglue.com/extensions-of-environment/). This natural blending of the artwork and the surroundings, if at all, may not be easily achieved in artworks installed in landscaped gardens. Generally, most stones used in landscaped gardens are collected from their natural environment and introduced into the landscape, and are hence foreign, and may not always naturally blend with the hues of its surroundings. The use of materials indigenous to the installation site affects whether the artwork blends or does not blend with its environment and for this reason, the artworks created in Daranak Falls tend to exhibit the aesthetics of nature art more as compared to the ones installed in landscaped gardens.

Arnold Berleant said, “What we grasp in the wilder states of nature, we appreciate too in its more cultivated forms”. The observation on the rock balancing installations in Daranak Falls and in the landscaped gardens seems to contradict Berleant’s claim. In Daranak Falls, the artwork production involves searching the location for the perfect stones, and the abundance of materials from which to choose from allows the artist to be more explorative and creative in his installations. Again, in the words of Grab, “it is an art form that flourishes in the moment” (http://gravityglue.com/extensions-of-environment/). In a landscaped garden setting, the artist is limited to the preselected materials that were collected to create the artwork. Sometimes, the artist may have already preconceived the artwork formation, and the stones have been especially selected with this design in mind. Changing the design may lead to the need for new materials. And the unavailability of new materials may suppress or limit the explorative and wanton creativity of the artist. This is to say that the rock balancing artworks in Daranak Falls were built with the intention to draw attention to the artist’s ability to defy gravity, and as such, they are objects of awe. In contrast, the artworks in landscaped gardens are usually less outrageous in form, as their formation has been preconceived, and is limited to the available materials on hand.

The ephemerality of rock balancing forms a major part of its nature aesthetic essence. This ephemerality is magnified when the artwork stands tall against a flowing river or stream, or the sweep of the breeze or wind. There is beauty in the way its fragility and transience is framed against the tempestuous and formidable nature. I was in awe when I reached the rock balancing installations in Daranak Falls, as there stood the artworks, looking undisturbed, despite the gust of wind and the gush of the stream where they were standing. In landscaped gardens, stability is celebrated more than ephemerality. When installing a balanced artwork in a landscaped garden, the artist would choose a site where the artwork will encounter the least amount of disturbance, from both humans and nature. Generally, artists will solely rely on gravity to hold the artwork together. In instances where the artwork collapses in a landscaped garden, the artist will be asked to re-mount the installation. The objective of minimising rework by settling with more stable and durable formations then overrules the desire to create highly improbable, awe-inspiring formations. I have even encountered an instance where, after creating the formations, the artist used manufactured adhesives to keep the structure intact throughout the duration of an exhibition. Immanuel Kant’s concept of disinterestedness that distances aesthetic experience from that which is personal and practical supports this observation. The rock balancing installations in Daranak Falls were created with no purpose in mind. The ones in the landscaped gardens, however, are decorative fixtures, hence, tend to be designed to be functional more than their counterparts installed in Daranak Falls.

Stone piles or cairns, as they are also called, were used as navigational tools in the ancient times. But in this age of google maps and Waze applications, practitioners use rock balancing, no longer as a navigational tool, but as a meditative exercise. Tim Anderson, a rock balancer, says he creates his artworks in rivers, streams, and creeks as these settings are conducive for full concentration which is ideal for achieving delicate balances. Leandro Inocencio, one of the two founders of Rock Balancing Philippines, who practices rock balancing both as a meditative exercise, as well as to produce installations for his landscape gardening works, conformed that the art production process is indeed meditative, not unlike the practice of zen meditation. And just like any form of meditation, practice is required to achieve mastery. Inocencio, who is also a landscape artist created a miniature flowing stream in his backyard and uses this spot to keep honing his rock balancing skills. The miniature stream mimics the sound of flowing water in natural bodies of water like rivers and streams, whose sound according to him, helps in achieving a meditative state. He maintains that, as meditation is a mental activity that looks inward, his meditative state is not affected whether he does his meditation out in the open nature, or in the confines of his backyard. In my observation, however, doing his rock balancing in his garden means that he already has stones that were preselected for the exercise. Working with preselected stones also means that he is already very familiar with the curves, anchors, and textures of each stone. In other art forms, familiarity with one’s material usually pushes the artist to expand his creativity and stretch the artistic value of his material. In rock balancing, however, familiarity with one’s material seems to turn the process of art production into a mechanical exercise. In a landscaped garden setting, the artist did not seem to have to achieve the state of full concentration or meditative state. It seemed more of a muscle memory work, thereby giving me the impression that the artwork was the product of a dextrous hand more than a meditative mind. Out in Daranak Falls, the art production started with the artist scrutinising the stream for a spot to create his rock balancing sculpture. He shares that a flat and sturdy stone would be an ideal base for the artwork. He then scours the place for stones of various shapes, and squats to start balancing the rocks. He started with pure balance, a style where one anchors a pointed stone on a flat-surfaced stone. He moves on and chose another spot to create freestyle, a technique that creates arch-like structures. He also created rock stacking, which he shared, is the simplest and the usual starting point for anyone who wants to learn rock balancing. And finally, he created counterbalance, the style that creates beautiful, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, fragile formations. In Daranak Falls, the art production process was a a succession of careful scrutiny of a place to create the artwork, scouring the place for stones that would perfectly balance together, and painstakingly creating the artwork. Out in nature, where his materials are abundant, where getting himself familiar with the environment was necessary, where organisms scurry away when you move the stones where they are hiding under, where the water is flowing and the breeze is fluttering, where a constant motion is heightened by a continuous stream of people crossing the nearby bridge, the artist talked less, and seemed to be more pensive during the process. The artworks produced seemed to have been borne out of the artist’s full concentration and meditative state, more than his skilful and steady hands. Unlike in the landscaped garden setting, the artwork production in Daranak Falls jived with the contemplative vibe of the surrounding nature.

The presence or absence of a frame is said to lead to a fork in the road in the comparison of the aesthetics of nature versus the aesthetics of art. The frame of a painting, for instance, tells the spectator to focus his gaze inside the frame as only the elements found within the frame are matters of aesthetic interest. A frame also aids in circumscribing the complete artwork, allowing the spectator to experience the aesthetics of its complete composition. In a landscaped garden, there exists a physical and conceptual frame. The physical frame being the garden itself, while the conceptual frame, being the design or the theme of the garden. The presence of these frames somehow detaches the artwork from its surroundings. Instead of referring to nature art as frameless, I am inclined to describe it as framed rather expansively. In the case of the rock balancing spot in Daranak Falls, it is framed by the bridge on the one end, the horizon on the opposite end, the clay slope perpendicular to the bridge, and the thick foliage opposite the clay slope. In terms of frame, the difference between the rock balancing art installed in Daranak Falls and the one in the landscaped garden is that, the former has a more extensive frame, while the latter has a more confined frame. This difference in the scale of the frame affects how the viewer perceives his relationship to the artwork. In a landscaped garden, the viewer tends to relate to the artwork as a spectator. Since he can circumscribe the complete composition of the artwork visually, the artwork is viewed as if it is a fixture, and excludes the sensations from nature that the spectator feels while viewing the artwork, such as the breath of the wind, a whiff of the scent of the nearby flowers, the chirping of of birds or the sound of other organisms in the garden. This exudes the feeling that the artwork is static, as if is a painting mounted on a wall, and that the installation is detached from the nature surrounding it. Out in Daranak Falls, the viewer is engulfed within the frame of the artwork. The artwork is dynamic as it becomes part of the movements, sights, sounds, scents, and other sensations pulsating from the surrounding nature. It is not merely viewed, but experienced.

There are two overarching reasons that account why rock balancing artworks created in Daranak Falls tend to exhibit nature aesthetics more than those in the landscaped gardens. The first reason is because of their materiality. The use of indigenous materials make them blend in, and becomes part of the surroundings. The second reason is because, they are creations that spring from mindful mindlessness. Mindful mindlessness refers to the intent to create gravity-defying, and highly improbable formations that has no end-purpose other than to elicit breathtaking awe. The artworks created in landscaped gardens, however, just like how a reproduction loses its aura, tend to lose their nature aesthetic quality because their creation is more concerned about functionality, stability, and practicability, and are less concerned about inspiring awe. But nature, with all its mystery and splendour, is all about inspiring awe.

References

Anderson, Tim. “The Precarious Artistry of Balancing Stones”, in Pond Aesthetics. (2015)(https://www.pondtrademag.com/the-precarious-artistry-of-balancing-stones/ ) [accessed, Dec 1, 2018].

Berleant Arnold. “The Aesthetics of Art and Nature” in Salim Kemal and Ivan Gaskell, eds., (1993) Landscape, Natural Beauty and the Arts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 228-243.

Carlson, Allen. “Environmental Aesthetics”, in Berys Gaut and Dominic Lopes, eds. (2013). The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, 3rd edition. London: Rotledge, pp. 485-498.

Caroll, Noel. “On Being Moved by Nature: Between Religion and Natural History”, in Kemal and Gaskell, eds., (1993), pp. 244-266.

Grab, Michael, (http://gravityglue.com/about/), [accessed, Dec 1, 2018].

“Gravity Meditation” (http://www.gravitymeditation.com/rock_balancing.html), [accessed, Dec 1, 2018].

Hepburn, R. W. “Contemporary Aesthetics and the Neglect of Natural Beauty” in Bernard Williams and Alan Montefiore, eds., (1996) British Analytical Philosophy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 285-310.

From The Pantheist’s Window was the title of my poetry blog ages ago. I have decided to revive it, but this time, it will not be limited to poetry. Rather, it will be a journal for my musings. The dream of publishing my own book one day has always been a niggling thought in my head. I am picturing me in Tibet, writing my life story, in text and watercolour illustrations (watercolour renders are so dainty, and I have always loved things dainty!), fast forward to my book launch, at the Haigh’s store in the corner of Rundle Mall in Adelaide, me reading verses from my book, in synch with an unsuspecting busker playing his music outside. And this is the part where I have to remind myself, “Live in the moment!” Stop dreaming way into the future, just start treading one step at a time, fully present every step of the way. And this is the new purpose of these musings. A self-reminder to simply live in the present.