and the joys of the internet
Our generation is part of so many new developments and we take many things for granted. And yet I am always enthusiastic about the opportunities that are given to us and what often results from them.
So today I would like to tell you about my friend Jack – whom I actually don’t know personally. The story started like this:
I already posted about a short video introducing my calligraphy that I uploaded to my channel. And also about the fact that book projects have resulted from this. Which in and of itself is gratifying.
Shortly thereafter I received an e-mail with 3 attachments – images of my calligraphic work from this video – and a quick question as to whether these 3 were for sale. Since I have received scam emails a few times, I thought in this direction for a moment. Then I saw the sender, Jack Dorner, an “old friend”. How come?
I have been offering art and collectibles online for over 20 years and in one of the shops antique chromolithographs. Jack has bought several of these lithographs over the years.
There must have been around 20. Eventually, a more detailed communication ensued and Jack showed me how he used these lithographs – my heart filled with joy: he used them to create highly original shower curtains (other decors too) and he creates the most interesting finials.
calligraphy project
So now it should be my calligraphy. The first was this one. After having them framed, he was kind enough to email me a photo of them. It’s really nicely framed to show off the work even better.
The other works of mine are still being framed, he says. Soon after, the next one was finished and it looks good too.
The collaboration
Well, Jack is an artist too, even if he pretends to be modest and says he’s no good as an artist, which of course is nonsense. His attractive works just go in a different direction than mine, are less emotional, and are characterized by cool elegance. And now Jack came up with an idea: would I consider adding calligraphy to one of his works? He would send me the originals, and they would stay with me, he just wanted a copy of them. I found it an attractive idea to combine these two different approaches and accepted.
Now, I wouldn’t dare to haphazardly spoil a colleague’s hard work. So I printed out some of his work and am continuing to work on it for study purposes.
The first attempt looks like this. I’m not very enthusiastic about it myself, but Jack seems very pleased.
So I asked him if I could use other of his works in a completely different way – and again he is enthusiastic about it.
I deliberately chose a difficult job. Difficult because only black and white and thus predefined like a rock.
My first gimmicks look like this.
(I’ve only done 4-5. It’s little more than gimmicks as I don’t know how it’s going to become ‘art’ yet. But it’s a delightful start). The first image came about when I heard Black Market from Weather Report. BTW Joe Zawinul was so Austrian.
trio
I recently told you about another collaboration with Wolfgang Kubin. Both, Jack and Wolfgang are 77 years old and very productive. I like the idea of getting some of my “friends” together on a project, so I made a cover design for a forthcoming book by Kubin. A book about the poet prince Li Bai using our gimmick.
As I said, these are just the first, vague steps and I can’t yet see how art can come into play. But in order to move forward, I sent him back this first work so that he can continue working on it. If he hits a deadlock, he can send the work back to me so I can make changes. Work in progress so to speak.
Even if nothing useful has come up so far, I’m still glad that I dared to try it because it also has a symbolic meaning: cultural exchange, across continents, has always been very important to me.
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