Robyn Ellenbogen

ERNEST FENOLLOSA - THE CHINESE WRITTEN CHARACTER AS A MEDIUM FOR POETRY

[This essay was practically finished by the late Ernest Fenollosa; I have done little more than remove a few repetitions and shape a few sentences.

We have here not a bare philological discussion, but a study of the fundamentals of all æsthetics. In his search through unknown art Fenollosa, coming upon unknown motives and principles unrecognised in the West, was already led into many modes of thought since fruitful in "new" western painting and poetry. He was a forerunner without knowing it and without being known, as such.

He discerned principles of writing which he had scarcely time to put into practice. In Japan he restored, or greatly helped to restore, a respect for the native art. In America and Europe he cannot be looked upon as a mere searcher after exotics. His mind was constantly filled with parallels and comparisons between eastern and western art. To him the exotic was always a means of fructification. He looked to an American renaissance. The vitality of his outlook can be judged from the fact that although this essay was written some time before his death in 1908 have not had to change the allusions to western conditions. The later movements in art have corroborated his theories.—EZRA POUND.]

Caleb Puckett - Burned 1&2

Ray Craig - The Lennon Sisters (1959)

Kunizo Matsumoto

Kunizo Matsumoto is in charge of doing the dishes in his family’s restaurant in Osaka. Born in Osaka and graduating from Osaka Kyoiku University School of Children with Intellectual Disability, Matsumoto was a kabuki goer since childhood accompanied by his grandparents. His interest lies in entertainment with unique aesthetics such as kabuki, Rimpa, tea ceremony, Disneyland, and the Johnnies, and he devotes himself in collecting information on these topics. Although he never really learned to write, he has been collecting obsessively all kinds of printed leaflets : kabuki theater brochures, exhibition catalogues, guide books, etc. As he gazes at the characters in the collected printed material including catalogues, brochures and leaflets, then copies them repeatedly, the characters transform to increase their poetic power. Writing characters is a magical act that connects Matsumoto with the virtual world he loves. His bedroom is overflowing with the material but no one is allowed to touch it. Since 1985, he has been creating his own ideograms. Some of them are copies of selected passages from the kabuki theater. Once he has filled up a page, he sometimes continues writing in the air, as if he were dancing, performing thus some kind of imaginary choreography. Every evening, when all the members of his family are asleep, he writes into the restaurant calendar or the notebooks in his bedroom.

Gary Barwin

Francesco Aprile