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trying on a metaphor
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The making of my As You Like It bookwork.
Pervious Reader - As You Like It
This is a project about bookwrok from the idea of Ulises Carrión. I based on a old version The People's Penny Shakespeare As You Like It to develop my own bookwork.
The original book:
The development #1
The final version
Making of
Triangle Grid with 32 Divisions for my project unknown alphabet.
From Islamic Pattern to Origami Tessellations
Geometric motifs were popular with Islamic artists and designers in all parts of the world, for decorating almost every surface, whether walls or floors, pots or lamps, book covers or textiles. As Islam spread from nation to nation and region to region, Islamic artists combined their penchant for geometry with existing traditions, creating a new and distinctive Islamic art. This art expressed the logic and order inherent in the Islamic vision of the universe.
The wide spectrum of intellectual treasures allowed Islamic scholars to quickly embrace Greek philosophy and mathematics, translating and disseminating this knowledge for posterity. The works of Euclid and Pythagoras were among the first to be translated into Arabic. The study of geometry also fed an ardent preoccupation with the stars and astronomy. All this in turn nourished the Arabic passion for creating infinite, decorative patterns. The cultivation of mathematical analysis, in particular, had a harmonising effect. Driven by the religious passion for abstraction and the related doctrine of unity -- al-tawhid, the Muslim intellectuals recognized in geometry the unifying intermediary between the material and the spiritual world.
The development of this new distinctive art, in part may have been due to the discouragement of images in Islam on basis that it could lead to idolatry. For the Muslim, in recognising the reality of the fundamental formula of Islam: "There is no divinity other than God". He sees in figurative art, a fundamental error or illusion in projecting the nature of the absolute into the relative, by attributing to the relative an autonomy that does not belong to it. In this way, Islamic artists did not seek to express themselves as such, but rather aimed to ennoble matter.Whilst this tradition may have frustrated some Islamic artists, others took up the challenge and became the greatest pattern makers of their time. Instead of covering buildings and other surfaces with human figures, they developed complex geometric decorative designs, as well as intricate patterns of vegetal ornament (such as the arabesque), with which to adorn palaces and mosques and other public places.
Alternatively, the development of infinitely repeating patterns can represent the unchanging laws of God. Muslims are expected to observe certain rules as were originally set forth by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), characterised by the "Pillars of Faith". In this way the rules of construction of geometric patterns provide a visual analogy to religious rules of behavior.
Both the contemplation of and the creative skill in making patterns lead in their own way to an understanding of the perfections of Universal Nature as it moves the elements. Islamic pattern, unique as an art form, is also unitary in its aim and function. Symbols can exhaust verbal explanation but verbal explanation can in no way exhaust symbols -and the symbols inherent in Islamic pattern and geometry are directed towards that undifferentiated unity.
Thus, the circle, and its centre, are the point at which all Islamic patterns begin and is an apt symbol of a religion that emphasizes one God, symbolising also, the role of Mecca, the center of Islam, toward which all Moslems face in prayer. The circle has always been regarded as a symbol of eternity, without being and without end, and is not only the perfect expression of justice-equality in all directions in a finite domain--but also the most beautiful parent of all polygons, both containing and underlying them.
From the circle comes three fundamental figures in Islamic art, the triangle, square and hexagon. The triangle by tradition is symbolic of human consciousness and the principle of harmony. The square, the symbol of physical experience and the physical world-or materiality-and the hexagon, of Heaven. Another symbol prevalent in Islamic art is the star and has been the chosen motif for many Islamic decorations. In Islamic iconography the star is a regular geometric shape that symbolizes equal radiation in all directions from a central point. All regular stars -- whether they have 6, 8, 10, 12, or 16 points -- are created by a division of a circle into equal parts. The center of the star is center of the circle from which it came, and its points touch the circumference of the circle. The rays of a star reach out in all directions, making the star a fitting symbol for the spread of Islam.
One such use of the of the star in mosaics is in 'God's spider web', the very name of which evokes the 'miracle of the spider': When the Prophet (pbuh), to escape his persecutors, fled from Mecca, he and his companion Abu Bakr hid for three days and three nights in a cave. The hostile Meccans rode out in search of them, and on the first morning they reached the entrance to the cave. But a spider had spun its net across it, a dove had laid its eggs on the threshold, and a wild rose-bush had stretched out its blossoming branches, so that the pursuers thought that no one could possibly have recently entered the cave. The mosaic spider's web, however, resembles its model only remotely. It is in fact a geometrical rosette, which begins as a star and then extends outwards in interlacing bands, that follow a rigorous plan, and form a rich extensive network. Several such complete designs can intertwine with one another on one surface, and then they form, especially when they originate in stars with varying numbers of rays, a shimmering planetarium, in which each line starts from a centre and leads to a centre, a motif that once again strongly evokes the Islamic idea of omnipresent unity. Even though the geometric patterns, consisted of, or were generated from, such simple forms as the circle and the square, they were combined, duplicated, interlaced, and arranged in intricate combinations, becoming one of the most distinguishing features of Islamic art. However, these complex patterns seem to embody a refusal to adhere strictly to the rules of geometry. As a matter of fact, geometric ornamentation in Islamic art suggests a remarkable amount of freedom; in its repetition and complexity, it offers the possibility of infinite growth and can accommodate the incorporation of other types of ornamentation as well. In terms of their abstractness, repetitive motifs, and symmetry, geometric patterns have much in common with the so-called arabesque style seen in many vegetal designs. Calligraphic ornamentation also appears in conjunction with geometric patterns.
Many of the patterns used in Islamic art look similar, even though they decorate different objects. They are are two dimensional both in form and intent and are made up of a small number of repeated geometric elements that create a complex whole by repeating a few elements and. This practical and useful level of operation of archetypal expressions in no way diminishes or reduces their effectiveness as symbols, on the contrary it merely reinforces the fact that what we take to be simple and 'in the nature of things' has become profound to the point of us becoming oblivious to it, in much the same way that we find ourselves in an environment with a great deal of noise for any appreciable length of time we cut out our awareness of that noise.
(Source: Islamic Art)
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Based on the Islamic Pattern, I started to learn Origami Tessellations from the organist Eric Gjerde's book : Origami Tessellations:Awe-inspiring geometric designs. And started to develop my own origami tessellation. It is part of my project - Unknown Alphabet. Each origami tessellation will represent one single meaning. More info will be on the next post.
Lush and Withered
URBAN GEODES
Artist/Graphic Designer, Paige Smith has been a busy little bee installing these paper gems all around Los Angeles for her latest art project called ‘GEODE’.
The 3D paper sculptures are placed into existing spaces to mirror natural mineral formations. If you follow the link here, it’ll take you to a map the artist provides so that you can hunt down one of these urban treasures yourself.
Zombie survival Google Map allows you to find food and guns for the undead apocalypse
Did you forget to stock up on crossbows and canned beef stew for the inevitable zombie uprising? For shame!
Fortunately for those of you who fell asleep during The Ant and the Grasshopper, there's this handy Map of the Dead, which allows you to plot out the hospitals, gun stores, and grocery stores (among many things) in your neighborhood.
And if you're looking to hunker down on Hershel's farm, there's an option to display nearby green spaces, although hiding at the local playground won't do you much good. And here are some zombie safe house designs to get the creative juices flowing.
Semi-Related: The Nukemap, in case your eschatological conundrum is a horse of a different gamma ray.
HongKong GuideLife Tarot
In 2009, I designed a set of major tarot which feature a old Hongkong theme.
生命導引塔羅牌是一副100%香港特色的塔羅牌。現今社會有太多都市人十分容易對自己的生命感到迷失。對於這樣的迷失與惶恐,人們往往會不知所措繼而求神問卜。我透過塔羅這個方式去讓人們自己找出解決生命問題的辦法。但傳統的塔羅卻有著太多的西方傳統思想和符號如占星,宗教。我的目標就是在這些古老的智慧下重新繪製和解讀一副適合亞洲(香港)人的大牌。在解讀方面,會籍由本書和附送的光碟去給予初用者一些幫助。我們一起展開我們我生命之旅。
HongKong GuideLife Tarot deck is a 100%HongKong style tarot. Nowadays, a lot of urban citizens are easy to get lost in their life. I through tarot to let them solve the problems by themselves. However, traditional tarot is hard for Asian to study because there are lot of western stories and religion. My duties are based on the old style tarot to develop a whole new 22 major tarot deck which is totally suitable for HongKong people. For the study, I also made a set of book and flash game for the beginner to use. HongKong GuideLife Tarot, for all who lost in their wonderland.
The Complex of All of These (by januarypress)
The real art of printing and book making.
An Uncut Gem Does Not Sparkle
In 2011, May, I did a school project about the primary question about book design: What is a book. The main focus on this project is to experiment in book design push the boundaries of the book format.
That reminded me a story which was told by my father when I was young. One time, I teared a book in half and my father gave me a “great” punishment. He said never treat a book like that again. Books, is not just a bound paper only. It contains knowledges, arts, design and culture. It also is one of the object of human civilization.
“An uncut gem does not sparkle” is a Chinese proverb. Which means a gem maybe rough of their surface, but once you polish it, it will be a shiny sparkle gem. When I leave my hometown to study in London, my father just gave me this proverb. In this project, I based on this proverb to develop a book, as a gift to my father.
The concept of this book is simple: a rock like book. When you “peel” off the rock, you can read the context inside, and at the end, a sparkle gem. The most difficult thing is to calculate the geometry sculpture. And also I needed to consider about the readability and hierarchy. I wrote a story about this proverb, and spread it in 6 sections. And I was quite surprised about the feedbacks and most of the reader love it. I am very happy about this project.
More of the making of, please click here
A making of An Uncut gem Does Not Sparkle.
7 Deadly Sins
This is an interactive performance/installation. Each mask have a build-in headphone. When people put the mask on, audience can experience the feeling of that 7 sins. They can touch it, feel it, hear it and experience it. At the same time, the audience who are wearing the mask is the performer, a part of the installation. They can move whatever they like.