Category: Musing

Being the musings of aronimus

Created in a vacuum? Civilisation is a collaborative effort

Playing with lego leads aronimus to muse on this long known fact that nothing is created in a vacuum.

The Cubic Structural Evolution Project

The City Gallery in Wellington have an exhibition on at the moment called Demented Architecture

The centrepiece, Olafur Eliasson’s The Cubic Structural Evolution Project has drawn me back numerous times for a lunch time session. It is basically a collaborative art project. A table full of white Lego that one can sit down at and do their part in the creation of a cityscape. Well, I’m not sure that a cityscape is even the aim of the exercise as I didn’t read the blurb, but that’s what was being created when I was there.

Olafur Eliasson: The cubic structural evolution project

On the first visit I tried to start from scratch.   In the meager time available, surrounded by these great behemoth structures, I frantically worked at creating my own worthy addition. The finished result was of course, mediocre by comparison and gone when I went back the next day. I was not surprised at all.

Having taken on some wisdom from the experience, this second time I created a beast headed robot figure standing with his hands forming a namaste. This beast, though relatively ordinary on its own, found it rightful place high up on the front of another creator or creators great temple. With grand staircase below and mighty DNA representative tower behind him. Two days later I went back and my mighty beast had survived, albeit with some minor modifications.

Lego Towers

On the next visit I found the remains of a fallen behemoth that had donated some of it’s very being to the rise of some other great creation. It was a worthy tower in its own right so I crafted unto it a sturdy new base, crowned it with the top taken off another tower and built a rather solid bridge across to the even mightier high rise next to it. The creation shalt thus survive until there is either no pissant little creation nearby to dismantle. Or it gets in the way of another persons grand vision. Much like real life really.

“Our whole civilisation is a collaborative effort”

Which set the old brain in motion in the direction of the old adage that no art is created in a vacuum. Even more so, nothing at all is. Everything we do is inspired by something else. A lot of what we create relies on the efforts of others. Our whole civilisation is a collaborative effort. The western world has this fixation with protecting intellectual property as if the person that came up with this particular slant on an idea should hold all rights to it and woe unto anyone that dare create anything remotely similar.   Then we end up with bollocks like Apple trying to patent round corners on a device or the Mavin Gaye’s greedy family vs Pharrell and Robin Thicke case. If we stifle the ability of others to build upon our creations then we stifle innovation. We limit that which can be created.

Anyway…   here’s a dreamified deepdream version just because.

Deepdream lego city

Anyway, go down there and play with some Lego. Though best be quick about it cos the gallery is closing on the 10th for quite some time.

August 10, 2015
The power of dreams and music’s effect on the soul

The full moon is upon us and lunatics such as myself be feeling it’s pull. Lets just say I’m operating in verbose mode.

So I had the most intense dream last night…

I was showing some people, my kids I think, how to do some gardening. The garden was a small rectangle on a large plain with small seedlings in it. I started dancing around and chanting American Indian styles in jest when it started to sound really realistic and powerful, then changed into the weird harmonic chanting that some spiritual types do. Then I started levitating.. then soared into the sky, then all went black and I plummeted… and woke up, except I wasn’t awake as I was peering through half lidded eyes at slow scrolling old dot matrix printouts of financial data and mug shots of corporate suits and a full page ascii text rose.

This symbolically powerful dream has been rather inspiring. The experience was so enjoyable I felt compelled to post it on Facebook no less!

The best interpretation I was given was this…

This is about the potential conflict between the possibility of spiritual fulfillment and the fulfillment of the true self versus the necessity of dealing with the real world. Plummeting in a flying dream points to a difficulty in controlling the situation. The part where the chanting started to sound loud and powerful reveals a latent inner spiritual strength that is possibly being misused. Thank you Andrew Ginther!

So I did some research into this” harmonic chanting” or overtone singing, which I recall seeing on An Idiot Abroad once. Great show by the way!

And I discovered the very talented (not to mention, attractive… when shes got hair. I haven’t totally transcended earthly desire… : ) Anna-Maria Hefele…

I sent a link to a friend, and the reaction was highly amusing. He instantly turned it off, in a response akin to putting one’s hand into boiling water. Funny the affect such influences can have on those that prefer to keep that side of their being repressed. He was totally rattled by it, to the point he wouldn’t discuss it and scornfully accused your humble narrator of thinking he was some great psychologist when trying to query the response.

This classical piece is great, they’re right into it!

The 2 tone thing also got me thinking about an awesome book I read once (ok, 3 times) by Tim Powers. A dystopian post apocalyptic future incorporating cults, drugs and a selfish mans path to humanity. Highly recommended.

Tim Powers

The power of the music also stirred memories of back when I was living in Edinburgh, I used to head down to Giles Cathedral every week and listen to them crank up the huge pipe organ they’ve got there. Sitting there in the middle of the pews with space all around I could feel the music, right to the core. An intense experience it was. You could see how the church could have so much power back in the past. That huge stone building and the powerful effect of the music on ones soul. Now it’s nothing out of the ordinary, in that we can have music wherever we go. Corporate towers now soar above the great cathedrals of old. I recall doing some drawings depicting that, quite some time ago. Random work doodlings… Though that said, there was still something intensely moving about that organ in this time of endless distractions.

St Giles Cathedral – Edinburgh

Anyways, the Anna-Maria Hefele path steered me in the direction of the work of photographer Christian Martin Weiss.

Christian Martin Weiss

Awesome stuff, a little unnerving too.

It’s now 12:34am… time for me to transcend this earthly sphere and head for the stars… well, for another couple of days until the effects of the full moon wears off.
Shit, the moons not even really full yet but it’s rocking it’s way though it’s home in Cancer…

Aaaaroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Anyone remember this guy…

February 3, 2015
Works created whilst one should be doing something else

As per the zen proverb…
“Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”

A musing on works created whilst one should be doing something else.

I suspect this was a self portrait drawn as I pondered the greater workings of the universe whilst stuck in a corporate meeting room.

I, aronimus, artist and sage have a confession to make. Alas, unlike notable sages such as Gandhi and the Buddha, my working class background has beset upon me the need for gainful employment.

Currently working by day as a Service Desk Analyst for a bank be your humble narrator. This involves the riveting tasks of resetting passwords and explaining why their flaky systems have crashed. Such a role has instilled within me the trait of “radical honesty”. “Yes, that application is poorly written and crashes all the time, it is the bane of my existence”. This is probably distressing to my employer but I simply cannot bring myself to lie in defense of the poorly constructed infrastructure that I must support.

Landscape surrounded by customer numbers and telco product pricings

I have the ability to be an artist of significance yet would feel like a fraud if I did, for my art is a derivative of the “real” work I do. My best work is conceived while I am supposed to be doing something else. Memories of complex doodlings during maths class come to mind… The trippy miniature worlds during dull corporate meetings… Weird creatures comprised of foliage whilst waiting on hold on the phones…

To breeze into corporate work yet feel like a fraud just being there. It is this compulsion to tread the middle path that is my undoing.
How does once reconcile a stellar CV comprised of conservative blue chip corporates with a compelling urge to be different and a repressed need to create?

Who are these strange beings that came unto me whist stuck at my desk contemplating ADSL plans and fixed IP addresses?

Anyway, this post is dedicated to works that were done whilst I was supposed to be doing something else…

Weird chicks and cute boney pets in URL land

Organic humanoid randomness

p.s. I would like to thank my corporate sponsors that were paying me during the creation of these pieces…. you know who you are…

p.p.s. Click on my damn ads if they remotely interest you! Over 1000 unique visitors this months and counting yet not one click on an ad… even I see ads from time to time that get my interest yet I’m not allowed to click on them due to the TOC. Maybe it’s karma for running an ad blocker on my own browser… 😛

January 21, 2015
Balance and the Middle Path

Behold. aronimus, artist and sage has returned! Having shed the winter cocoon of my alter ego Harun Bin Perci Al-Zelandi, I return to you now in the first person.

Having spent a restless night dreaming about password resets, I figured I really needed to put my brain to better use.

So I had this thought that I felt the need to share….

Life is the meeting point between conflicting influences. One can swing wildly from influence to influence. One can latch on to a particular influence or group of influences and ride that to eternity. Or one can seek a middle path.

Some would call it a compromise. Others would look upon it as a vantage between two realms. A place where one can see both sides of things. Absorb what is useful from both viewpoints, whilst subscribing to neither in particular. From such a vantage one can be a conduit between two worlds. A source of integration between two or more viewpoints. With purity and dedication , one could be a source of harmony like unto the Buddha or Jesus.

The middle path. Kudos to whoever took this photo. Thanks wiki!

Picture a ridge between two valleys. Both valleys are lush and habitable, comforting and desirable, though very different. A pilgrim traversing the ridge can gaze down upon both valleys. See the benefits of both with clarity. It is relatively easy to stay on the ridge but one could say, ultimately unfulfilling* for one is experiencing life as a mere observer. A tourist.

One can descend from the lofty heights of the ridge down into one valley or another. In doing so, however, one loses clarity for the other valley is now obscured by the ridge. Once engaged in the descent, the gravity that kept one stable on the ridge, now sets to the task of pulling one into the valley. Down amongst the symbolic trees and hedgerows of its associated world view.

Descend far enough and gravity becomes a mighty force that works against the pilgrim. The effort required to trudge back up can be demoralising. The former vantage on the ridgeline, seemingly insurmountable.

Balance, or a lack there of, be where you position yourself on that ridge.

*p.s. Maybe that ridgeline isn’t so unfulfilling after all, for there just might be another tourist up there too. Preferably one with big hooters and a penchant for outdoor sex 🙂

October 30, 2014
The meaning of life…

Here we have another chapter on the life journey of Harun bin Perci al-Zelandi and a wee treatise on that great enigma “The meaning of life”

And lo, Harun Bin Perci al-Zelandi did venture forth unto the countryside and it was all very pleasant up there in his caravan in his paddock, surrounded by lambs and grass and rednecks. By day, hawks flew vigil overhead while bellbirds and tuis called out in the trees. By night, the sound of rampant cattle beasts in the surrounding farm land and sneaksie stock rustlers killing sheep.

Alas, the place was all together uninspiring for the cultured sensitivities of a great prophet and sage. Hence the total lack of updates. He could write about shit that would be highly amusing but got people in trouble or ramble on about the banalities of eating and sleeping. Much like so many fools Facebook feeds. Then again, posting images of his fathers cooking disasters could have provided much mirth.

Ultimately though, the meaning of life could not be found in a caravan in a paddock in Eketahuna. Now, back in the great urbanised locality of the Hutt Valley, Harun shall share his musings with renewed vigour!    Allahu akhbar!

Country retreat

Speaking of the meaning of life…

Early on in the piece, your humble narrator did muse about a place in Thailand and Laos called Sala Kae Ku.   Wandering into his hotel one night in Nong Khai he chanced upon a piece of black and white printed A4 which stated “The meaning of life is in Nong Khai” and happened to be the key to all those confounding mythological statues located at Sala Kae Ku.   He thought he’d share this with his avid readers and random Google searchers…

aronimus took a photo of it, but fortunately another traveller managed to scan a copy of a similar document, though without purporting to know the meaning of life, merely claiming to be a diagram of The Wheel of Life. Which looks much better than aronimus’ grainy image, so here it is.

Wheel of life

Bask in its awesomeness! If you click on it, it’s actually big enough to read the text, no less. Anyways, it all about being born and marrying and rooting and breeding and cheating and ultimately dying.   While all this is going on, one is dodging or embracing the influences of te poaka (police), suits, love, crims and beggars among other things. So armed with this legendary piece of A4 born wisdom, may thou safely navigate the influences on your horizons. Make of it what thou will.

Go forth and be born and live full lives and die a good death! Amen.

September 20, 2014
Harun Indulges in a Morning Walk in Eketahuna

Harun takes the dog for a morning walk in Eketahuna and does some Qigong next to an electrified compound.

The sun did stream in this morning and Harun did venture forth from the freezing cold confines of his caravan. By night there is a tendency for the skies to clear and many a star can be seen. The milky way shows itself in magnificent brilliance. So quiet too…. very peaceful! Except it is bitterly cold and after a brief observance of the workings of the universe, Harun is forced inside to the relative comfort of his cheap Warehouse oil column heater. There are benefits to this, for Harun needeth no refrigerator. Here merely places his milk and beers outside the door.

Vertically growing tree on Cliff Walk.

Having consumed breakfast he took the family dog Mate aka Pukanani aka Manatle for a walk around this small town. This included Eketahuna’s one and only walking track, Cliff Walk. Harun mused unto himself that a rather nice walk it is too. The sun was streaming down and Harun took in the vista of tree and river and State Highway 2. This was pleasing unto Harun and he declared this to henceforth be, his super secret gong spot! It also happened to be right next to some random survivalist’s electrified compound. There was a 2 metre high electric fence and video cameras and warning signs though the place was clearly uninhabited at present. He proceed to engage in the Chinese monastic Qigong system Jen Jhi Dao (Pearl Way of Heaven) in front of the local bovine community. They were not very interested, in fact they were blissfully unaware as they milled about on the river flats below, munching grass and chewing cud. Mate performed his own gongs the whole time, by gleefully excavating dirt around an old pine tree. Harun shall go further into Jen Jhi Dao at a later date for it would seem the internet knows not of its very existence.

The ancient tennis club ruins situated at Eketahuna

Feeling both relaxed and invigorated from his exertions, Harun and Mate carried on their way. They came upon a pine forest… an overgrown and broken forest it was. They ventured forth and the forest did yield a large clearing which contained the magnificent ruins of the old Eketahuna Tennis Club. Some miscreant had sprayed “FTP” upon the wall in blatant disregard for a place of such historic significance!

Now satisfied with their morning adventures, the pair did stroll on back to the abode.

July 7, 2014
Historic Eketahuna in the days of the pioneers

Historic Eketahuna through the lens of aronimus.

Here we have an image of the bush being cleared in order to establish the town of Eketahuna. Way, way back in the pioneering days… aronimus did lurk in the bushes observing the locals. Much like David Attenborough but with an anthropological bent. With the application of camouflage, stealth and great skill he did take this shot with his trusty pocket camera. We see here in plain view, those classic tools of the early Scandinavian settler… the Toyota Hilux and the bulldozer.

Historic Eketahuna in the days of the pioneers

Here we have another image of the Toyota Hilux Spray Wagon. That great weapon against the troublesome gorse scourge the moved in to replace the native forest that had been felled.

Toyota Hilux Spray wagon

Tagging along beside is that mighty hunter of the wild New Zealand bush, the golden labrador.

June 17, 2014
Re-arrangeable Artwork – Golden ratio geekery

Beholden unto, the re-arrangeable artwork! Some golden ratio geekery in orange hues.

This here work was a commission done quite some time ago in exchange for some most excellent acupuncture treatment. Not the usual palette of aronimus being predominantly orange but it was to the clients desire. The brief was that it used the golden ratio and was a re-arrangeable artwork in 3 pieces. aronimus started by constructing canvasses with their dimensions set to the golden ratio which happens to be 1.61803398875.

He then added some guidelines that would allow what ever was painted to link up with the content of the other pieces. Next came a Fibonacci Spiral as that was also mentioned in the brief. He then added to it as ideas came to mind.

The client did take a look in the early stages and was pleased but advised he would like them to be able to be hung in any direction as well. By removing the reference of ground, it all became a more complex and confounding piece. After fiddling around some, aronimus added a forth painting as it allowed for a greater number of arrangements. Thus it was no longer a triptych. Does that make it a quadtych?

On completion it was apparent that a revolutionary new hanging method would need to be devised. Fortunately aronimus was feeling rather intelligent after working on such a mind expanding piece. He did very rapidly develop this new super secret and hitherto undivulged hanging method and it worked rather well.

And so the hanging technique shall remain undivulged….
Though leave a comment if you’d like to know how to do it and aronimus just may tell you.

June 12, 2014
The Path of True Knowledge

Acolytes ride the path of true knowledge. As they pass the great wondrous workings of nature in the form of huge palm trees, they become aware of something greater than themselves. An awareness of the cosmos. The path is like unto a conveyor belt. Rather than walking the path the acolytes merely stand upon it, watching the great workings go by. Almost like tourists… But tourists they are not. They have chosen the path of enlightenment. To see beyond the everyday. The banal. To see the cosmos for what it is.

Acolytes ride the path of true knowledge

An earlier work by aronimus. Conceived while taking some down time in his home town after his great roamings across South East Asia.

The Path is frequent subject matter for aronimus. Inspired by some text from the Theosophical Society. Writings from one of the founders or early members. Harun does not believe it was Helena Blavatsky whose daughter potentially had a support role as SS High Priestess Oberführer Marianna Blavatsky in Wolfenstein.

SS High Priestess Oberführer Marianna Blavatsky

On recollection, it could have been Annie Besant (1847–1933), second President of The Theosophical Society from 1907 to 1933. Harun will endeavour to find the actual quote that inspired him to make the path such a feature of his work.

June 11, 2014
A Reflection on “Progress”

A reflection on “progress”. Or what we are led to believe is progress.

An office worker sits hunched over his desk. Bored out of his mind and his mind it doth wander… wander or wonder?
It could be that it starts to wander.. and in doing so is free to wonder… and he ponders..

A reflection on “progress”. Or what we are led to believe is progress.

This is one of the earlier works of aronimus. Indeed, before the manifestation of aronimus from the lesser son that existed before.
The person that went on to be come aronimus aka Harun had been stuck behind a desk for an extended period of corporate toil. Then one day, whilst browsing the www he did discover an establishment known as The Learning Connexion. He did abruptly hand in his notice and head off to the hallowed and former consecrated ground of Erskine College. Former home of an art school know as The Learning Connexion. For some unbeknown reason, they traded a “c” and a “t” for an x.

This painting was a product of that period.

June 10, 2014