Monday, March 19, 2012

sinosigns

 be they painted over...

brushed onto stone...

 gilded onto glass...

 affixed onto walls...

scripted horizontally or vertically,
these signs in Chinatown have no need of english translations to convey the character of the sites they adorn...

*this should be an auspicious post to announce the release of the first album of my son Enzio's band Half Chinese..."We were Pretending to be" (Sad Games Records, 2012)

Monday, March 5, 2012

sun yat sen:: upspotting

a classical chinese garden enclosed by high white walls crouches on the edges of Vancouver's Chinatown and the downtown eastside - an intrepid tourist destination to be sure, but more so a serene gracenote in this gritty neighbourhood, an elemental sanctuary from the burgeoning urban dissonance, a reined in tranquil refuge for asian sensibilities...
on one very cold afternoon a week after all the chinese new year celebrations were over, I felt the urge to capture some quiet non-festive pieces of traditional chinese heritage within this verdant landscaped and architectural formulaic courtyard - I panned down for the water reflection series in the previous posting and I glimpsed upwards for this one...
latching onto structural details that are weathering in the most artful fashion - the worn mossy rooftiles softly presenting the pale pink blooms of an early blossoming cherry, the staccato splashes of providential reds in a patinaed palette of greys and whites, the calligraphic web of bare branches against the signage of intricate chinese characters, and the pre-spring budding in the warmth of the peeling red lacquered gateway...