5/8/2025
Posts
Form And A Function
If art never aged or wasn't judged by time How much would be left? How much would survive? Aesthetic erosion of the coast by the sea If we just left, how much would there be? A picture is a sum of destruction Beauty as a form of reduction A picture is a frame of construction Beauty as a form and a function Art exists as a record of the world In cuneiform or figures on a mural A palimpsest, laid to rest Beauty is a pattern that connects A picture is a sum of destruction Beauty as a form of reduction A picture is a frame of construction Beauty as a form and a function Copyright 2026 Lee Barry. Rights in lyrics reserved. *** 0260. Beauty is the pattern that connects. 0774. If beauty=form, then function follows form (art/design for its own sake). If beauty=function, then form follows function (things that ‘work beautifully’). If function follows form in a continuous loop you can have continuous beauty until function fails. What used to work beautifully would ...
Curio No. 36
The rhythmic seed for this was something I heard on TV while watching the inauguration of the Pope last May. There was an interesting juxtaposition of bell ringing and a brass ensemble (Bb). It's polytonal with the low strings playing a 3-bar repeating phrase of E-naturals and B-naturals with oscillating G minor and E major triads. For the video, somehow I was thinking of Ben Hur.It's ironic to squeeze a cinemascope aspect ratio into a Short. *** Curio No. 36 by meta4s
Blackout Lyric: A Picture Is a Sum of Destruction
An interesting diary juxtaposition as a lyric idea. 3/8/2013 Re: Picasso’s “Bull” (plates I - XI) 1945 - 46: Picasso continued his analogy by saying, “a picture used to be a sum of additions” In my case, a picture is a sum of destruction. I do a picture, then I destroy it.. Perhaps this refers to his idea that there really is no abstract art: “You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality”. He wanted only emotion projected by his art. 3/8/2022 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has already destroyed a Lviv museum containing works by renowned Ukrainian painters, some with substantial cred: Picasso, Chagall. If art never got destroyed by anything, even by time, how much would there be? The population explosion made the art mountains even higher. Watched Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom . What’s interesting about huge violent protests, or large protests of any kind, is that people show up for all kinds of reasons...
July 8ths
January 8ths 7/8/2000 The arts are like a big subduction zone, where ideas, products and so on are taken under, and rise again as new “crust”. Interesting bit in an article: “The excessive use of technology not founded on logic has done real damage where we hoped it would help.” [7/8/2025: This was in the early hours of the internet. The issue of logic in new technologies is evergreen and universal: It seemed logical that the internet would be like a card catalog–obviating the need to go to libraries to do research. It still serves that function but it went off those rails. The same question persists: why do we need AI when we did fine without it, and would continue to be fine with older technologies]. 7/8/2022 It might be too difficult to read certain things into cultural objects without the proper context. “Honesty” to the composer is not always what’s important when you’re creating the work because it might all be a mechanical operation of pushing notes (or sounds)...
June 8ths
6/8/1886 Trial day 35. Defense lawyers pressed Bonfield on police provocation. Did the raid on workers create the very violence it sought to prevent? Defendants sit in jail while the conditions that created them persist unchanged. Declined invitation to German singing society—too risky given current atmosphere. 6/8/1995 (Eno Diary) Eno in Munich working with Andre Wilms on an “incomprehensible play” . It was twenty years ago on this day he and Fripp played at the London Palladium, the only performance that his parents attended. 6/8/1998 Interesting that Greeks in Alexandria created an amalgam of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. This is similar to what musicians do today; what we're creating is more “curating”. [In his recent book (2020), The Decadent Society , Ross Douthat posited that repetition through Remix was a symptom of decadence—a continuo...
February 8ths
2/8/1997 Saw Sling Blade . A great performance by Billy Bob. Largely based on "father" themes. [Became a Curio] 2/8/2015 My "Sky Frame" idea, with laser cuts made from pieces of sky between buildings as taken in photographs. In certain ways, they are an homage to Joseph Cornell's cut paper silhouettes as in "Varietes de Mineralogie". 2/8/2022 John Williams turns 90, still composing. (Can we ever stop?) Interesting he still uses paper and pen. I don’t miss those days other than the look and feel of pencils and pens cutting into score paper. Scores are “works on paper”. [Do it 'til you drop...] 2/8/2026 The morning sun angle around this time (7:30A) begins to change and presents some Kertesz-ish photographic moments. Song ideas are like this as well, where you take a "snapshot". Fretless Sunrise
January 8ths
1/8/1998 The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony has that type of sound that evokes images of a particular place as many songs will do. I should strive to achieve that sound. [1/8/2025: That sound is a “cinematic” sound, the scoring for emotionally-charged imagery in your mind, which also evokes places. There are Pink Floyd songs that evoke a particular street in the town I grew up in]. 1/8/2000 Out to see film, American Beauty. One of the best films of the year. Love the fantasy scenes with the rose petals. Films are more interesting when designers have a greater contribution. Films should have longer edits, scenes that set the mood. Excerpt Library (Cinema) “Discuss production design” 1/8/2001 Chicago story documentary on Studs Terkel. Passion for life, passion for “common” people and a zest for interesting things. (Will subsequent generations produce a rival?) He called himself a “gold prospecto...
December 8ths
12/8/2000 20th anniversary of John Lennon's death. Victory for Gore. Florida Supreme Court allows recount. The pundits are saying that it will turn into a constitutional crisis. 12/8/2006 Los Angeles is a difficult city to make architectural statements. Even with cutting-edge work by Gehry, Mayne, and Liebskind, the city lacks context, as the city is so dispersed—unlike Chicago where most structures relate to the surrounding buildings. In a sense, it’s like a gallery installation of sculptural objects. [12/8/2025: In the 60 Minutes interview with Frank Gehry in 2002 he was asked about the inspiration for the design of his odd house in Santa Monica. It was the overlaying of the various architectural styles of the houses on his street. This is postmodern both as a philosophy as well as the postmodern art movement beginning around 1980 where artists and architects were doing a 180 against minimalism. A good example of this is 190 S. LaSalle in Chicago, designed by Philip Johnson which...
9/8/2016
ACRONYMS , 9x27 inches, acrylic on cardboard, hardware, mounted on panel. (Plain black trim, but is suited for a larger cradled frame) An acronym is a way to "cut and tile" language into an easy-to-remember shortcut. Acronyms are either empowering, as a semiotic of a utopian ideal (such as AI) or intimidating and somewhat dystopian. As of now, AI is the current "signage" for the future.
August 8ths
On the Other Side of the Year 8/8/1998 “Fate is a vehicle that gets you where you’re going.” (Dynaxiom 0256) 8/8/2000 I had a dream I had visited a poet, an elderly woman about 60 years old. She was sitting on a bed with all of her incunabula scattered around her. There was one document that was dated 1942, and was a letter from a former lover. A cinematic treatment: A Short (Single): 8/8/2020 Caustic Shadows: [Became the cover of Some August ] 8/8/2024 I have an eye for shadows in photography so I notice them right away. Similarly in music, I have an ear for “sound shadows” where something will coincide with something in real time, such as squeaking brakes fitting in with music that’s playing. If you don’t have a “camera” at the ready, you can’t capture them. This is how I think AI music should work—or it shou...
