What Heaven Looks Like

James Elkins has a thing for artists who have a thing about heaven, it seems. After several years’ neglect of the world of words-on-visual-art, I’ve gone back to see what he’s been up to, to discover that not only are some of his books now available for free download, but …

(pre)occupations

Tools sink into extended being: it takes craft and intent to keep them visible. I’m wondering if there’s some connection with Shklovsky’s thoughts on art: that art exists to make perception difficult. Is art, amongst the other things it is, what makes us aware of what is the kernel of us, minus our embedded tools, yet through their use in its creation? Is that some of what art does, and how? Ink that in five lines becomes a bunch of nettles, in the night points one step north; where the colour of water gets over the road, over the pearl …