INTRODUCTION TO MISCELLANIETY GALLERY

These are pictures that don’t really fit in any one gallery; typically composed shots, but not always: traditional Japanese dance clothing, a fue, fan, No mask, small Buddhist statue, screen, cups, bowl and abacus; a sake bottle on its side and with one upright glass and another tipped with spilt sake; sake cups in frosted, pink, blue and black glass, in precision cut wood, glasses; an unusually artfully shaped grappa bottle and a composite of a bottle of a red absinthe from Spain to elicit the idea of its affect; glass bottles with embossed names from France and Italy in a blue-black duotone; a floral fan in black background on a fan from Seville; the face of a 19th century Buddhist statue; a “woven” bamboo ball against Thai fabric used in traditional dresses; an intricately carved wood Chinese snuff bottle probably depicting a scene from a novel; a larger Maitreya Buddha carved in wood by Chinese monks; centuries-old colonial coins arranged on wood not nearly as old but evoking the depredations of age all the same; various Indonesia keris arranged against light-reflecting wood or culturally-inspired batiks; colorful sea shells and stones taken out of their natural environment before the oceans grind them to sand and arranged to capture their beauty; a grate emblazoned with "USA" on it from a different era; a shard of glass in contrast to a grate in duotone; a telephone pole riddled with nails used over time to hold various announcements in place; and droplets of water on the roof of a car painted in white.

Wamono #2. I composed this picture for a calendar cover. The idea was to evoke a traditional Japanese performance with just the accoutrements of the performance that I had at hand. The kimono and hair ornaments convey the image of a performer, the fue (flute)—music, the diagonal lines give this image provide some movement, and the tatami mat is meant to allude to the soft movement of feet in cloth-soled tabi.