2/16/2007

Sage

song du jour: Stardust, Ella Fitzgerald

mood: playful (as always)

Some people do runes, others tarot, and some are into the I Ching, but cool as runes are and as archetypal as tarot is supposed to be, I've never been into any type of divination for long. I love symbols and have often incorporated them into my work. Still, it is with a sense of irony and mischievousness that I have done so. For years though, my one guilty pleasure in the world of random foretelling has been Nick Bantock's made up, oracle, match up game, Sage.

It's a big bad mistake in artworld to say I want to create work like _____, but when I see Nick Bantock's drawings, I feel a powerful pull to grab paper and pen to render in exquisite drawings and creative narrative such magic realism of my own. Perhaps the reason I gravitate toward Sage when I'm feeling the need to play or focus is that I know it's completely made up. It's history is about as verifiably real as the stories of Griffen & Sabine or The Forgetting Room, yet contained within the 'cards' are the wisdom of fortune cookies written by some well traveled, tuned it, medieval mystic.

One first clicks on the question cards, reads it, and then clicks on an answer card. At worst together, they sound like some obscure bit of advice, at best they offer a seriously brilliant bit of wisdom on which to ponder or meditate. Here are a few examples I clicked on just before writing this post:

Q: "Who crafts the instruments we use to injure ourselves?"
A: "The sting of the scorpion is not personal, especially when the seed of discontent is sown in the pocket."

Q: "Why do we have feet of stone when change faces us"
A: Those who mistake the road for the journey will find themselves facing the broken muzzled wolves of the Steppes."

Q: "Must desire always sweep aside good intent?"
A: "Adversity unfurls while our mind watches for the snakes. Erase all the problems, and you will have but one."

They're not always all so dark, but apparently my mouse divination skills are being swayed that way tonight. ;-) (I've always said that the two words that I would use to describe myself are 'determined' and 'irreverent'. )

Play, have fun, and remember: taking life too seriously doesn't make it a better experience.

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