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Ode to Cathedrals

Jacques Brel's Poetry

Here is some Jacques Brel, to enjoy reading and to listen to.

Video/Audio of Le Plat Pays.

Le Plat Pays Avec la mer du Nord pour dernier terrain vague Et les vagues de dunes pour arrêter les vagues Et de vagues rochers que les marées dépassent Et qui ont à jamais le cœur à marée basse Avec infiniment de brumes à venir Avec le vent de l'ouest écoutez le tenir Le plat pays qui est le mien Avec des cathédrales pour uniques montagnes Et de noirs clochers comme mâts de cocagne Où des diables en pierre décrochent les nuages Avec le fil des jours pour unique voyage Et des chemins de pluie pour unique bonsoir Avec le vent d'est écoutez le vouloir Le plat pays qui est le mien Avec un ciel si bas qu'un canal s'est perdu Avec un ciel si bas qu'il fait l'humilité Avec un ciel si gris qu'un canal s'est penduv Avec un ciel si gris qu'il faut lui pardonner Avec le vent du nord qui vient s'écarteler Avec le vent du nord écoutez le craquer Le plat pays qui est le mien Avec de l'Italie qui descendrait l'Escaut Avec Frida la blonde quand elle devient Margot Quand les fils de Novembre nous reviennent en Mai Quand la plaine est fumante et tremble sous Juillet Quand le vent est au rire, quand le vent est au blé Quand le vent est au sud, écoutez le chanter Le plat pays qui est le mien

The Flat Country With the North Sea for the last bit of waste land And the waves of dunes to stop the waves And the shapeless rocks that the tides pass over And who forever have their heart at low tide With an infinity of mists still to come With the wind from the west listen to it hold The flat country that is mine With cathedrals for its only mountains And black church towers for greasy poles Where devils in stone unhook the clouds With the passing of the days for the only journey And roads of rain for the only good evening With the wind from the east listen to it want The flat country that is mine With a sky so low that a canal lost itself With a sky so low that it acts humiliated With a sky so gray that a canal hung itself With a sky so gray that you just have to forgive it With the wind from the north that comes tearing itself through With the wind from the north listen to it break The flat country that is mine With a little of Italy which will climb down the Escaut With Frida the blond when she becomes Margot When the sons of November return to us in May When the plain is steaming and trembles under July When the wind is for laughter, when the wind is for the wheat When the wind is from the south, listen to it sing The flat country that is mine

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Warhol's Universe

Mastery over the stars

Andy Warhol, Silver Liz as Cleopatra, 1963

Silver paint, silk-screen ink and pencil on linen

The small but effective Andy Warhol Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario ended just after I got a chance to visit it. There were a few bonuses for this delay, including a free audio device with commentary by David Cronenberg, who acted as guest curator.

Warhol was a savvy promoter. He did work as a graphic illustrator for various agencies before becoming "an artist." The medium he eventually settled on, silk-screening, avoids all the meticulousness and time required for painting or drawing. And unlike photography, there is no attempt at continuously and obsessively trying to get the perfect image.

One of the things that always struck me about Warhol's silk-screens was how his images started off grid-like and relatively unblemished, with each image squeegeed with more-or-less the same amount ink. Then, progressively near the end, they are full of smears and overlaps.

My only conclusion was that he wants to degenerate his subjects, destroy them. Not only that, he wants to destroy the "work" altogether. I think that his lazy and controlling nature spawned this proclivity for destruction. Since he cannot make a masterpiece, he may as well dramatize his incompetence by destroying it. I've noticed such a tendency toward degeneration by many "artists" who have forfeited mastery and skill for self-expression, which eventually portrays itself as outrage and destruction.

Warhol's unimpassioned car crashes and race riots silk-screens are really a camouflage for his real interest – his desire to control creation and destruction all at once. He cannot be those Hollywood stars, so he may as well create, then destroy them, from his alternate Hollywood in his New York art studios.

It seems his whole being was infused in finding his own star. He certainly found something, albeit longer than the fifteen minutes he predicted for everyone else. But then, he was always a savvy self-promoter.

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Warhol's Icons

Heeding the warnings of Byzantine Emperors

Golden Marilyn, 1962

I've been busy these past few days, with visitors and also updating my website and completing a design study. I'll be posting on those soon.

Meanwhile, a lot has been going on. The Pope initiated a scholarly dialogue about Islam, and has had to make some amends with public relations meetings with Muslim leaders.

He quoted a Byzantine Emperor’s interaction with a Persian scholar, on the nature of Mohammed.

An exhibition entitled Andy Warhol / Supernova Stars, Deaths and Disasters is currently on show at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Now, there is a connection somewhere, which I will try to elaborate in a later blog entry and possibly an essay.

Mainly, that Warhol, who was Byzantine Catholic, produced some very iconic-like works which are reminiscent of the Byzantine religious imagery.

If the Byzantine Emperor were to see Warhol’s imagery, given that his Empire went through the infamous Iconoclastic period where icons were destroyed following the 10th commandment’s ordinance against worshiping graven images:

Exodus 20:4-5 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them

I wonder what he would think of Warhol’s art? And does art like Warhol put Christian civilizations at risk for the kind of Islamic invasions the Byzantine Emperor was describing?

The whole of Warhol’s life, and not just his art, appears to be forsaking these very Biblical verses. He made iconic images of famous stars and people who were the subject of admiration, at the very least, by great numbers of people, including himself.

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St. Paul's Conversion

Depictions in Images

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Left, Conversion on the Way to Damascus,Caravaggio,1601


Right,The Conversion of Saul, Fresco by Michelangelo, 1542-45


[Click on images to see larger versions]

And here is a late Medieval one by a less-well-known French painter Jean Fouquet (Paul's Conversion). Less emotional, but still full of symbolism. And Saul's horse is ever present. I couldn't find detailed information on it, but I think it is part of an illuminated manuscript, with the curved writing at the top, and the simple formality of its design.

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The Road to Damascus

Our daily reminder

Paul's conversion occurred while he was traveling to Damascus to continue his persecution of the early Christians. His earliest preaching was conducted in this city. It is profoundly ironic that this first city of Paul’s evangelization has become such a tormented region. The latest attack on the American Embassy by yet another Muslim terrorist group Jund al-Sham is reminiscent of the persecutions that Paul faced.

There is nothing more jarring than reading the latest violence occurring in those Biblical sites. Early persecutions mimic modern-day ones. The story is the same - an attempt to annihilate the new belief that Paul taught and spread. Perhaps there is a reason for this incessant battle. To remind us that every day is a battle against sinners and destroyers. The larger allegory fits our smaller, mundane, lives.

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The Red and the White of it All

The Pope on matters of life and death

Well, now the Pope can add this “Saturno” hat to his red Prada shoes.

As always, fashion and function will be points of contention. I think the Pope understands and appreciates too well their junction. Wide rimmed hat, for protection against the sun. Comfortable, well-made Italian shoes, for walking in!

But, true to the core of the new Pope, he also had something to say about Canada’s stance on same-sex marriage and abortion.

These were his exact words:

In the name of tolerance your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse, and in the name of freedom of choice it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children.

The Pope has standards, as his attire and his words clearly demonstrate.

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Which One is Fatima?

A Muslim family snap shot

Over at the View from the Right there is an image of a group of women in long, dark hijabs being photographed by a crouching man in a white robe with a white skull cap (Muslim, of course.)

What a study of contrasts!

- One man vs. several women.


- The dark, heavy clothes of the women vs. the man's light and airy robe and sandals - it does look like spring or summer from the background jean and t-shirt clad people.


- The indistinguishable women vs. the clearly identifiable man.


- The streamlined, almost militaristically aligned women vs. the man with his daintily arranged fingers on the camera who, despite his precariousness, is obviously in charge.

All this begs the question, "Which one is Fatima?"

And why does "Fatima" put up with this?

Incomprehensible from our standpoint. And all jokes aside:

"Do you think these people are compatible with our civilization?"

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It's All in the Visuals

What we can learn from small books

For such a large vision, this sure is a small manifestation!

"My fundamental Rights in the European Union", a booklet handed out by the Directorate General for Justice, Freedom and Security doesn't measure up. A mere 3.5cm, or 1.5".

Didn't Hitler and Mao have equally diminutive publications?

It is time Europeans reassess their position on the EU. It is all in the design (of the booklet, that is.) Size matters.

More at The Brussels Journal.

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I Am African

No, I'm Gwyneth Paltrow

From Angelina to Gwyneth to Lucy Liu. Even Iman is in on this.

All in the name of good works.

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The Politics of Design

The design of politics

William Morris, Jasmine Wallpaper

Politics is a popular occupation. By that I mean it requires a mingling with the general public. Even at its most elitist, when Kings and Queens were born into that specific family, its whole being depended on the people. Which went from the lowly peasant who shouted "God save the King" to the conspiring attendants in court. Without people, there would be no politics.

This is the same with art and design. Artists and designers these days conveniently forget this.

William Morris was one such designer who combined his art and his politics almost leaving no discernable line between the two.

He was one of the founders of the British Arts and Crafts movement, which eventually also influenced American designers. He made wallpapers, fabric, carpets, and even published poems and novels.

His lofty insistence on making only hand-crafted objects, eschewing the machine-made demands of the day, earned him a great reputation.

His designs are still popular today.

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The Pope's Joy

A lighter touch on the world

Pope Benedict XVI, in these dark days of war and violence, has made a statement that will surely confuse many followers.

"I'm not a man who constantly thinks up jokes. But I think it's very important to be able to see the funny side of life and its joyful dimension and not to take everything too tragically," he said. "I'd also say it's necessary for my ministry."

I find his use of the word "tragically" extremely wisely chosen. Tragic seems to encompass a dramatization of an event, blowing it up to an extreme. It seems to deny hope, and is based on some kind of condemnation and anger at something. It also seems to go on for ever – sometimes a lifetime.

And this is the Pope who has been accused of enjoying life, with his red Prada shoes – still unconfirmed, his Serengeti sunglasses, and his white Apple iPod. All gifts.

All this goes very well with his love of Mozart and cats.

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Blurring God

Through imagery

The Evangelical Outpost has some insights on the importance of the image. The Reuters debacle, with the photoshopped smokes (rubber stamp tool) sent a wave of skepticism about newspapers and their photographs. There is really nothing new in this. Images have been used as much to instruct and inform as to manipulate and deceive.

But, the blogger goes on to quote David Boorstein, author of "The Image":

By a diabolical irony the very facsimiles of the world which we make on purpose to bring it within our grasp, to make it less elusive, have transported us into a new world of blurs.

In other words, do images make the world more real to us, or less so? Does a photograph of Niagara Falls replace the real thing? Does it bring it closer to us?

More interestingly, though, something which The Evangelical Outposter didn't pick up on, how about all those Christian imagery we have, all the pietas, all the crucifixions, all the scenes from the Gospels? This is very different from idolatry, since these images are not to be worshipped, but act as a way of reminding us of those stories and episodes of the New and Old Testaments.

But do they bring us closer to God, or are they mere blurring effects?

The evolution in Christianity has always been to have less and less representational imagery, and depend more on the experienced reality of Christ.

I'm not sure if this is a good thing, since the efforts of a great artist who depicts these scenes is not only to represent reality, but to transmit some of its holiness and awesomeness as well.

But, maybe, just a simple, undecorated, unglamorous Church does a better job of allowing us to experience that reality. Perhaps praying in the Sistine Chapel could be a challenge – the beauty of those paintings might actually blur and compete with our real experience of God.

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Sketches of Ontario

The Simcoes of Upper Canada

Niagara Falls, Elizabeth Simcoe

"... These scenes have afforded me so much delight that I class this day with those in which I remember to have felt the greatest pleasure from fine objects, whether of Art or Nature ... " Elizabeth Simcoe, 1793

Summer is scattered with holidays. This Monday is Simcoe Day, or Civic Holiday, for most Ontarians, named in honour of the first Lieutenant-Governor, John Graves Simcoe, of Upper Canada (1791-1796.)

His wife, Elizabeth Simcoe, recorded her impressions of Canada through a diary, sketches and watercolors.

The Simcoes returned to England, in 1796.

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Heresy, Donkey Style

Bresson’s contempt for Christ

I've noticed that many non-Christians have a Jesus complex. John Lennon was famous for saying that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." And I've heard artists say things like "I am god", when they really mean "I am God." In other words, supreme creators.

Well, after seeing several Bresson films, and reviewing both internet and book sources about his views, methods and background, I can only conclude that Bresson himself has a Christ complex.

This is most apparent in his film about a donkey "Au Hazard Balthazar."

As one writer put it:

The Christ-like nature [of Balthazar's suffering] is particularly evident in the scenes where Balthazar is baptized, where he leads the funeral cortege, and where he dies among a flock of sheep, a Lamb of God.1

Bresson seems to confuse the donkey with the humble beast that carried Mary to the stable, and Jesus through Jerusalem. But just as those who mean "I am God", when they actually say "I am god", I think Bresson is clear about his intentions. He doesn’t mean the beast of burden, he means Christ himself.

Now, why should it bother me that Bresson uses a lowly donkey to present a Christ-like figure?

Because he has the behavior all wrong.

Christ was never meek, silent nor submissive, like this donkey is portrayed. Yes, the donkey gallops off once in a while (maybe just once) at the atrocities performed against him, but for the most part, he just stays and bears it.

Christ came to suffer, with fellow-men, certainly. But he also came to teach, and to provide a point for salvation. And He wasn't a meek secondary character who silently watched humanity move in its destructive course.

So, what's Bresson's point?

Subtly, by playing at our emotions, Bresson is trying to capture our sympathy for this innocuous donkey.

By implication, this then means that Jesus, who is as "lovable" as this donkey, is also as ineffective.

Therefore, the most we can feel for this donkey/Christ is a sense of pity, and eventually, like I did, contempt.

Bresson’s heretic message, by making us subliminally dislike this little beast, is actually that Christ is as equally offensive and ineffective.

And worse. Bresson might indeed have this Christ complex where he deems himself and his creations greater than the Son of God Himself. And he has to find a way to diminish Him.


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¹ Lindley Hanlon. Fragments: Bresson's Film Style. Rutherford [N.J.]Press, c1986.

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The Evil that Lurks in Bresson’s Films

Is sin relative?

I've always been bothered by Bresson's films ever since I watched a whole retrospective of them at the Cinematheque Ontario a few years back.

Well, thanks to TFO (la télévision éducative et culturelle de l'Ontario français - as their website describes it), there have been a few Bresson films to watch recently.

Two that I taped, and watched at least twice – more if I include the repeat shows later during the week - are "Au Hazard Balthazar" and "Mouchette".

I've even consulted a couple of books from the library[1,2] to elucidate to me the greatness of these films.

Needless to say, it is very difficult to find any negative criticism of Bresson's films. This is hardly surprising, since most of his critics are the type that would never watch a "Hollywood movie", let alone a film as romantically glossy as "Black Beauty".

My only conclusion is that Bresson believes in degrees of sin. He starts from the truly wilful sinners and goes on to those that seem to sin as though some automatic hand were guiding them to expose their weakness.

He seems to say that the hard and deprived life Mouchette leads might be the reason for her weakness. The evil around her (her alcoholic father, Arsène who rapes here) act as an explanation for her "unwilled" sins and her final act of suicide.

With "Au Hazard Balthazar", he sets the backdrop of a donkey as a saint (what do animals know of sin, anyway?) and contrasts it with truly unsavoury characters who then appear to downplay the waywardness of those who once again seem to act on unconscious automation. Thus, Balthazahr is the saint, Marie performs sin as a reaction to her environment, and Gérard is the true evil.

Bresson excuses this secondary category, those with unwilled waywardness. They’re close to being good, he says, so their breech from righteousness is not their fault.

I think this is the mindset of someone who tries to defy God, who tries to rewrite God’s word, and who is so self-centered or arrogant to consider his "petits péchés" worthy of correction, or even expiation. These small deviations can add up to bigger ones, as we witness with Mouchette's demise.

Finally, if he believes in degrees of sin, where Marie, who succumbs to Gérard’s evil seductions is less sinful than Gérard (who beats the donkey and later Marie) because she "can’t help herself", then he has entered dangerous territory.

It is dangerous to relativise sin. To each his own, and to each his own exit, is the only mindset that works.


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1. The Films of Robert Bresson. Ed. Ian Cameron. Praeger Inc., NY, 1970


2. Robert Bresson : a spiritual style in film. Joseph Cunneen. Continuum , New York, 2003.

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A Tale of Two Movies

About animals

Anna Sewell’s novel Black Beauty has been made into several films. The one I watched was the 1994 version, in splendid color.

Robert Bresson’s tale of a donkey - Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) – comes in grim black and white.

I know there is a danger of over-romanticizing stories, but ultimately it is the writer who chooses the mood, message and content (and the ending) of the story.

Bresson gives us a cute, underdeveloped, mute donkey who really becomes the silent beast of burden. Bresson’s script revolves around a group of unsavoury, narcissistic characters. I don’t even know why he put in the donkey, other than perhaps to garner our sympathy towards him despite this acrid and bitter storyline.

Sewell’s story tells us of the redemptive powers of life, and of people. Animals suffer, but somehow, somewhere, a small miracle occurs when just the right master (despite the gruelling job) appears on the scene.

Like I said, romanticizing animal life can get a little tedious, but I would rather Sewell’s morality tale of a black stallion to Bresson’s silent mockery of a poor donkey.

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The Whimsy of Design

Stig Lindberg

Interlocking leaf design on ceramic plate

Here's a lull (only) from the regular architecture and society blogs I've been posting for a little while now...

I always associate Scandinavian design with light, pastel colors. Perhaps it is their way of dealing with the dark, long winters. Or, as I find the case to be here in Toronto, the sun does shine brightly in winter, and the white snow does give a light, airy glow to the surroundings.

Swedish designer Stig Lindberg's works are currently on display at the National Museum in Sweden. What comes across are whimsical, humorous ceramics and textiles with the ever-present touch of color.

One of the mandates of the Swedish Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society, which bought out the struggling Gustavesberg porcelain factory for whom Lindberg worked, was to produce aesthetically pleasing, high quality products for ordinary consumers. Lindberg was immensely successful with that vision, and the cooperative profitted accordingly.

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Vases and cups

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Although designers always take themselves seriously, Lindberg apparently took himself seriously with a dosage of humor and whimsy. His designs come out as playful, elegant and intelligent. With of course the requisite color added in for our bonus.

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Clever monochromatic (almost) print, and Stig's pottery on textile

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From Sea, to Sea, to Sea

Canada's Threesome

Canadian Museum of Civilization

Canada's motto "from sea to sea" is being considered for a change to "from sea to sea to sea" at the request of the northern territories (which are predominantly Indian).

This third "sea" includes the Artic Ocean, which is now probably going to hold the same position as the other two - the Pacific and the Atlantic - in defining the "Canadian landscape", both geographically and culturally.

I don't know if this is such a great idea, but here is a very clear instance of what we should expect of the future of Canada.

During a wonderful hiatus in Ottawa, I visited the Canadian Museum of Civilization twice. Each time, I was overwhelmed by the architecture and the location.

What struck me here was not the three seas, as much as three peoples - the French, the English and the Indian - which the museum tries to depict (or better incorporate). Unfortunately, though, at the rate all this is going, there is going to have to be many other "seas" created to accommodate what we've seen of the Haitian, the Chinese, the East Indians, and the list goes on.

The building itself is a unique, almost incongruent, mass. It looks like moulded, rounded hills, all white and textured and beautiful. Douglas Cardinal, the architect, who is part native Indian, said his intention was just that: to bring out the natural elements of rock and erosion into a symbolic building.

Sitting in Hull, Quebec, facing the Parliament Hill, this imposing building tries to unite these three elements of Canadian life (the Indian, the French and the English) in a forceful way.

Yet, there is little, really, joining these distinctly three "solitudes".

Each is imposing in its own way, but a simple bridge from Hull to Ottawa while sitting on Quebec land does not merge these three, and the museum's "organic" structure is just as alien to the Parliament Hill’s pinnacled rooftops as it is to the artificial bilingualism enforced in its interior - how does that let the real Quebec inside?

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Parliament Hill from Musuem ...............Bridge across the Ottawa River

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Nonethelss, it is a brave project, which has given us a uniquely beautiful and imposing building.

Unlike the new Toronto opera house's architect, this one is certainly no weak character.

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