“The aimless life is the constant theme of Zen art of every kind, expressing the artist’s own inner state of going nowhere in a timeless moment…’ 

I think early November is probably a very good time to meditate on the meaning of Alan Watts’ words. When I think about it, it isn’t merely what one might call the melancholy beauty of Zen art which I love and which I instinctively respond to. It’s also this wonderful idea of the artist’s inner life as ‘going nowhere in a timeless moment’… This idea of living, in a sense, suspended in Time. That’s really what I have felt my whole life. And after reading this quote, I recognized that it is what I truly respond to in the art, the books, the shows I love.

For my first official blog post on this site, I would like to write a bit about myself by way of an introduction. I could start by stating my age, my place of residence, my occupation, but I think what most accurately describes me is the fact that I spent my childhood in a North American town, somewhere south of the 49^th parallel.

More precisely, I grew up in a small, suburb-like town in the province of Québec, Canada, which probably resembles a vast number of other small towns in North America. What also best describes me is to what degree I remain scarred by the pain caused by the ugliness of this place, and of North American suburbs and cityscapes in general. Row upon row of cookie-cutter houses painted in nondescript colours formed the backdrop of a town whose inhabitants seemed to move about in a haze of unknowing...