Category: Goats

Le Quattro Volte

This is the most beautiful film. I posted it here five years ago but it had disappeared, so catch it now while you can, before it goes again. It’s a film unlike any other. Time passes slowly from one life to another. From goatherd to goat to tree to charcoal.

We each have four successive lives within ourselves; each one contained within the others. We are mineral; we are made of salt, water and organic matter. We are vegetable; like plants we breathe, reproduce and nourish ourselves. We are animal; we have imagination, memory and knowledge of the outside world. In the end we are rational beings; we possess will and reason. We each have four distinct lives within ourselves… and so we must discover ourselves four times.

Frames of reference

Hollington’s Florilegium

Hollington’s Florilegium, paintings by David Hollington, a botanical alphabet, part 2: N to Z, in the window of the Rowley Gallery through January and February. They are accompanied by a selection of David’s miniature paintings, and a few words of introduction here below.   Continue reading “Hollington’s Florilegium”

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The Great Race

The Great Race is a book by Christopher Corr, first published in 2018 by Frances Lincoln. It tells the story of the Chinese Zodiac – Long ago in very ancient China, there were no years or days or hours… To find a way of measuring time, the Jade Emperor held a Great Race. Which twelve animals were the first to cross the river and have a year named after them? – It seemed like a good idea to celebrate Chinese New Year with an exhibition of the paintings from the book, and to invite Christopher to draw the zodiac animals directly onto our window. Continue reading “The Great Race”

Frames of reference

Le Quattro Volte

Six years ago I posted a trailer on Frames of Reference for this magical film by Michelangelo Frammartino, Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times). Now, at last, here’s the whole thing. It’s a film unlike any other. Time passes slowly from one to another. These are some words from the trailer…

We each have four successive lives within ourselves; each one contained within the others. We are mineral; we are made of salt, water and organic matter. We are vegetable; like plants we breathe, reproduce and nourish ourselves. We are animal; we have imagination, memory and knowledge of the outside world. In the end we are rational beings; we possess will and reason. We each have four distinct lives within ourselves… and so we must discover ourselves four times.

Frames of reference

A Small Forest

A new window display at The Rowley Gallery by Christopher Corr. We asked him to paint a few trees. A Corr forest, or simply a Corr fest. And each of the four free-standing trees have a painting on each of their four sides, so maybe it’s a fourest of Corrs. Four corrners of the fourest. I’ll stop now. Continue reading “A Small Forest”

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Cicada

cigales

In this bleak midwinter please excuse me while I indulge in a few holiday photos. Here’s a glass of light to brighten these dark days and to toast 2014. It’s from Rue Des Roues – the heat of Provence and the din of the ever present cicadas, like constant car alarms hidden in the trees. In France the cicada is called cigale and so is the local beer. Cicadas are difficult to see but after a few glasses of Bière des Cigales they’re easily spotted. Continue reading “Cicada”

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Rue Des Roues

rue des roues

This is the Street of Wheels in L’Isle sur la Sorgue, Provence, France. The town once had seventy waterwheels, all powered by the Sorgue river, driving mills for grinding grain, making paper and weaving silk. Nowadays the river turns fourteen vestigial wheels driving the tourist circuit around the town. We came here on holiday and stayed in the house on the right by the street lamp. Continue reading “Rue Des Roues”

Frames of reference

Le Quattro Volte

I’ve just seen the most beautiful film. It’s undeniably slow but that’s not to say it isn’t action packed. There’s a lot to look at. There is no spoken dialogue as such, just a sequence of gorgeous images that make up a visual poem. It’s premise is the Pythagorean idea that there is a four-fold transmigration of souls, from human to animal to vegetable to mineral. The film follows the passage from man to goat to tree to charcoal, the soul moving through four successive lives, to be discovered four times. It is set in the present day in a medieval village in Calabria. The goats are the stars, but there is one amazing prize-winning performance from a dog. This is my favourite film and I can’t wait to watch it again.

See Philip French’s review in The Guardian, but better still see the film.

Frames of reference