225. Influencers under a Tree
scenes from a cherry blossom spring.
Dear reader,
Spring is the season of change. The sky is different. The earth is different. The air changes too. Things of colour leap out of the ground and hang off of trees. And, as if they were just waiting for permission, the people change too.
The SneakyArt Post is a publication of secretly drawn art of the world. It is made from direct observation of human life in public spaces, inside a little sketchbook. Nobody is told, before or after. No one finds out. Ever. Very hush hush. Very sneaky.
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When you walk under a cherry blossom tree in full bloom, the world turns pink. The ground is pink from the fallen petals. Above, everything is pink and white with dark branches, and a hint of blue where the sky peeks through. And all the people milling around with their self-facing cameras on their self-facing phones, they are pink too.
(I bought a pink Caran d’ache Luminance colour pencil just for this season!)
🇯🇵 The Japanese word for sunlight shining through foliage is komorebi.
As if waiting for permission, the people change too.
Jackets are unzipped. Heads are unbowed. You can hear more laughter in the air. It as if humans has come out of hibernation.
Maybe seasons guide our behaviour in public spaces too. Maybe we need their permission to do certain things, to be a certain way. Sitting on the patio of the newly opened Sweet Thea Cafe on Main St, I found more people simply … wandering.
🇫🇷 The French word for urban strolling is flânerie, or the more grandiose boulevardier.
Smiling at nothing at all, peeking into random stores, nodding at little babies, petting others’ dogs, complimenting strangers for their hair or their bag or their glasses, the people of Vancouver were boulevard-ing like no one’s business.
It is enough reason to step outside. Not only for the better weather, not only for the sun, but for a different experience of the same spaces. Because the same people have changed. And because that is what a city is at the end of the day, the collective experiences of life interacting with other life amidst various inanimate amenities. The people are the city.
“There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.” - Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
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💻 Thinking about the phenomenon mislabeled as “AI art”, I considered the role of art in the age of virtual reproduction -
What is the point of making art if an AI can reproduce it within seconds and at zero cost? What happens to human artists when corporations and movie studios switch to Artificial Intelligence outputs? Since we cannot compete with machines over speed or scale, is art even a human endeavour anymore? [continue reading]
🧠 As the hype around AI intensified, I thought about what it means to have just a human mind -
AI systems are not like human brains. Human minds do not consume all the information out of everything before taking action. One of the most remarkable things about the human brain is that it operates on very little information - incomplete and biased data, rough ideas, memory holes, confabulations, hints, and clues buried deep within our psyche. [continue reading]
🍼 Two months ago, I became a father! As I watch little Rohan come to grips with our world, I wonder what he dreams about -
He does not know any human stories. He does not have any concept of being a human being in this world. Science claims that he cannot see very far, or very clearly. He cannot even tell colours yet. Without people, places, stories, or a sense of self, what is the kaleidoscope of his dreams? [continue reading]
🤳🏼 A year after blowing up on Instagram, I reflect on what it means to suddenly have a huge following -
It locks us in a race that nobody wants to run, but nobody wants to lose either. We are racing against each other, because the likes must go higher and higher. But the likes are kept scarce in an artificial manner - a starvation diet maintained by the algorithms. By enslaving you to the like button, social media forces you to jump through arbitrary hoops to create value for predatory corporations. [continue reading]
🌥️ March flew by, a month of transience, of great change and promises. I put together a video to share my sketchbook journey -
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Reader, I am glad to have a space in your inbox. Talk again next week!
I absolutely LOVE the cherty blossom drawing with the pink colour pencil!! SO BEAUTIFUL. Perhaps you would consider making a print for purchase. I would love to put that on my wall.
Wonderful post. I love the video. :) Keep sharing.