The Crack
What is the in-between of two things? ...exactly!
It exists, and it does not. So is it a vacuum? What fills it? If you have followed many of my images, I love making art that calls upon me to ascribe reality; even better if it does the same to you. My favorite photos are the most enigmatic ones, almost confronting the viewer with a demand to understand and define. I think this is an excellent example of such.
Before I tell you "what" this is, I want to explain why it intrigues me. This in-between has existed for well over a hundred years. No man has entered it during that time, yet thousands and thousands have walked past it, most without thought or notice. It sits in the center of the most densely populated ground for miles. If one throws a 2021 coin deep into it, it will lay there until 2100 or longer. It will be there, but it will not, at least as proof of reality.
Ok, I will break it down for you. This image is a photographic capture of the six inches left void between two buildings dating back to the early 1900s or earlier. The gap is no more than six inches wide. The depth of the buildings is about 300 feet. I have removed all colors to leave only the light to dark values. In addition, I have flipped the image counter-clockwise to confound the viewer's orientation further, affecting perception and understanding.
This image, its meaning, and its title are inspired by, and hopefully, re-express one of my favorite poets.
Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet, and singer wrote powerful lyrics in his song “Anthem,” off the 1992 album The Future:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
"The future is no excuse for an abdication of your own personal responsibilities towards yourself and your job and your love. “Ring the bells that still can ring”: they’re few and far between but you can find them.
This situation does not admit of solution of perfection. This is not the place where you make things perfect, neither in your marriage, nor in your work, nor anything, nor your love of God, nor your love of family or country. The thing is imperfect.
And worse, there is a crack in everything that you can put together: Physical objects, mental objects, constructions of any kind. But that’s where the light gets in, and that’s where the resurrection is and that’s where the return, that’s where the repentance is. It is with the confrontation, with the brokenness of things." -Leonard Cohen
A LINK TO A VIDEO OF LEONARD COHENS LONDON PERFORMANCE OF ATHEM IS BELOW
Anthem
Leonard Cohen, Live In London
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