The Tranquility of solitude in the chaos of life

this thread shows the posts I labelled tranquility to refer to the "tranquilty of solitude"

quote lifted from the website below

http://www.roopho.com/connectionPage.html
relates to this earlier thought...
and this observation

Study: Sitting under the dock of the bay

The Jam: Thats Entertainment

The last verse:

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight -
Two lovers missing the tranquility of solitude -
Getting a cab and travelling on buses -
Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs -


it includes the beautiful phrase "tranquility of solitude" and the image of slashed bus seats graffitied with typical lovers writings. These are usually proclamations of love or declarations of regret and degressions of character linked to the failure of the former.

Study: 100 Stairs of solitude

100 stairs of solitude....skate spot east London
its a lonely place between here and the bottom of these steps, an oncoming clatter of stairs persistently looming into view

Study: Private garden mini park

The Tranquility of Solitude

"The tranquility of solitude" this line for me sums up the connection between the chaotic complexity of life and the peace one can find there. The lines is from the Jam song Thats Entertainment - "two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight". Or Damien Hirst's Tranquility of Solitude, a homage to Francis Bacon and his studies of his lover George Dyer.

The Jam song talks about struggling as an artist in the entertainment industry and the stark contrasts between perceptions of successs and the reality of attaining this. I think the Francis Bacon studies of his lover and the homage by Hirst talk of the same tensions between ideal and reality, between beauty and grotesque. For me one continously interesting element is the circus of grotesque that hides in the shadows of "ideal" and I have persevered to explore this through the beautiful freaks prototypes (ongoing).

The deformed and grotesque, the freedoms and benefits that imperfection guaruntees has been an increasingly penetrative motif for the past 20 years gradually creeping into contemporary representation of humans and the human condition. Inverted Darwinian principles applied to products and social Darwinism heralded as entertainment. This includes freaky celebs that congregate with the grotesque under the auspicious banner of "reality".

The celebration of the unnervingly different. This is an interesting element I see in Nina Saunders work,

Study: Rock Climbers

Rock climber sat in tree bottom left

Some experiences can shift our perception of ourselves from egocentric significance, awe, realisation, to relative insignificance. These are the words that I would use to describe the shift in thought patterns when challenged with some of the spectacles of life. Being overwhelmed by sheer physical presence or moved by an emotive event. Whether it is moving outside your comfort zone or having your perceptions challenged or horizons broadened or just experiencing a unique moment. One can experience a shift that puts one from the centre of the world to a little spec in a much bigger picture. This shift is unsettling it distorts our perception and alters many of our senses and ability to process the information provided by them the enormity of the gap between singular and the infinite too immense. Before putting yourself in these positions the anticipation is subjective, how you are going to experience something you have been wanting to experience (or avoid!). There is a moment here where one can experience another perfect archetype of solitude. The transition in relating this to all other experiences maybe what makes us unique from other people and their experiences. It is moments like these that can drive us to philosophical distraction. Filling that gap between the singular and the infinite, inside and out.