“Icarus Countercurrent” and Study of a Tuscan Ceiling

Icarus Countercurrent Tuscan Ceiling

Having fled France, now under a nationwide train strike, I returned to familiar territory in the Val di Chiana, Tuscany, where I am fluent and know my way around. While in Florence I sketched the very top of the Palazzo della Signoria but abandoned the sketch for some reason, probably due to the odd proportion presented by the foreshortening of the tower from my vantage point. At dinner with friends, I sketched the rustic ceiling of the Ristorante Le Terasse in Monte San Savino. The sketch explores the probable construction of the ceiling, likely a subfloor in masonry on wooden beams and rough-hewn purlins set into stuccoed masonry walls. My friends commented that I could “see through walls” this way. Friends Norberto Libertadori (a senior city planner in Arezzo) and Rossella signed the page during my days in Castiglion Fiorentino.

While waiting for a bus or train I sketched a picture of “Icarus” walking against the current. The figures in the background are coworkers and acquaintances (from right to left, The Spy, Aðitriçâ, Xannaprnâ / Verykena, Amyqâ) walking with the current, toward sunset. Icarus proceeds with his backpack and Chicago Bulls hat, still somehow dressed for the office, on his voyage against the grain, away from sunset, paintbrush in hand. At the time I was not taking corporate life well, feeling constrained, and itching to transcend it through travel and expression. Later Amagal signed the page (some information has been erased for her privacy). I had named a marker-drawing technique after Aðitriçâ in 1997 (see s5231a43).

Produced around 18 May 1997 = Tayya 5822, five dozen eighth phase (Ñixaþ-Alindðal Xrga).

This page last modified Friday 6 April 2012.