What does a urinal, a bleeding heart, and a fried egg have in common?

Welcome to Episode 3 of Art Appreciation, where we dig into the messy, mystical business of meaning in art. From Van Gogh’s fiery skies to Duchamp’s porcelain rebellion, we ask: is it deep, or just...a goat drinking from the stream? Tune in, scroll down, and bring your baggage—interpretation is a group project.

WTF!

To peep is a sin/ and it starts with a peep
go peel off people/ dig a little deep
dig deeper when you sleep/ be— where you wanna be
I will hold your cups/ want a cup of me?
wtf!

WTFLOVE
Here’s the first song from “WTFLOVE” (2023) making its way to Patron section as promised*.

*Download mp3 link in the post.

Qaida | An Abecedarium is a meditation in nihilism—a poetic exercise in surrender. Inspired by the aching clarity of Lev Shestov and Emil Cioran, this project begins with a contradiction: if nothing matters, why write at all? And yet, both thinkers wrote—beautifully, obsessively—because in surrender, there is still rhythm. Qaida takes up this contradiction and threads it through the English alphabet, letter by letter. Each entry stains a symbol with a poem, mapping loss, decay, and doubt. But beneath the surface gloom, a strange affirmation hums: even as meaning collapses, the act of naming the abyss becomes its own stubborn form of life.

A novella by JEAN BAPTISTE DUVET
“Do things appear out of nothing, or are they always out there— just appearing and disappearing before my eyes?”

… … …

I’m pooped. Here’s an excerpt from the last revision of /draft 2/ Chapter-Baggo and Leo/ Estella.

My last Glacier melted eons ago; flooding first the city, then my house with icy water. Now winter arrives every year to collect my shivers and cold sweat, a fair rent/ for a tent/ inside my castle, she says. A true guardian of the cold, she arrives through the backdoor of my mind– my heart. Pushing her sword through it, when the Sun is not looking. Cold shriek/ she never sleeps/ only dozes off/ goes off/ for a little while and that, only in the early morning, if at all.

She pushes through/ when the sun grew/ too old to fend/ too cold to bear.
And that, it’s true/ we have seen it through/ there is nothing out there.
There will be none here, soon.
She’s almost here.

• This chapter of Estella also features in Qaida under the letter N— nihilism, and M— memory.
  … … …

Excerpt from essay Machine and The Schizotypal (working title) that I hope to finish by the fall 2025. I will be taking notes and posting them on a regular basis so; this one is a peep-inside WIP post.

Psychosis is the most widely spoken language in the modern world, though spoken in private, or in the company of a domestic cat, et all. What in modern language leaves the speaker betrayed and retreating into quiet gestures? Does that not make Language— one of the first generation machines? A system that reveals as much, as it hides? A formulation that denies the possibility of an Outside. In Luhmann’s terms, there’s no outside, because a system which cannot communicate, can’t exist. That is true for any system such as biological, cognitive or physical ones. A divergent unit—say, a Schizo; is never really addressed in Luhmann’s system. It remains outside the loop, unworthy of theoretical closure, much like how Descartes struggles to prove his own existence beyond thought, which has to find a surface to bounce off, and get into his dickhead in a timely manner.

Anthony Giddens points at “Trust in Abstract systems” as a possible missing piece of puzzle in the modern world’s cognitive mechanization. This essay takes the Lacanian lack as a central argument, and traces the “absence” in the discipline of philosophy from Descartes, Deleuze, Luhmann, and returning to Deleuze’s Schizophrenic. Sounds Schizo enough?

When gaps in cognition emerge, the schizotypal emerges too. Some rot, others make a point with their cats. A Schizo often has better insight about those available spaces, as they have accessed those spaces in their hour of need. A place where one could hide from mechanics of Cogito, perhaps find love and dignity too. A world away from a constant persecution by “reason”. A place, where to love and to be loved can still make a sense— as a private act; incognito. A world which doesn’t need excessive ontological theorization of the reality.

Art/image courtesy: Bailey, Pamela & Newman, Jane. (2022).

Welcome back to whatever is going on here! If episode-I was about “what the Fuck am I looking at”, episode-II is; where we start asking, “What is this thing made of?” And also about “why you should or shouldn’t give a Fuck”.

Fair Warning: Over 40 minutes of blabbering (audio), and some required reading (downloadable).

Here’s a five part series “Art Appreciation” for patrons. Idea is, to help patron access the artwork so they can form an opinion about it and judge it for themselves.

I love to start my weekend with an audiobook or a podcast about my favorite subjects. Isn’t it a good idea to poach eggs, burn some bacon and listen, than sitting down to read something? I am throwing in my fair share of sausage in a podcast format, so your bacon cums well-done too.

A Note in Gratitude

Sticky Notes in Gratitude

What am I doing!

The Conundrum of Organizing Thought: Philosophical and Literary Perspectives on Zettelkasten