WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

the shadows

(L. Macneice, W.H. Davies, W.B. Yeats, R. Hodgson,

D.H. Lawrence, H. MacDiarmid, R. Graves, B. Bunting,

V. Watkins, W.H. Auden, L. Durrel, F.T. Prince, J. Cornford,

K. Amis, J. Kirkup, E. Jennings, C. Logue, A. Thwaite,

P. Larkin, M. Hamburger, T.S. Eliot, J. Squire, G. Gould,

S. Sassoon, R. Brooke, E. Muir, J. Grenfell)

by Roberto Lavidez

before me

floats

an image

man or

shade

shade more

than man

more image

than a shade

dreaming

of a day

less dim

dreaming

of a time

less far

I do not

want to be

reflective

any more

envying and

despising

unreflective

things

I hear

leaves

drinking

rain

I hear

rich leaves

on top

giving

the poor

beneath

drop after

drop

not I

but the

wind that

blows

through me

a fine wind

is blowing

the new

direction

of time

for years

slept badly

who does not?

took bribes

and drugs

ate far

too much

and dreamed

married

unwisely

yes

but died

quite well

I should not

say so

nothing

so human

I will

tell you

keep still

if you

really

want to

know

I am old

nothing

interests me

now

moreover

I am not

very

intelligent

and my ideas

have travelled

no further

than my feet

I thought

of age and

loneliness

and change

I thought

how strange

we grow

when we’re

alone

my thought

and theory

which you

have forgotten

these things

have served

their purpose

let them be

the huge

abstractions

I kept from

the light

small things

I handled

and caressed

and loved

I let the

stars assume

the whole

of night

all’s pathos now

the body that

was gross

rank

ravenous

disgusting

in the act

or in repose

all fever

filth and

sweat

it’s bestial

strength

and bestial

decay

by pain

and labour

grows

at length

fragile and

luminous

heart of

the heartless

world

dear heart

the thought

of you

is the pain

at my side

the shadow

that chills

my view

the usual

steely

expression

of my eyes

does not

flatter me

few birds

perhaps

have so

successfully

solved

the problem

of existence

oh!

there’s

nothing to

complain about

Buddha says

none of the

world is good

I am fond

of my hut…

no argument

no anger

no remorse

no dividing

of blame

there was

poison

in the cup

why should

we ask from

whose hand

it came?

there is

a city

we must

build with

joy

exactly

where the

fallen city

sleeps

we can

forget

those times

we sat up

half the

night

chockfull

of love

crammed

with bright

thoughts

names

rhymes and

couldn’t

write

ways

I recall

transitions

the shadows

the colours

turning herbs

acrid or heady

sweet wives

the world over

sweet virgins

walking where

they belong

hours giving

evidence or

birth

advance

on death

equally

slowly

and saying

so to some

means

nothing

others

it leaves

nothing

to be said

I nearly

learned

life’s lesson

but not quite:

I touched

the skirts

of purity-

in-passion

say

is there

beauty yet

to find?

and certainty
and quiet

kind?

deep

meadows

yet

for to

forget

the lies

and truths

and pain?

her little

voice

becomes

for me

the voice of

the unintelligible

universe

beautiful and

appalling

love is exempt

from time

and that

is true

but we

the loved

and the

lover

we grow

old

only the

truth

the truth

is always

new

you with

a curious

nervous

elegance

laid bare

the root

of life

and put

your finger

on its

beating heart

spirit is willing

to repeat

without

a qualm

the same

old talk

but flesh is

homesick

for our snug

apartment

in New York

not many

trains today

not many

are waiting

for trains

or waiting

for anything

except for

the time

to pass

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WEBSTRUCTIONISM: Reinventing the World through Creative Language

by Roberto Lavidez

Webstructionism is a name I have given to a theory that explores the use of random words or string of words extracted from various texts and references as construction material for both poetry and art. It is a practice of sequencing words to form new phrases as narrative for painting. It is also a process of extracting and assembling unrelated words and phrases from different sources to create new poetry. What began as a wayward search for an idea for a painting has turned into a method that challenges one’s intellectual approach to words as much as it enhances creative use of language. It has also led to criticizing acquired language after discovering how words can be accumulated and manipulated to effect a thought outside of one’s storage of ideas.

The creative dimension of language use presupposes that man can generate and transform word combinations and grammatical structures that are not commonly articulated in any form of communication. Sentences and phrases that may have no exact parallels in previous English usage can be created and introduced to extrapolate abstract ideas. This rationalist view, in contrast to the empiricist, argues that not all knowledge is derived from and determined by sense experience. It supports the theory of innate ideas whereby some knowledge can result from the inherent structures of the mind. Though external stimulation is necessary to awaken innate capacities, it does not necessarily mean that ideas and concepts result completely from external impressions.

As an artist who is in the habit of not only rendering what is visible in nature, but also capturing what may be deemed unpaintable, I have recognized the viability of the written word as more than a tool for poetry by extending its use as guide material for an experimental pictorial composition. What began as a playful mixing of words from torn pages of an old English dictionary had evolved into a theory encompassing other linguistic theories that bear semblance to Webstructionism. The randomness of stringing words and sequencing of unrelated phrases offer exponential possibilities for creative projects of all media which may provide support to existing theories.

In elucidating the workings of the mind and its capacity to reinvent language, I have embarked on this experimental approach using art and poetry to underscore the creative mental process of forming phrases derived from random extraction of borrowed words. The expression of a thought comes from processing words or phrases that are made available through random selection. I rely on intuition in combining words that normally wouldn’t be selected in expressing a thought in the real sense. Phrases preclude any reference to clichés or predictable word combinations. Though there are instances when memory dictates the stringing of commonly used words to produce a phrase subsequent arrangement almost always lean back to the original intent of surprise of Webstructionism which diverts away from worn out phrases or any reference to immediate reality.

Now, how does this word structure render itself to visual exploration? There is an otherworldly reality inhabiting the canvas space where the arbitrary selections of words provide the framework - syntax as pictorial composition. Symbolic knowledge supersedes the literal in providing the blueprint for the visual imagery. The words that make up the complex phrase is connected by a single drawn line following the sequence of the group of words’ relative use to expressing a thought. The resulting visual abstraction made up of a continuous swirling line connecting words serves as the compositional guide for painting. Enclosed shapes determined by the line weaving through selected words are then painted according to artist’s preference which is directed by intuition and sometimes influenced if not hampered by his predictability of taste and acquired style. Choosing colors to fill in shapes simulate the process of choosing words to make a phrase. Aesthetics that guide the artist’s use of colors however do not necessarily apply the same writer’s approach of mixing words. The sensory appeal of colors influenced by artistic preference and knowledge of the discipline do not strictly correlate to the ordering or sequencing of words in a phrase. Rules are different for each discipline, literary or aesthetic, and compounded by the introduction of Webstructionism, adherence to what has been laid down thus far as rules of the game will eventually yield a more comprehensive scope or objective. Putting yellow next to mauve does not need analyzing as to whether it is representative of nature or an abstract concept as much as combining words ‘grout’ and ‘devout’. Lines and colors do not evoke as much analytical response as words. We can ‘read’ past the random display of colors on a canvas surface, but with words, which is what Webstructionism is driving at, the random selection of words when pasted or written together on the surface compels the literate viewer –reader to translate what may seem outright non-sensical verbiage to something even poetically profound. ‘Grout’ and ‘devout’ may be analyzed as sounding similar but the relevance does not end there. Though they rarely appear together on any text, both words when placed side by side, sans the conjunction, conjures up a meaningful connection or symbiosis. The pious devotee referring to the ‘devout’ requires faith which metaphorically can be associated with the word ‘grout’. Grout ‘fills the space’ which can represent the ‘filling in’ of doubt by the devout or devotee’s faith.

Webstructionist grammar does not reject sense. It does in fact embrace profundity given the right word or in the webstructionist sense ‘the rite’ of words through random selection. It is also, as mentioned, autonomous in the rationalist sense. Syntax is not solely derived experientially. It does not categorically represent sense reality. Sentence construction is rooted in imagination breeding odd selection of words in favor of the commonly used. Since ideas are stimulated by the words made available through random selection the artist is discovering thoughts that may have no parallel in the real sense but which can expand if not add new horizon to the conducive kind of rationality he has been accustomed to.

To illustrate the process of Webstructionism, the line that connects words to form a phrase creates the fluid like image branching into irregular shapes which are then enhanced by color. Words that are not selected are either painted over or left as they are printed on a page. The words taken to form a phrase command the flow of the line according to how each word appears in the sequence. What results as visual abstraction after the line is drawn following the sequence of words is actually a mapping out of the evolution of the phrase. It is similar to connecting dots to form a figure, only the dots are replaced by words and the line that goes through the phrase does not represent any particular figure other than the image it creates out of stringing words.

The first step involves skimming through the dictionary and picking a particular page. Leafing through the pages and stopping at any random page is all instinctive. What follows as the tearing of pages and the haphazard pasting of torn pieces on the canvas surface still requires no mental exertion. The word selection that transpires next, where some are highlighted and others are either left out or erased in the process, is based on the artist’s familiarity or quick recognition of the words. It might take some browsing and discriminate selecting of words but this is as far as the tweaking of the elements go which is not unlike choosing green over purple in coloring a spot. Though there are marginalized words that do not end up in the forming of a phrase the goal is to be able to arrange the retrieved words in the quickest way possible avoiding redundant words that would otherwise spoil the freshness of the selection. The process is similar to picking flowers for an arrangement without giving much thought as to why some are left out and others end up in a vase.

During the sequencing of words, worn out phrases are avoided to explore possibilities of creating a syntax out of unique word combinations. It is a conscious negation of conventional usage of the English language, freeing every formation or phrasing of words from the subjugation of official grammar. Despite the wide variety of descriptive words available to depict reality, common language is forged in its method of representation. The very limitation of vocabulary available to webstruction on the other hand, propels the imagination to forge a reality embedded in the new phrase.

In Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, he rejected the assumption that the meaning of the word is the thing it stands for. Wittgenstein argued that meaning is what is given by explanations of meaning, which are rules for the use of words. It is what is understood when one understands what an utterance means based on several criteria of understanding. “Concepts are not correct or incorrect, only more or less useful. Rules for the use of words are not true or false. They are not answerable to reality, nor to antecedently given meanings. Rather they determine the meanings of words, are constitutive of their meanings.”

The intentionality of thought and language of Webstructionism conveys the subjective proposition of a metaphorical world laden with symbols. The object is not perceived or seen in the spatio-temporal world but is imagined from the relations of words. The personal imaging of thought formed by the play of words is manifested through the content of what is written. Though the puzzle of retrieving usable words to create a thought shares a similar thread of arbitrary use of language to represent external reality, Webstructionist thought gravitates towards the unknown like stumbling upon an intriguing object or mysterious code that needs to be examined or deciphered to reveal its meaning. The meaning is in the process of construction and deconstruction of imaginings. It does not pretentiously encapsulate the essence of a higher reality but can open up to alternative realities. The final end has neither finality nor ending. It can only retrace the arbitrary formation of words. Looking at the amorphous image created by the line tracing all the words that make up the phrase reveals the choices made by the artist and the blueprint of how messaging was processed. The inductive deductive roundabout exegesis behind the pictorial and verse compositions is the operative principle of Webstructionist thought and language. It is picture-making which generates potential variants of invented realities.

Roberto Lavidez

Ontario Canada

WEBSTRUCTIONISM by ROBERTO LAVIDEZ

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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