The Diary of Jon Frank

The Crowd examines the nature of the crowd, in its many manifestations, both human and in the natural world.  Elias Canetti counts raindrops among the many natural phenomena that can become symbols for the masses, and the orchestra as one of the many human manifestations of it.  We look at sport, feasting, mating – forms of congregation that bring people together in a common purpose but which also highlight the aloneness, the solitariness and the independence that often resides at the heart of the crowd.  This is explored both through the medium of live forces and also of replicants, across the gamut of the crowd experience from alienation to the reinforcement of humanity. The Crowd brings us together temporarily, and then rends us apart again.  It gives us fleeting meaning, and a transitory community.  It is warm and welcoming, and it is threatening and forbidding.  Ultimately, it is not more or no less than all of us.

A concert by Richard Tognetti & Jon Frank

A friend once told me “We were all beautiful when we were young.”

Our timing was a little off from the start; we arrived to a flat ocean and that’s how she stayed. Of course the previous week had played host to gigantic, perfect surf, but to be honest, it’s all just so big and monotonous these days (these days!), with every Dick, Mack and Barry so professional with their shiny black canons aimed, at you and you and YOU. Every swell ruthlessly tracked via www then ambushed (rahhhh!). The real moments are to be found in the cracks anyhow. How do we adapt to a fast world? I dunno… Oh yeah, by getting faster ourselves, more efficient, more improved, superior time management! Profit, loss, market fluctuations, the world isn’t coping, glaciers melting, Africa starving, FTP’s and Jpegs at ten frames per second, drive thru here, hardware barns, emails and iphones and all the toys that exist so we can cope with it all, just bravely attempting to keep up. Don’t get left behind whatever you do, I have dreams some nights of failure and FEAR!!!

About a year ago I was looking for a house to rent with my girlfriend. The lease application form had a question asking why was I moving from my old address so I wrote ‘new beginnings’. I figured that if a human being with a pulse was reading the application they couldn’t help but be touched by this sentiment and would for sure give us the lease. Needless to say our application was rejected again and again, but I refused to change tactics until it was accepted. Only then would we have found the right home. Eventually we applied at the house of an artist and her husband (complete with studio!) and have been happily here ever since. Cute story. Well, its a new year and I once again find myself thinking about new beginnings. A friend has told me that this blog needs to narrow its focus and ‘have a theme’. “People who subscribe to your blog are not interested in pictures of kids in India! They want perfect line-ups and SURFING photographs!”  Really? Oh shit! Surely there are plenty of pictures of surfing already out there? Maybe he has a point though. So, in the spirit of the new year I will attempt to focus on the theme of travel. Each week will feature a new location, and I am intending to hit the road quite a bit this year so with any luck most of the pictures will be freshly cooked. When not out there living it, I will raid the archive and try and mine a few nuggets that haven’t been seen before. This week… Victoria, Australia. Happy new year! 

All summer long she touched me
She gathered in my soul
From many a thorn, from many thickets
Her fingers, like a weaver’s
Quick and cool
And the light came from her body
And the night went through her grace
All summer long she touched me
And I knew her, I knew her
Face to face

And her dress was blue and silver
And her words were few and small
She is the vessel of the whole wide world
Mistress, oh mistress, of us all

Dearly dead; Queen of Solitude
I thank you with my heart
for keeping me so close to thee
while so many, oh so many, stood apart

And the light came from her body
And the night went through her grace
All summer long she touched me
I knew her, I knew her
Face to face

L.Cohen