For some time now I’ve been thinking about the phenomenon of the “ornamental hermit”. Turning the combination of words in mouth, as if this repetitive activity might prove the term more palable with time. A strange obsession with an equally strange subject of a not too distant history.

In my early attempts at coming to terms with the phenomena, I would consult some of the relatively sparse literature on the subject: Fragments from historical accounts relating the subject to the history of ex. garden design, romanticism, Christianity etc. To be fair, a paper might very well be written giving a perfectly reasonable account of the historical ins and outs of the phenomena: The power structures embedded. A certain perversity of the ruling class enacting asceticism and poverty by proxy. The instrumentalization of “nature”. A society fascinated by an escape from same etc. However, none of these attempts seemed to fully captivate my fascination with the subject, along with in the process of writing, ending up casting myself in the dubious role of a pseudo historian.

Instead, I would like to frame my interests, as far as they are consequent, within the certain slipage of terrain that the subject seems to provide. In relations between reality and its representation, which the case of the ornamental hermit, in my opinion, seems to exemplify. A human being prompted to perform an image on a daily basis. The oxymoronic state of a withdrawal, rendered as an image. The location of vision within a performed act of withdrawal. The strange flatness of the prompt for their character. The list might go on…The following pages of writing are in part a testament of frantic research locating interests intrinsic to an artistic practice with the ornamental hermit as its initial prism. Secondly, it’s an experiment in form, of which the inconsistent nature as well as the anachronistic and rather un-scripted prompting of the ornamental hermit, might also serve as a model.Concerning the actual writing, I would find it hard not to consider the remarkable amount of words being casually thrown around art at present-day, especially when devised with the task of writing x amount of words based on my artistic practice. Speaking about art for me proves a different energy than my ability to write “about” it might manifest. Perhaps this is due to the lack of strict composition moving from a-z in daily speech and its lack of a finite end. Or perhaps it’s to be located in the embodied energy manifested ex. in the “good” studio visit – or yet again, perhaps it is solely to be located in a lack of real academic writing skills on my part. Either way, the frantic speed of unhinged conversation, might run the risk of resembling the embarrassing late hours at a bar, but at its best might also render a subject still vibrant.

As such, I would insist on the existence and the validity of a type of language which refrains from fully ended sentence, occasionally catching a glimpse of a subject not rendered flat by representation.Admittingly, the following might be yet another throw of art language, but my hope is, that it through its form, might also provide a different experience of engaging with text. One that takes the ornamental hermit as its initial prism, in order to defract onto a range of subjects, sites and events. Rather than for this text to explain x,y,z relating to my artistic practice, it is my intent to move through and act out certain aspects of it. A rhythmic constellation interlazed with commentary, notes, prompts, images and the excess metadata of communication. To escape the “aboutness” of a type of language concerning art. An escape from the finality of words – of which this introduction text surely belong. 

On that note:

One more time with feeling