The scroll text below translates as :
The form of our Grand patriarch facing the wall in meditation or is it a tasty melon or an eggplant from around here in Yahata?
(signed) Eighty-five-year-old Nantembo Toju
Wall Gazing Daruma by Nakahara Nantembo collection FIAPCE
Woman of TAR with Green Shoulder Bag photo : Ivone Lopes
Theatre of the Actors of Regard : René Magritte, 'La reproduction interdite' / 'Not to be Reproduced', 1937, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Roy Lichtenstein, 'Stretcher frame with vertical bars', 1968
After that brief genre intro, we now turn to and from the impetus for this post: the Vic Muniz exhibition "Verso" at The Mauritshuis in The Hague until 4 September.
above: Muniz and his team's meticulous verisimilitude applied to the current behind-the-scenes support of 'La Gioconda'
Front of house Theatre of the Actors of Regard verso scenes :
Two Women of TAR with verso of Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earing'
photo Margareta Svensson
Two Men of TAR with a 6 x 4
Woman of TAR with Green Shoulder Bag photo : Ivone Lopes
All very refreshing in a time when so many feel the need to affirm that they and their projects are "moving forward". Our office's antidote to such progressive announcements is a spirited chorus of I'm Walking Backwards For Xmas, released by The Goons on 25 June (!) 1956.
I'm walking backwards for Christmas,
I'm walking backwards for Christmas,
Across the Irish Sea,
I'm walking backwards for Christmas,
It's the only thing for me.
I've tried walking sideways,
It's the only thing for me.
I've tried walking sideways,
And walking to the front,
But people just look at me,
And say it's a publicity stunt.
I'm walking backwards for Christmas,
To prove that I love you.
