Skull: Michael Dillon
Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus: the performance of a lifetime.
Art is long, life is short. Apparently a favorite quote of the famous Japanese artist, who died of cancer in 2023. The film is his final live performance.
Adding a verse, a brushstroke, or a recipe to the human repertoire is all we can really manage. One ought to make it a good one, or at least a meaningful one.
It's hard not to shake something off once it gets in you. Watching Ryuichi playing his piano isn't much different than any of the other great performances available on the Tube or elsewhere. Yet knowing his story changes my story. It wasn't until the day after watching his performance film that I started noticing the small works of art in my surrounding that I pass up every day. Sure I give the cursory glance while sipping coffee. But today I stopped what I was doing so I could photograph them.
These pieces of art don't know time - nor will they until entropy claws them apart atom by atom.
But we do. The organic interactions we have with them bring them into the fold. And how easy it is to forget to notice. Pay attention. How can I pay attention when it's a free country? Isn't that an oxymoron?
Time is the only medium of exchange. We're lucky to have so many options in how we spend it.
Sigma fp | Sigma 24mm
Ars longa, vita brevis.
-AV