In Praise of Shadows...

I used to work at a little Irish pub in the Lower East Side. The interior was dimly lit, with the only sources of illumination accredited to the dirty yellow light of sodium street-lamps filtered in through panes of warbled glass and miniscule tea light candles swallowed up by booths or extinguished by spilled beer. With each passerby, the shadows danced and flittered wildly. Sometimes, when there weren't many customers, I would take out my big black sketchbook, lay it down and trace the lines of the shadows.

One of the regulars saw me doing this. He got up, said he'd be right back and disappeared. For a second, I thought he had left without paying his bar tab. But eventually he returned and with a beat up copy of a thin paperback. He passed it over to me and said, "I think you should read this."

And I did. The book was Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows. It's an essay written about the opposition of traditional shadows of Japan and the stark brightness of the modern age. It's a sweeping essay that touches on everything from architecture, to bathrooms, to lacquer. It made me acutely aware of the depth and dimension of shadows. I think this is a must read for all creative types.