Infinite Beauty
Images of Never-ending Continuity . . .
Double-page illuminations for "An Imaginary Book" Chapter VI
Infinite Beauty repetition field photograph 20x25" Garden View - The Alhambra, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
Click on images once, twice to enlarge
"Islamic art is based in the theory of transcendence.
What would be a suitable aesthetic vehicle for this
ideology? The creation of patterns which carry
the implication of never-ending continuity . . .
patterns that suggest infiniteness as a
quality of transcendence."
Lois Ibsen Al Faruqui
Infinite Beauty is the sixth project or "chapter" in a series of nine core projects which together constitute "An Imaginary Book" inspired by my travel experiences in Turkey in the Spring of 2011, and my concentrated studies of Islamic sacred art and sacred knowledge that has since then followed. My Preface, the other nine projects, the Epilogue and more is available at this link, "An Imaginary Book" which presents a brief illustrated introduction to each of the online projects.
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Introduction
I have divided the Infinite Beauty project into two parts: the photographs are on this page, below; the rather large body of texts are on a separate page: visit Texts for the Infinite Beauty Project. Both are a contemplations, one visual, the other textual, on the themes of Beauty and The Infinite from the perspective of Islamic sacred art and sacred knowledge. I will introduce the photographs with a brief Textual Prelude, the photographs will follow. Then I hope you will visit the Text page. Welcome to the Infinite Beauty project.
A
Brief
Textual
Prelude
To the Infinite Beauty Photographs
Traditional art is concerned with beauty which is inseparable from reality and is related to the inner dimension of the Real as such - Ultimate Reality being the Absolute, the Infinite, and Perfection or Goodness. Beauty reflects the Absolute in its regularity and order; infinity in its sense of inwardness and mystery, and its demands of perfection. A masterpiece of traditional art is at once perfect, orderly, and mysterious. It reflects the perfection and goodness of the Source, the harmony and order which are also reflected in the cosmos and which are the imprint of the absoluteness of the Principle in manifestation and the mystery and inwardness which open unto the Divine Infinitude itself.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr: Knowledge and the Sacred
The doctrine of Oneness of Being means that what the eye sees and the mind records is an illusion, and that every apparently separate and finite thing is in Truth the Presence of the One Infinite: "Wheresoever ye turn, there is the Face of God. Verily God is the Infinitely Vast, the Infinitely Knowing." (Qur'an II: 115)
Martin Lings: What is Sufism"
Blue Qur'an page, 9th-10th Century
Infinite Beauty repetition field photograph 2012
Imagine . . .
If all the trees in the earth were pens,
and if the sea eked out by seven seas were ink,
the Words of God could not be written out to the end
Qur'an XXXI:27
As you view the Infinite Beauty photographs below I invite you to imagine the repeating image patterns unfolding continuously, endlessly beyond the visible edges of the square image field and into "the Divine Infinitude" of the surrounding marginal black space.
Imagine the repeating image patterns as if they were continuously unfolding calligraphic forms of the infinite, eternal, ineffable words written upon the open, facing pages of an Imaginary book . . .
Henry Corbin: Alone with the Alone
Imaginative vision becomes vision of the heart . . . the heart being the organ, the "eye" by which God sees Himself: the contemplant is the contemplated (my vision of Him is His vision of me). . . In its ultimate degree, the Image will be a vision of the "Form of God" corresponding to the innermost being of the contemplant, who experiences himself as the microcosm of the Divine Being; a limited Form, like every form, but a Form which as such . . . emanates an aura, a "field" which is always open to "recurrent creations." This presupposes of course a basic visionary Imagination, a "presence of the heart" in the intermediate world . . . an intermediate world which is the encounter (the conjunction, the "conspiration") of the spiritual and the physical . . .
Visit my related blog link: Creative Imagination
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The
Infinite Beauty
Photographs
click on the images to enlarge
Note: the Infinite Beauty photographs are fields of repeating image patterns which were constructed by seamlessly conjoining and repeating Four-fold symmetrical photographs from earlier projects in "An Imaginary Book." The field patterns, which run both vertically and horizontally within a square format, are suspended within a horizontal black space. The symbolic meaning of these elements and much more are discussed in the Text Page. ~ In the titles under each photograph you will see hyperlinked words which are the project titles from which the Four-fold source images were taken. Click on the hyperlink to see the entire project and the source image; click on the images to enlarge them for a more detailed viewing.
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" #1 Marble column surface, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul from the project: Prayer Stones
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Tree with orange and green leaves from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Photograph 20x25" The Dome above the mirhab in the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Eating the Sun, from the project: Symmetrical River Songs
Infinite Beauty 20x25" Marble column surface #14, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: Version 2 from the project: Prayer Stones
Infinite Beauty Photograph 20x25" Shaped Bushes, The Alhambra, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
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Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Water fall, The Alhambra, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Tropical Flowers from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Alcazar, Spain Pond Fish from the project: Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Rainbow, from the project: Symmetrical Meadow Photographs
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Tree Limbs, Turkey from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Falling leaves, from the project: Symmetrical River Songs
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25 Cloud Forest view, Costa Rica from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Sunken Garden and pool - The Alcazar, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty photograph 20x25" Security Walls,the Alhambra, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" The Alhambra, Spain Pool Reflections in the Court of Myrtle Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25"Mineral pools, Pamukkale, Turkey from the project: Prayer Stones
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Marble column surface #14, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul from the project: Prayer Stones
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Opening in Stormy Sky, from the project: Symmetrical Meadow Photographs
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Transparent Veil (tropical mangrove forest, Cost Rica) Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Canandaigua Lake view, from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" The Alhambra, Spain - Generalife Courtyard Terrace Crystalline Paradise
Infinite Beauty Photograph 20x25" Ancient columns under mineral springs, Pamukkale, Turkey Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Stream water, from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Pergamon Mountains and Lake view from the project: Prayer Stones
Infinite Beauty Repetition Field Photograph 20x25" Stoney brook water fall, from the project: Celestial Gardens
Infinite Beauty repetition field photograph 20x25" Garden View - The Alhambra, Spain from the project: Crystalline Paradise
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A B S T R A C T
Infinite Beauty Photographs
The six Infinite Beauty images below were included in an earlier project entitled Abstract Symmetrical Photographs [Chapter III ] because they were constructed from abstract source images. I separated the six Infinite Beauty images from the larger collection of Abstract Symmetrical Photographs. ~ Of course these six images belong here, with the other Infinite Beauty photographs, though once again I have presented them as a separate group because the Infinite Beauty photographs above were constructed from source images that represent literal appearances. ~ The abstract images below have a different look and feel about them though they share in the same overall structure and meaning as the images above. To learn more about the source images used in these Abstract Infinite Beauty photographs you can read the introductory texts for the Abstract Symmetrical Photographs project.
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photographs (Abstract Symmetrical Photograph - Vibrating star lines) 20x25" double-page illumination
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photographs (Abstract Symmetrical Photograph #16B - turquoise triangles ) 20x25" double-page illumination
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photograph #23 (circled lined triangles) ~ 20x25" double-page illumination
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photographs (Abstract Symmetrical Photograph: Triangles, Circles inside a Square) 20x25" double-page illumination
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photographs (opening a book, opening a door) 20x25" double-page illumination
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Abstract Infinite Beauty Photograph #22 (abstract garden ) ~ 19x25" double-page illumination
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Infinite Beauty was first posted mid September, 2012
Please Visit
Chapter seven of "An Imaginary Book" is entitled Ta'wil: Unveiling the Hidden Treasure. The word ta'wil means "return to the primordial origin."
Sacred Art, Sacred Knowledge, a work in progress consisting primarily of
a collection of quotes by Islamic Scholars
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, and more.
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