Ian Whittlesea – författare

Only those who love colour are admitted to its beauty and immanent presence. It affords utility to all, but unveils its deeper mysteries only to its devotees. Johannes IttenOn Colour. draws on the theories of colour harmony that Johannes Itten taught at the Bauhaus, and on the literature of Mazdaznan, Rosicrucianism and Theosophy. It describes how one can, potentially, produce the white cloud of invisibility and documents the author’s own attempts to manifest the cloud. These manifestations have a complex group of antecedents that include Lawrence Weiner’s early spray-painted works, John Latham’s One Second Drawings, Robert Irwin’s luminous disc paintings of the 1960s and representations of the ineffable made by spiritualists and occultists.

The 200 photographs in Trataka record the gradual disappearance of a candle’s physical form and the subtly changing mood of a passing day. Wax is consumed by fire and a solid object converted to light and heat. Finally, a last trace of white smoke rises as the candle gutters and dies. Trataka is a yogic practice of concentration honed through staring at the center of a candle flame. It is said to still the mind, stimulate the pineal gland, open the third eye and promote psychic abilities. This book may be used as an aid to daily meditation, a flick book for the impatient or as a Memento Mori. Ian Whittlesea is an artist whose work explores the relationships between language, light, image and diagram both on the page and in the world. his translation of Yves Klein’s Les Fondements du Judo was published in 2009, Mazdaznan Health & Breath Culture in 2012, Becoming Invisible in 2014, The Egyptian Postures in 2017 and On Colour. in 2019. These texts have been collectively described as ‘instruction manuals for transcendental exercise’. The Everyday Press was founded in 2007 by artist Arnaud Desjardin to publish the work of visual artists as printed matter.