Eastern Exposure - Everardo Goyanes

“And so, as we must if we are not to disturb the glow, we finish the walls with sand in a neutral color. The hue may differ but the degree of difference in color as in shade, a difference that will seem to exist on ly in the mood of the viewer.” In Praise of Shadows, Juni’chiro-Tanizaki
Poet’s House, Kyoto, Japan, 2014

Stripped to core and pattern so many different things are similar, but there is a double play happening. The tori gates are donations from corporations and individuals with some of the largest gates costing many millions of yen.
FUSHIMI INARI-TAISHA, KYOTO, 2016
AND PETROCHEMICAL PLANT IN FORT
SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA, 2014

I like each picture by itself. But I have put these two together to emphasize the structural element. The repeat is both is fascinating to me. Note also the light and shadow in addition to the support lines and even the curvature in the midrange. If you reduced each to vectors of force, they would almost overlap.
MIYAMA MACHI, JAPAN, 2014 AND
SLOSS FURNACES, BIRMINGHAM,
ALABAMA, 2015

This is a fun treatment of a serious ritual. I particularly like it because there aren’t enough lighthearted images in this book.
PURIFICATION FONT, KANAZAWA, JAPAN 2016

“The essential aims of true art are to imitate Nature and where necessary to aid it. If everywhere shine through…” Johann A. Birnbaum, “Bach and the idea of ‘musical perfection.’” Please note not only reflection of the art and nature, but I believe I can hear music.
ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE, 2016 AND Kyoto,
Japan, 2016

On the first cut this was a “maybe” for inclusion. Upon more careful inspection I saw the small echo in the lower left.
SHINNYDO, YHOTO, JAPAN 2016

I may be looking too hard, but I found a symmetry and design in the bills slapped on a post.
A STREET IN TAKAYAMA, JAPAN, 2016

I am puzzled to convey what I see here. It is sort of surreal if you squint with your eyes, but not really. I think it has something to do with the strong lines and the circles. Whatever, don’t interpret it literally.
DAITOKUJI, KYOTO, JAPAN 2016

I like both of these, but they could have been singles. On the other hand, they do complete each other and are pleasing together. In Plate 12, Fushimi Inari-taisha, the major fun is the repeats and the framing. In plate. 13 Ginkakauji, it’s absolutely pretty and peaceful. Can’t you just imagine putting your feet up on a cooler full of your favorite beverage.
KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

Yes, this is one of the strong pairings. This could not be ignored. It is so simple. I will say nothing except to assure you that you have visited both sites with me before.
RYOGEN-IN AND GINKAKAUJI
KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
-Leonardo da Vinci
SENNYU-JI, KYOTO, JAPAN 2016

I suspect that at first glance you might think that Plate 18 is too powerful to be paired with Plate 17. I finally decided otherwise because Plate 17 prepares you for Plate 18. I didn’t want Plate 18 to be too much Brothers Grimm. I see it more friendly and beautiful like an old weathered face. I did think of pairing it with Plate 11, but they are very different stories.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

Yes, you have seen Plate 19 before, but I needed to resurrect it to explain Plate 20, which is so lovely and subtle that it can disappear. I would give much to have that wall at Imagine. Sit quietly and contemplate at different times of day and light.
GENERAL’S TEA HOUSE, KOTO-IN AND
RYOGEN-IN, KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

Texture. “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” In Praise of Shadows, Juni’chiro Tanizaki
KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

I think and hope that the pairing is somewhat obvious. They are the same basic subject treated very differently. I have been trying to understand Shibusa especially in simplicity versus the beautiful organized gardens of Kyoto.
KONCHI-IN, KYOTO, JAPAN AND
RYOGEN-IN KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

Enough of the serious talk. This is just for fun. Visual fun but also verbal since the cactus in Plate 25 is called “mother-in-law.”
DAISENIN, KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014 AND
ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE, 2016

Some times (not often, I hope) I make an image just because I can. Shooting digitally has many advantages. One I just learned is to take two shots of the same image at different exposures in order to get shadows and highlights. Then the two are merged electronically. Of course, it wouldn’t have worked in print if not for Sergio.
HIDA NO SATO, TAKAYAMA, JAPAN, 2016

More fun juxtaposing images. Please note not only the similarity – stark lighting and deep shadows – but also the disparity of nature and industrialization, and disparity of one very please, the other not so.
SLOSS FURNACES, BURMINGHAM, ALAMAMA,
2015 AND KYOTO, JAPAN, 2014

No big duality here. Plate 29 is a favorite because of the geometry and I love the icicles hanging down. People who have previewed this say, “classic Evvy.” I am not sure if that’s good. Plate 30 is the Shinto I love. Honoring a tree. How wonderful.
HIDA NO SATO, TAKAYAMA, JAPAN, 2016, AND
MEIJI SHRINE, TOKYO, JAPAN, 2014

This image was voted “off-the-island” by the team. It is a shot across the street from the bathroom on the morning that the weather gods started the snow I came to Kyoto for. Also, it has the spooky, mysterious feel I associate with the east. Lastly, it has a spontaneous, metaphysical aspect.
HYATT HOTEL, KYOTO, JAPAN, 2016

I went back to Kyoto to re-see in snow places where I had been. However, when I arrived there was no snow. We went out early in the morning. As we gained altitude the snow started. Snow remained with us for about three hours and as we left it stopped snowing, got warmer and melted. Plate 33- these are donation tiles for repairing the roofs. I should have brought a dozen.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

I call this Pear S. Buck. I really don’t know why. I suspect that there was a scene in The Good Earth that caught my memory.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

This village is way up in the mountains. It is a tourist village so some things are created. The caretakers had repeatedly sprayed a cluster of pine trees with water and let it freeze each time.
SHIRAKAWA-GO, JAPAN, 2016

This was in the mountains and indeed it was cold. The purification ritual was cut short today.
UNKNOWN TEMPLE, JAPAN, 2016

I like these together because Plate 37 is beautiful and noisy, what with the Brothers Grimm tree on the right. Plate 38 is beautiful and oh so quiet and peaceful.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016 AND
HIDA NO SATO, TAKAYAMA, JAPAN 2016

Precisely what I went back for. I don’t think this needs a lot of explanation
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

This is a particular favorite. I like that there are so many shapes and forms. Note first the perfectly straight trees in the foreground. Dramatic and unsubtle. Then the repeat on the right. In between the almost blanket snow, except for amoebas. Move upwards to unruly but homogenous hillside. Then a quick left through the straight tress to the wavy trees.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

I think these two are very much the same. Plate 43, the Monet rip-off, is a simplified and bare version of Plate 42.
YOSHIMINE-DERA (BACK GARDENS), JAPAN,
2016 AND MOSS GARDEN, KYOTO,
JAPAN, 2014

Snow as requested. Plate 44 is the quiet side of the village. This was extremely fortunate since the snow lay evenly. We are at a late day after the snowfall was as lovely, gentle, and soundless as it seems. Plate 45 – the kitsume is noisy and looking for trouble. He has his ceremonial cloak on but don’t believe a word of it.
SHIRAKAWA-GO, JAPAN, 2016 AND
KANAZAWA, JAPAN, 2016

This is a repeat of the cistern which began On The Road. However, it is not as meditative or cosmic. This one is for ritual purification. The other is for survival: drinking and bathing. The cistern is unprotected. This has guardians.
BACK OF RYOGENIN, KYOTO, JAPAN, 2016

One of my favorites. I think the winter trees could have been enough, but fortunately we have the lamp to set man-made against nature. The ghost of the repeat in the background is what makes this special.
YOSHIMINE-DERA, JAPAN, 2016

I mean how classic can you get. Everything is perfect, including and especially the individually wrapped trees in the foreground. Then nature comes along and applies frosting.
HIDA NO SATO, JAPAN, 2016

“Many words were invented to describe beauty and of all of them perhaps the most suggestive is the adjective shibui for which there is no English counterpart. Nearest to it perhaps, are such adjectives as ‘austere’, ‘subdued’, and ‘restrained’ but to the Japanese the word is more complex, suggesting quietness, depth, simplicity and purity. The beauty it describes is introversive, the beauty of inner radiance.”
The Unknown Craftsman, Soetsu Yanagi
GENERAL’S TEA GARDEN KOTO-IN, KYOTO,
JAPAN, 2014 AND MOORESVILLE,
ALABAMA, 2015

So we end the walk through Japan for this time.
SANDAL SHOP, KANAZAWA, JAPAN, 2016