September 19, 2013
16th entry, Bern
My beard is growing and growing. Some people don’t quite recognize me. Comments like “dwarf” or “Alp Öhi” (the grandfather in “Heidi”, a famous Swiss book by Johanna Spyri) are pretty common these days. “I think you are just envious”, I answer drily. But how does the art of growing a beard relate to art and creativity in general? Maybe it helps my introspection. Maybe my senses are keener.
I can feel my hair working like antennae capturing new information that I couldn’t gather any other way. It’s a very sensual experience, a new experience that is not quite fashionable these days. A clean shave – in the most unlikely places – is the new ideal of beauty which seems strange to me because I feel that all things natural and nature itself should be allowed to develop and unfold. It’s up to us to marvel at nature’s vitality, beauty, and diversity.
Be it as it may, to each his own and to me my own. All in all I have noticed that long hair changes my perception of reality. It becomes more sensitive and more subtle. I become more attentive and much gentler. It’s only natural that those feelings and aspects will become part of my work. I am curious of what will become of it…