In 1973 I took an undergraduate philosophy class in aesthetics, and was exposed to a short Friedrich Nietzsche essay. It argued that art could be seen as a product of tension between order and chaos.

The author used Apollo and Dionysus as archetypes for these respective states. This idea stayed with me and even now, some 50 years later, I often find myself slaving over tiny details of something I am making, only to give in to an overwhelming urge to fuck it up and see what happens. I think Dionysus would approve.

Such is the progress of art.

I have spent decades teaching, writing, making photographs and working in graphic art. Design might be the preferred modern terminology but, for me, the term has always come with too much baggage.

During these days of retirement I am much less constricted in what I do. I still maintain a deep love of photography. However, I find myself working frequently with colour and form divorced from literal meaning. And yet there is meaning here that is almost spiritual in nature.

For me, it is a brave new world.