Celeste (August)

When Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to be enrolled, did they tick ‘No Religion’? As they sat there Tuesday night, she in her robe of celeste and he in his five beach-towels, did they argue about the meaning of this box? Was it held to be self-evident the box was meaningless? Mary: “Religion, it’s bigger than both of us.” Joseph: “What about a ‘No Income’ box or ‘No Father’ box?” Mary (pertinently): “Father of no place and all places.” Joseph: “August Caesar, why does he want to know anyway?” Mary: “Plans, they’re forever plotting plans that aren’t their business.”

Celeste (January)

Chinese. Dish. Ming dynasty early 15th century, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, porcelain, underglaze cobalt blue. Felton Bequest, 1946. (‘Blue: Alchemy of a Colour’, NGV January 2016) The ceramic shows why every effort to imitate sky at noon is prone to mutability, and possibly disappointment. Air fades celeste so cloud gathers. Or intensifies celeste to deep evening. Small fissures develop no-one has ever seen in the sky. Resultant craquelure ages celeste. Or gives the appearance of a change in the weather. The artist’s strategy of emulating the sky’s arc only reminds us of human scale before heaven’s immensity, the intangibility of horizon.