Aphorism, epigram, adage--the essence of each form is a saying short and pithy. Brief, condensed, and easy to recite, these represent a culture's wise advice. What an aesthetics of the miniature! As French philosopher Gaston Bachelard observes, "The miniscule, a narrow gate, opens up an entire world." Some such sayings are pure description, yet they hint at something more; others appear to be an elder's admonition to a child; some resound with probing observations of human nature and God; others are light, whimsical wordplays. The Renaissance humanist Erasmus, who collected over four thousand adages, believed a proverb to be like a hurled javelin, striking the hearer's mind with a short point, implanting barbs for meditation. Nietzsche proposed that "the relief-like, incomplete representation of a thought, or a whole philosophy is sometimes more effective than its exhaustive amplification." So Bazyn's gnomic verse functions almost like Zen koans to push readers into new ways of perceiving.These four volumes, like a patchwork quilt, are interwoven with 196 color photographs (abstract to concrete), shot from myriad angles in assorted styles. When pondered seriously, they help unravel manifold meanings within each saying.
