The Redstone Diary 2023

What is beauty? Philosophers have often asked the question―as have artists, poets, lovers, thinkers, explorers, family, friends. Is this thing, this person, this place, this quality really beautiful in and of itself, or is it the viewer that brings the beauty to the object? And what exactly is our experience of beauty? Is it wonder? Is it terror? Is it longing? Is it love? Does beauty exist only in particular things, or in universal characteristics, in certain shapes and forms? Where does physical beauty end and spiritual beauty begin? What is the relationship between beauty and truth? And are all our assumptions about beauty simply prejudices in disguise.

There are no easy answers to any of these questions. As always, the Redstone Diary offers only examples―and the beautiful promise of another year. “There may be no great diarists, then, but there are still great diaries…. In the midst of one’s self-obsessions, the Redstone Diary reminds one of other worlds,” declared writer Ian Sansom in the Guardian. The agenda is designed with practicality as well as aesthetics in mind, with sturdy spiral binding and a weekly layout that provides ample space for one’s plans. The diary features contributions and excerpts from John Baldessari, W.E.B. Du Bois, Louise Bourgeois, Sonia Delaunay, Gilbert and George, Seamus Heaney, Edvard Munch, Marc Quinn and Oliver Sacks.