POEM Collection Preview ~ The Haikus
Much of my recent work has revolved around the idea of the poetic saga — a form that can unfold across multiple chapters while remaining open to non-linear experience. Each piece is designed to function both independently and as part of a wider body of work, guiding the viewer deeper into an interconnected visual and literary world.
The POEM Collection applies this same structure to a short-form medium. Each poem lasts around fifteen seconds ~ a contemporary reflection of how people now engage with art and language in digital space. While my earlier long-form pieces invite immersion lasting fifteen minutes or more, these shorter works focus on immediacy and precision ~ distilling a truth or metaphor into its simplest most immediate form.
The collection comprises 154 pieces, that number is a nod to the 154 Sonnets that were written by William Shakespeare. Though the structure of each poem aligns more closely with the haiku ~ concise, precise, and reflective. The aim is to create fragments that can be encountered individually, yet when viewed together, reveal an underlying unity. And yet in the same way stand in contrast to my triptychs and the larger body of work. As much as “Let me compare thee to a Summer’s day” stands in contrast to Shakespeare’s historical epics Richard III or King Lear.
In this sense, POEM Collection continues a conversation between Romanticism, the timeless search for beauty and meaning and the rapid visual language of the present.
Accompanying the collection is the POEM Podcast with renowned artist guests including Ryan Koopmans, Delta Sauce, Pho, Tania Rivilia and Maria Fynsk Norup. And the $POEM coin on Solana.
Laurence Fuller is a British~Australian artist, poet, and actor pioneering the fusion of Romanticism and artificial intelligence in contemporary art. His practice, known as cinematic poetry, integrates voice, text, and AI to explore mythic archetypes, emotion, and the human condition within the digital age.
A graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Fuller’s film and television credits include HBO’s Minx and Apostle Peter & The Last Supper. As a multidisciplinary artist, he has exhibited internationally at the National Museum of Art in Rome, Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt, Lume Studios in New York, NFC Lisbon, and during Art Basel Miami. Collaborators include Val Kilmer, Vincent D’Onofrio, and painters Peter Howson and Tania Rivilis.
Preview Examples of the 154 Haikus
As a grape is to the vine, the haiku is to the poetic saga ~ small and complete, yet plucked from the same stem as the bunch.
As a dew drop is to the morning field ~ the haiku gathers the essence of the whole in one reflective sphere.
As a seed is to the forest, the haiku contains within it the potential of an epic saga.
As a wave is to the ocean, each haiku rises with its own power but belongs to a greater tide.
As a feather is to the bird ~ the haiku lines the wings of flight.
Like a single rose petal ~ the haiku carries both the scent and the sorrow of the whole garden.
A spark to the bonfire, the haiku is the briefest flare from the same flame.
Like a brush stroke to a painting, the haiku is the detail in the beauty.