Wah - it was beautiful to come here and see these incredible works of art. Zorica - I love the paintings - especially La Toilette because the subject is facing away from the viewer, lost in her own reverie. It is interesting to me how, even in past centuries, visual artists were maintaining that "fourth wall" as cinematographers do today.
Shri - you gave me quite a task! So delightful - thank you so much!! I have spent many happy hours now in the company of "Sister Wendy", a wonderful teaching nun from England who has taken it as her ministry in life to teach people about art, particularly painting. I found her videos on the web and have learned quite a bit - western art is so very different from eastern! Zorica - you must please enlighten all of us about this - you live in Europe and have been so well travelled - did you visit art museums as well?
I looked also at pictures of art from everywhere - Australian aboriginal art, African carvings, Russian miniatures, hundreds of images of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Madonna-and-Child paintings; ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, Greek and Roman sculpture - my head is swimming. But I did discover two things! 1.) I dislike modern (late 20th/21st century )western art. Why is this? Is it because I do not understand it? Every piece of it I look at I feel I want to look away. Why is that? 2.) People everywhere must have a tremendous need to record and interpret and tell stories about everything they see. It seems no place on this earth is without its art - and all SO beautiful and evocative. (except that modern kind. What is wrong with me?)
I did not study Indian art last night because I see it regularly and love it so much, all types. I thought, no familarity, Bhakti - stretch yourself!
So now I can see that one of Zorica's favourites is from the pointilliste school (not sure about the spelling?😕)- little dots which make up a big image. (Impressionist hai na? Not sure...) I could not imagine how Seurat managed the painting - how would one stand up close to the canvas and still be able to render the picture as if in pixels from a great distance? The artistic mind is an amazing thing - in the same way I wondered how the impressionists, Renoir for example, or Monet, could look over water and see so many colours in it at once, so that when they painted it it looks as though water really looks when dappled with sunlight or stippled with drops of falling rain. I tried it myself, going to look jut in the basin outside...I looked from all angles but could not make my eyes see it as they saw it. That is a wonderful moment, isn't it, when you understand someone's genius, something you could never fully comprehend or reproduce but only admire and appreciate? That is how I always feel when looking at art - ki, how can someone's mind see the world, slice it aesthetically into blocks, forms, and colours, and reproduce it in such an emotional way? HAIII...so much to think about I will never sleep for three nights now!
Expressionist art seems in keeping with its frightening historical moment. The world was such an unpleasant place during the time of its making. I read that Hitler actually outlawed it and put many of the paintings away in locked places - especially paintings by Jewish artists that he thought would corrupt the minds of his people. Such an evil,evil man. It shows, though, how political art can get - I would like to read more about that. It was amazing to me that, in 19th century France, there were art "salons" where artists showed their work and some of them got closed down by law authorities because they thought the art work was so subversive!! Imagine! Imagine people caring so much they would scream and yell and argue over paintings - so much engagement on the part of the public. It makes us seem very apathetic by comparison in our life today. (Although I guess we do our fair share of arguing over MB😆)
So now look what has happened to me - in my room is hanging on the wall on one side a Moghul type painting (I mean a print on paper that is a copy of a painting!) of Krishna, surrounded by all the gopis, with Radha off to one side seated, refusing to come and play. On the other wall is a print of Vishnu with all his avatars. So now I am looking, thinking - see how all the figures in the Krishna painting are shown in profile! See how there is no three-point perspective! See how the symbols are hidden here and there, in the trees, in the hands, etc. See how Vishnu's avatars are done in the style of realism! Hai Ram now my brain will be ticking away and everyone will be shouting on me ki "Bhakti, where are you lost?!"😆
Which now they really will be because I have to make about a thousand aloo ke parathe in the next hour and I will smell like ghee all day! From the sublime to the ridiculous, I have heard said - it is certainly so with me! Wish me luck, ladies, that I don't burn anything and get into trouble...😛
p.s. A funny thing - there actually IS a "theatre of the absurd" movement - I had learned about it through reading a translation of a French language play called "Rhinoceros" (very good but very very scary) This theatre movement reminds me quite a lot of MEIEJ. If you know of it or read about it sometimes, please do let me know if you agree😊.
Bye for now and thank you Shri for opening such a wide and airy window on the world (again) for me! Thank you Zorica for showing the beautiful paintings - you must have a perfect eye for art as you create such lovely images with your photo collages.
Shiv Shakti
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