There I was looking for something else and what I found was this sub-optimal photo of one of my old paintings. It's long gone so I don't have the opportunity of retaking the picture with my nice digital camera but it's enough to get the idea I was trying to express. Once again, we dance with untamed beasts under a threatening sky.. a familiar situation for most of us. The important thing to remember is that the meaning is the dance of life itself. Our aptitudes differ but our admiration for one another's proficiency, in whatever roles suit us, nurtures our humanity.
That painting and the idea that we dance with untamed beasts under a threatening sky reminds me of the ceremonies that are still performed today; which try to capture the essence of our life in dance.
ReplyDeleteI think it meant more to many of our neighbors in the pacific islands and our own indigenous aborigines whose history is recorded in the many dances and songs, words to exquisite harmonies lasting for several hours, never written down but handed down orally from the one generation to another.
A lovely dance of the mind in painting and in it’s depiction.
Best wishes
I don't know, sounds kinda socialist to me.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, despite your overt communism, I dig your paintings. You should show more of them. And okay, the sentiment is alright. I guess.
WOW! Rousseau was reincarnated. What is it like to be so talented? Do you just ooh and awe over how gifted you are? I would if I were you. Hmm, my humanity does feel nurtured.;-) Seriously, you are extraordinarily talented.
ReplyDeleteso..... if I am reincarnated as a zebra... I get to cavort with naked women? I think I would like that kind of horsing around! ;)
ReplyDeletelindsay - One of the cooler things I learned was that the Hindu Vedas were passed down word for word possibly over a couple of thousand years before they were written. I think people have worse memories now we have so many pencils etc.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Australia but I do own a book called 'Voices of the Dreamtime' that's precious to me. I also loved Bruce Chatwin's 'Songlines' in which he explored and reflected on the distinctions between settled people and wanderers and the differences in us that determine whether humans become aggressive or pacifist. He makes a good argument that human business is to reach understanding with the natural world.
Not that I'm planning on giving up my couch and coffee cup anytime in the near future but that's no more required than is dancing naked on the back of a zebra.
Best wishes to you too
randal - The longer I live in this country the more Socialist I become.. must be something in the water (er, tea). Unfortunately, photos of a lot of my older paintings are lost but that's what happens in life.
ReplyDeletelbr - Yow, what a compliment but I've long been a fan of Rousseau and I never got there. If I could paint like anybody it would be Turner but I paint like me and must accept that even though I'll never be satisfied.
okjimm - Wait til I find the picture of the lady with the chipmunk. There's all kinds of cavorting for those who reincarnate with intention.. or so I've heard.
Wow! I love that painting the sentiments that go with it. It's a perfect metaphor for life in the macro and the micro.
ReplyDeleteoh that's wonderful! i love your old work. and yes, there is always a crisis somewhere, and more important things than the headline news.
ReplyDeletedcup - Some things don't change and I guess this 25 year old painting is still relevant :-)
ReplyDeletesera - Thanks, my friend. I thought I was being so careful with the old 35mm, the lights, reflectors and gray scale cards. What I forgot was my nearsightedness through the slr. Sure, I wore my glasses but how old was the prescription?
My take on this painting is that it's a more apt depiction of The Garden of Eden, if one ever existed. I see in it a world where people are stripped of their pretense and affectations, revealing the true self. Moreover, it's world where people are neither shocked nor ashamed of their nakedness. Now wouldn't that be nice.
ReplyDeleteSusan. Wow. WP and I are totally blown away by this painting! He just asked me if you sell your work. :-)
ReplyDeletemy email is gina@gaw.com
You are some kind of talented. I completely agree with la belette.
Hughttp://littlebangtheory.wordpress.com/
spartacus - Not only did it exist but it continued for some until recent times.. maybe even still but it's hard to imagine it surviving the onslaught of western industrialism.
ReplyDeletepagan sphinx and cr - How kind of you to offer such a nice compliment. Now I'm blown away.
enjoy what you see
ReplyDeleteand what you see doesn't
matter so much anymore.
all the beauty in the
world will come to you.
sera - Profound and very true :-)
ReplyDelete