A Sand Artist You Have to See

Kseniya Simonova, Ukranian sand artist

Ever seen a sand artist? Wow.

Watch this Ukrainian teenager telling—“drawing”—the story of Ukraine during WWII.

Click the image to see the video.

Forbidden Fruit

After leaving the “x-rated” Corrigan Gallery exhibit on Tuesday, I walked around the corner to the Circular Congregational Church on Meeting Street to see another exhibit entitled She Shall Be Called Woman. I felt it was interesting, but not outstanding. Most of the paintings were allegorical and, to my taste, most erred on the side of being either too direct or too vague. One painting, however, stood out.

Pear by Lisa Shimko

This “Pear” by Lisa Shimko seemed the most subtle, symbolic, and sensual (and smallest) work in the show. Had it been at the Corrigan Gallery, it would have surpassed everything there in terms of its vivid, tactile sexuality—and in this case its femininity.

More than that, it heightened my awe of the designs of Nature and whoever or whatever is behind those designs. The more I looked at it, the more beautiful it became. One of the signs of good art. •

Naked People

Adam & Eve by Julia Trops

MEN HAVE PENISES. Women have vaginas. Both have breasts and nipples. And depending on the circumstances, they can all change size and shape.

Really, that’s all there is to it. Except that all of it is also remarkable and wonderful. So why the fuss about displaying nude art, even when it gets “graphical?”

Unfortunately, when it is treated poorly—and especially when it is forbidden—nude art becomes offensive not for what it shows but for how it corrupts the natural beauty and sensuality of the human body. Treated well, it conveys an evocative poignancy as nothing else can.

Even more unfortunately, there are people who, for a variety of reasons, have an extreme or disturbed relationship to sex and sexuality. But nude art displayed in galleries is not, to my knowledge, breeding or worsening those exceptions to the rule. And even though I just got my second email in two days from my daughter’s kindergarten about purported sex offenders approaching children, I would not keep her from nude art.

Sketch by Robert Henri

I remember when our female neighbor in California died of cancer last year. We knew it was happening and when it finally did, my daughter asked if she could go see Constance in her bed where she had died at home. We went and my daughter stood next to Constance’s motionless body for a few minutes, studying her face. Then she said, “The difference between people who are alive and dead is that when they’re dead they don’t have lips.” And we walked back across the lawn to our house.

Some hours later, my daughter asked if she could go see Constance again, so we did. Once again, she innocently, fearlessly studied the dead body (I was more uncomfortable than she was). She then walked outside where a group of adults were sitting with morose faces and declared, “Constance is not dead. Her spirit is alive all over the sky.” Needless to say, the mood changed. And we once more walked back to our house.

Sex, death, and life need exploration. The more, the better. The more freely, the healthier. The more beautifully, the happier. We don’t have to advertise or share or endlessly discuss all of them. But they are all there as the largest forces in our lives whether we know it or not. •

Painting Put to Music

It is not common for a piece of music to directly echo a painting, and it’s hard to imagine how a composer would go about it. But turn-of-the-century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi got it right, and so did the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra under the baton of French conductor Pierre Vallet at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. If you know the paintings of Sandro Botticelli, you would especially enjoy this music.

Conductor Pierre Vallet’s score

The Trittico Botticelliano conveys Respighi’s sense of meaning and mood in three of Botticelli’s works: his “Spring,” “Adoration of the Magi,” and “Birth of Venus.” Respighi’s three movements, like the paintings, are correspondingly vibrant, sacred, and sensuous. The only thing that might have topped this performance was if the paintings had been shown on a large video screen above the orchestra, with the camera zooming in on the details of each canvas as the pieces were played.

Most evocative is the second movement—the “Adoration”—because of the beautiful melody it borrows from O Come O Come Emmanuel. The haunting sound of a solo oboe further captures the serenity and majesty of Botticelli’s religious scene.

Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”

In the “Birth of Venus” above, the figures (which are nearly life-size in the original) are especially magical because they float in the air, on the sea, and above the ground. The landscape is fantastical and the four figures (their bodies) are ethereal, yet their faces are fully charged with an unusual depth of emotion—all of which Respighi seems to have caught in his music. It no doubt helps that Botticelli’s works, as much as those of any Renaissance painter, have a fluid, lyrical quality.

Occasionally you come across poetry that tries to impart the essence of a painting. But music does it much better, perhaps because both mediums (painting and music) are wordless. In fact, on account of this, it can be a nice experience to visit an art gallery and walk through the exhibit while listening to music on your iPod. Sometimes a whole other dimension in the art—and in you—comes alive. ¶

Making an Impression in Columbia

When most people hear the word “Impressionists” they think of luminescent landscapes. The Turner to Cézanne exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art (showing until June 7) certainly includes that, but some of the best pieces are by precursors of the Impressionist school.

Turner: The Storm

The signature piece in this exhibit is The Storm by JMW Turner, the British artist famous for his dreamy seascapes. This small painting in a gorgeous gold frame, however, is much more than that. It’s a powerhouse of intensity and mystery. Turner depicted a moment of devastation and desolation at sea, but he composed the scene with great serenity. You ‘hear’ the crashing waves, the creaking hull, and the mast that has snapped. Yet, amidst the turmoil there is a quietude that carries you beyond terrifying tragedy to a sense of awe about the power lurking behind Nature. Turner does more than paint water and light. He leads you into the unknown.

Corot: Dancing Tyrolean Shepherds by Lake Albano

Camille Corot was a French artist known for painting feathery pastoral and riverside scenes. His pieces are typically full of misty green, soft beige, just a spot or two of red for contrast, and small figures set against a romantic rural background. The thing about Corot is you never know quite what he is trying to say. He keeps you curious as he gradually steers you through, and lures you into, his compositions. You feel like you should be able to just step into his ideal world—into his version of the sublime.

Daumier: The Watering Place

Honoré Daumier was a French draftsman skilled in multiple mediums and is best known for his political caricatures and satires. What is fascinating about his paintings is that although people were his main interest, he paints them almost without facial features. All the emphasis—all the power of significance—is in their postures and gestures. Remarkably, Daumier conveys the deepest human thought and feeling through placement and movement alone. One of the best examples is this scene of a horse and rider reacting to a dog barking. The more you look at it, the more you understand something about the basic nature of all three creatures. Notice Daumier’s mastery of composition: everything is in exactly the right place and at precisely the right angle to produce the tension he wanted to convey.

These three images—none of which do justice to the originals—are just a few highlights. The rest of the exhibit is exquisite (yes, hurry to Columbia before June 7). Only one word of caution: resist the temptation to use the cell phone tour. It is poorly done, with inconsistent voices and sometimes silly comments intended more for school children. Even if you buy the audio tour in the museum, go back through the exhibit on your own and just look, look, look. Thinking is overrated, especially in art galleries. ¶

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