A Painting I couldn't shake off
of caution, restraint and a shade of green
There is a sharp privacy in observing a painting. Although the object under observation is open for display, its understanding is inward. The level of interiority a piece of art can instigate is proportional to its viewer’s appetite. Hunger, or vacuum. A space that needs to be filled, a pocket of lack if you will. This void can be incidental or it can be architectured, depending on the scale of impact a piece of work is willing to make on the observer.
There have been a handful of experiences that have entailed me looking at art and consequently shifting. The shifts are of two kind; short, vivid, enthralling or lasting, slow, unnerving. Neither is better than the other, they are both simply what have fit the void at the time. Very rarely has a piece of art made an impact on me that has left me feeling brighter for a sustained spell of time. I do not trust art to make me cheerful, I trust it to upset me. And there is a piece of work that crossed my path a few weeks ago that did exactly that. Upset me so perfectly that my interior became tinged with that feeling, successfully tainting my experience of my outer world. Now isn’t that every artist’s dream.
This painting, which took the form of an image to reach me, stirred in me an unsettling understanding of what it means to be seen. One can very easily point light being a key feature to discuss here, but what intrigued me as much as the light, was the play of being lit in colour. The cast of moonlight shed upon the background is astounding in technique and mastery however, what fascinates me the most is how uniquely lit the subject is. The chiaroscuro in this painting is quick to defy logic because one could wonder if the light is angular in its release, how is the subject so sufficiently lit? Upon closer inspection it seems as though the light is being cast from right above the subject, dispersing fairly uniformly allowing the woman to be illuminated as well as giving her periphery a celestial quality. The arrested gaze of the woman makes you wonder if you are meant to be there, watching. But you can’t look away either. You wonder if there is more, you gauge the distance between her and the background, you look for signs that could give away the story. But nothing more is offered.
This piece allowed me to believe in the power of restraint and the need to know when to use it. The sheer green on her body, so carefully depicted makes me want to befriend this woman. It makes me want to tell her that green is my favourite colour and that I wish for her to take care of herself. For her to know that she is empowered but she need not make it too known in case that upsets people. I want her to believe in a world that would be kind not only in intention but in actions too. I wish for her to bathe in this moonlight with ample ease and joy, and somewhere in the night I hope she stumbles across a mirror or a clear stream, where she can see in her reflection, the exact potential of her satiety that she possesses to cast upon her viewer. So that all this beauty of the scene is at least memorialised in the eyes of the woman, who could very well be mistaken by some, as just a subject.
I hope you move through the day with a similar restraint, not only in your outwardness, but in your inwardness too. I wish you caution from your understanding of yourself, because its far too easy to get lost in the background, no matter how brightly or dimly lit.
FROM THE MAG
Hope you read this in comfort, enjoy this playlist after you finish the email and make your self some coffee
Malaeka x
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