Was Lucio Fontana an artist solely expressing the angst and physical scars left by the ravage of war when he decided to slash one canvas or perforate another with tiny holes? Or were Fontana’s holes and slashes some sort of visual openings onto a new world, a brave new world where limits were pushed back to leave war as far behind as possible? If at first sight these scars may look threatening, almost morbid for some, I think they actually have more to do with life than death. Surprisingly, Fontana started as a sculptor. Three-dimensionality and the importance of negative space were part of his formative vocabulary but his very personal obsession lied with spatialism, or the creation of space. As Sculpture only occupies space, this medium failed to fulfil such endeavour. Yet am I the only one to see an early “slash”, an opening in this early Olympic Champion from 1932? What about these tiny little holes in Spatial Ceramic (1953) juxtaposed with this Concetto Spaziale (1949)? In the 1950’s, at a time when the “Space Race” between the Soviet Union and the US was raging, Fontana’s personal quest became none other than a breathing space for minds traumatized […]
I often hear my associations of ideas are off-beat or décalé (or off-the-wall, depending on how polite you are :-). So let me throw you at the cross between yoga, running and art and see what you think! To me, breathing is at this intersection on my grid – often underestimated, so underrated yet ESSENTIAL! I practice yoga 3 times a week, no matter what. I am also half way through my marathon training program. So let’s just say I have learnt to pay attention to breathing because my life (an your life) depends on it 🙂 There is a meditative quality to breathing that helps me get through the discomfort of a crescent lunge on my weaker side or the pain that usually comes without a fail after running 17 miles. I made breathing a life tool and a habit but like most things, I refused to make it bland. My wonderful yoga teacher Karoll B. uses the visualisation of a ball of color that I can match with my mood or my needs of the day. It works wonders and allows me to power through most days! So much so that I found myself thinking of my yoga practice, breathing and […]
A Multitude of Forms recently opened at the Met Breuer in New York. It unfolds like a story and clearly shows the evolution of Brazilian artist Lygia Pape as she explored the theme of abstraction. OK, but if it’s abstract art then what is the story??
With the exhibition dedicated to sculptor Richard Deacon debuting today at the San Diego Museum of Art, I was looking forward to some Contemporary Art. Reading around in preparation, what a surprise that Rachel Cooke in the Guardian declared that Richard Deacon’s sculptures reminded her of Gustave Caillebotte’ s Floor Scrapers! Gustave Caillebotte?!! The Impressionist with a photographic eye I am completely obsessed with and on which I have spent the last few weeks writing about for a paper I had to submit?! Now, looking at these two works side by side, can you honestly see it???