To all my regular readers things may be a little different this week but rest assured all will be explained - I must start however by welcoming all the new visitors from INTRODUCING and its current issue, Hypothetically. This week my blog will be dedicating posts around themes from the tenth issue that has been guest edited by artist and writer, Nicola McCartney. Born from INTRODUCING's curatorial duo, LIANGWEST and their first exhibition, The Blue Obelisk which I covered in April of this year, the issue's hypothetical themes of art, spirituality and culture are explored with a wonderful selection of contributors. This week I will be picking up on some of these themes while introducing some new ideas and directions with my own take on a hypothetical world.
McCartney's Editorial letter, Hypothetically Thinking, details her research on Yves Klein's 'The Chelsea Hotel Manifesto' of 1961 that accompany's her artwork, A Flock (After Klein) which also featured in The Blue Obelisk. Klein's determination to present art in its purest form lead to his own controversial development of colour that was used in a series of monochromatic paintings, sculptures and performances. The result was International Klein Blue (IKB) which is a patented colour in Klein's name and the colour for the blog throughout the week. Klein may possess the rights to colour, but he was also interested in the reaction his works created and their role as both physical objects as well as spiritual invitations for the viewer. The colour blue has great significance in several cultures and many religious beliefs due to its calming and stable connotations. The interview with artist and Roman Catholic Priest Father Gianni Notarianni provides an interesting insight between colour and space within the boundaries of a canvas. Father Notarianni explains the use of blue in relation to the iconic Virgin Mary in Catholicism and her blue robes that was a style brought about during the medieval and renaissance period. Having been brought up a Catholic, I remember as a child the colour blue being quite a feminine colour, seeing statues of the Virgin Mary draped in varying shades of welcoming and motherly-blue. But within the realm of hypotheses, religion is one of many beliefs or theories; conservative or radical, past and present that we invite into our minds to complement our daily lives. Whether it's a church or a favourite spot in the park or by the sea, as long as we allow ourselves the time to be hypothetical, belief in our own imagination is a powerful force in its purest form and I believe here lies the crux of one's creativity.
Our Lady Of Lourdes, Lourdes France
I would like to share a piece of music that will always remind me of my days at boarding school. Charles-Marie Widor's Toccata from his Organ Symphony No. 5 would be played at the end of our Sunday Service - with it's virtuosic passages, rapid runs and cascading fugals, it transports my mind as much today as it did then, to another world, where imaginations are free to run wild with the possibility of the impossible. I hope Mr. Klein would agree.
Visit INTRODUCING and jonathanvelardi.blogpspot.com again between 31st May - 6th June for more posts in conjunction with Hypothetically.
