Honestly, infectious joy in creativity, enthusiasm in bringing something to life, is the most powerful substance in the universe. In acting, music, writing, standup, everything. Gimme that contact high and I am YOURS. The 4-second clipās here if you wanna see it: www.instagram.com/reel/DAylJu3...
ā¦ I think anyone who creates - not just painting, but music, writing, any imaginative exercise - knows that feeling. I do. So hereās to Marianne von Werefkin. She hasnāt had the coffee-table book or show-headlining treatment of Kandinsky or the others. But her work is there. Dealing with that.
Itās there in all her paintings: the crushing, inscrutable violence of life, held at bay, kept out, by the projected energy of the artist. Success came hard. She sacrificed years of her career for a male partner, endured a lot. Her art was her agency. Her refuge & shield against all of that. Andā¦
And hereās āThe Red Treeā (1910). Look at the crushing weight of that dark mountain above her. And then thereās the red tree, like an umbrella, but glowing - with the artist underneath. Itās like the Ready Brek magic ring. Or one of William Blakeās forcefields. Art is, literally, her protection.
In all her work, you can feel the need to push against that overwhelming weight & chaos of the onrushing world. You are NEVER the strongest element in that push. But her figures use whatever strength they have - physical, creative, psychological, will. Hereās The Storm (1907). Look at the people.
Right?! And those periods of hours, alone inside the silence on the seabed, with herself and imminent death at her shoulder. Those are the hallucinatory inner monologues in italics to start each chapter. š„š„š„
The days go forward this weekend, so this is actually Sunday, in fact! [The rules were you guys are not gonna fact check, etc]