It’s time!

Well, ok, it’s ALMOST time! Three weeks left until my exhibition and I feel like I am running out of time. Contradictory enough ideas start to arrive in batches, which reminds me of a dialog of Calvin and Hobbes (a great cartoon I’ve discovered lately. I know. I KNOW. But better late than never.):

“-You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
-What mood is that?
-Last-minute panic.”

I did try to find a theme for my next event. I can’t. I really can’t. Inspiration comes from all over the place: childhood memories, short winter days, old black and white photos, pin up models, books, a view outside the window. How can one paint it in the same style? It is like to say: OK, I really like spinach (I do) and I am going to eat spinach every day for the rest of my life. Or: I am happy today, so I am going to stay happy to the end of days. Perhaps some are consequent like this, but not me. I am the Queen of Inconsistency.

The only consistent aspect is RED. I can’t help it. A friend told me lately: “Why don’t you paint blue?” Good question. Honestly. I had a clear picture in mind recently. It was definitely blue. It stayed blue for two days, but when I finished it, it came out red…with a skull. 

I don’t try too much to analyse what I do. But people often ask questions like: “What are you painting?” , “In which style do you paint?”. And obviously one (me) has to come up with some sort of a smart answer: “Landscapes of memories” or “Portraits of souls”, that kind of thing. Ask a six year old in which style he/she paints. Most likely you’ll get: “In MY style, duh!”. It’s much more complicated with adults. We (yes, I am slowly accepting the fact of being an adult) need categories, logical frameworks, precise definitions, don’t we?

That makes me think of the Little Prince: “If you were to say to the grown-ups:

“I saw a beautiful house made of rosy brick, with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof,” they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all. You would have to say to them: “I saw a house that cost $20,000.” Then they would exclaim: “Oh, what a pretty house that is!”

Just so, you might say to them: "The proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming, that he laughed, and that he was looking for a sheep.

If anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists.”

And what good would it do to tell them that?”

But I am sure you know better. If you have read this till the end and didn’t feel a bit bored. I hope I see you in February.

Love,
AB

Pablo, Pablo, What's your secret?

Of course, Picasso had more secrets than just one: secret affairs, secret wives, secret ingredients… The most famous artist of the world remains largely…a mystery.  A retrospective of three decades of his work is now held in Kunsthaus Zürich, where in 1932 Pablo Picasso had his first museum exposition. 

 ´The Painter and his Model´ (1927). Image courtesy of Focus Magazin

Last sunny Saturday afternoon was perfect for wandering the narrow streets of Niederdorf, Zürich, stopping at cafés for a cup of Glühwein or hot chocolate, observing the sun go down; and stepping into the Kunsthaus to marvel at Picasso’s work. And wonder. And whisper: “Pablo, Pablo, What’s your secret?” Only the asymmetrical heroines of his paintings looked laughingly at me and remained silent. Oh, they knew the secret, I am certain…

 

Installation view, photo © jpg-factory.com

Pablo Picasso
The Yellow Belt: Marie-Thérèse, 1932
Courtesy Nahmad Collection, Switzerland
© 2009 ProLitteris, Zurich

 Pablo Picasso, Bathers with Beach Ball (Baigneuses au ballon), 1928, Oil on canvas, 15,9 x 21,9 cm

Private collection © 2010 ProLitteris, Zurich

Installation view, photo © FBM Studio Zürich

More information on the retrospective of Picasso's work in Zürich you can find at www.kunsthaus.ch  

Picasso
Until January 30, 2011

Kunsthaus Zürich
Heimplatz 1
CH–8001 Zurich

Opening times:
Sat/Sun/Tues 10am–6pm
Wed–Fri 10am–8pm
Closed Mondays

Here is a fragmend of a documentery film Le Mystère Picasso by Henri-Georges Clouzot , made in 1955 . (You might want to switch off the music - scroll a little lower and on the right side - to hear the masters comments while he is working).

So, what is your secret?..

Love,
AB

Eureka!

Are you inspired? Do you have to be? Does being inventive make a part of your job description? How do you do it?!..

Ancient Greeks didn’t see much mystery in creativity. From their perspective all ideas came from the single source: the gods. Each of Zeus’e nine daughters, the Muses, were curators of  art departments: poetry, song, dance, and so on.

Convenient, non? Where can one get their phone numbers?...Ummm?... It was also common to attribute inspiration to “madness”; creativity was an act outside our control.  In fact the phrase “You must be out of your mind” did not equate to insanity, it referred to the notion that creative ideas are originally conceived outside the human body.  

In the Middle Ages Italians, like the Greeks, explored the idea of madness (pazzia) as a key to creativity. It wasn’t pure insanity, rather a melancholic temperament.

Freud believed that creative acts are fed and shaped by the unfulfilled needs of the creator. Childhood experiences and unresolved conflicts were the focal point of his thesis on creativity.

For me inspiration has two branches: rational creativity and pure artistic creativity. I learned to deal with the first one. Brainstorming with a notepad and a pencil, defining framework, add a deadline et Voila!, the solution comes. Pure artistic inspiration is a tricky one. The harder you look, the better it hides. And then it jumps out on you when you least expect it.  

Sometimes being stuck is a source of inspiration itself!  I raised a couple of eyebrows speaking about inspiration. People expect something outstanding, highly dramatic or turbulent…How about Hungarians as a creativity catalyst? (I can’t explain it, it would take a book!) Or how about a book? Or even a book cover? One of my last paintings was inspired by an art book about Paris. I saw its bald cover, and I saw a painting in my head. Another question is whether I managed to transport the idea onto a canvas. Talent is a topic for another time :-). 

Be inspired!

Love,

AB