ANSHAM FOR ME

My blogging experience is very recent. I officially started posting December 2014 after a trip that triggered my desire to write on a regular basis. I am still finding my way around. I decided to challenge myself to write a post per week for a year and see what happens.

This week I came across Idiot Writer’s blog and her work entitled “Stars Twin Flame”. On her post, she challenges her readers to write their interpretation, views and observations on her outstanding virtual painting. Her work is beautiful and extremely detailed, proving that computer art is no different than any art form, and, therefore, can touch the viewer the same way classic painters did with their oils. David Hockney has a plethora of works using his iPad as canvas.

After I left my comment on Idiot Writer‘s page, she replied to it. To my delight, she was pleased with it. Not only that, but she also, kindly, made a few suggestions to improve my blog visibility, considering that I am fairly new to blogging and the WordPress platform. I take this opportunity to thank her for taking the time to give me some beginner’s tips, and post my review of her virtual painting “Stars Twin Flame”.

“Stars Twin Flame” shows three characters: a man, a woman and a serpent. The whole scene seems very ethereal and volatile, as if they are in a different dimension as their bodies appear suspended in time in some sort of ghostly hologram. They all seem part of each other in a connection that transcends their individuality. The man hangs from the tree with a rope around his neck.

His left hand holds the rope as if pointing to the fact that although he has been hanged he somehow lives beyond this image, we’ve been offered, of his own death. He holds the woman’s left hand with his right one, producing a cross-effect that gives balance and harmony to the composition.

A serpent is entwined on a large branch of the tree on the right side of the composition. Its head, with luminous blue eyes, is raised towards the apparently doomed couple. Also, the couple’s hands meet at the level of the man’s genitals, suggesting sexuality or even procreation, since some ancient symbolism involving serpents are closely related to fertility. It is interesting to note that the body of the snake seems to go up and end in what would be the rope around the man’s neck, suggesting a possible connection between his fate and the action of the serpent.

The blue color is only contrasted by the dark bark of the tree and the luminescence of what looks like water or light particles enveloping the couple. The whole image has an organic feel to it that centers the two individuals in a field of energy that is beyond the physical realm of existence. Only the tree seems to have a physicality that is quite palpable. Even the serpent, albeit rich in detail, seems to resemble a fantastic creature rather than one from an earthly landscape.

The serpent, the man and the woman are intrinsically the same; they co-exist within one another in a symbiosis that reveals the very nature of being human. It is the impetus of desire, and the necessary action rising from it, that gives birth to a new creation. All these fleeting pictorial details bring forth a world that’s foreign, but might echo a subconscious representation of the archetype of the first two humans, according to the Bible. However, this approach to the topic leaves it open to fresh interpretations.

In hindsight, I can’t seem to shake off this image of Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta in Gustave Doré and Ary Sheffer‘s interpretations of Dante’s account in the second circle of Hell. Destined to be forever swept away in the harrowing whirlwind of the lustful, the couple elicited pity and sorrow from Dante.

The overall feeling is that of a continuum where every element becomes dependent on the next. The scene might initially appear eerie, but in reality it’s much like a leap of faith when the act of surrender brings the ultimate deliverance. In my view, by exercising free will – upon accepting the invitation, the offer – both individuals are able to merge and transcend their reality. The whole concept evokes an invitation that passes from one character to the other, forming an organic triad that illustrates the seminal quest for knowledge which inhabits our minds for millennia. Outstanding work!