Sarcina: The Storyteller
oil on canvas, 6'x4'6'', completed summer of 2005‘Little Speech’ given on 22 July 2005 ‘Introspectii’ show opening at the Gallery Mantu, Galati Romania
“Thank you again President Murariu (president of the Art Guild of Galati) and and Mrs Cocos Tomosei (Critic from the Contemporary Art Museum in Galati) for allowing me to show work once again,…and that you haven’t thrown me out of the country yet.
An interesting thing I found out in the past six months that my great grandfather ‘Stefan’, a Ruthanian, moved from southern Poland to the US and now a couple generations later we Klepac’s have returned to this part of the world.
As I think of these paintings it is probably good to say that for me a painting is done when every part is connected in some way…and that nothing in it irritates me any more.
I think if you have patience to look and examine these paintings you can find the connecting elements. Everything is done purposefully, so if you think you figured something out you probably did.
I wanted to say something about this painting with Noah from Africa. This guy in the middle painting is of a young man named Noah or ‘Noe’ in Romanian, and is from a country in Africa, Sierra Leone, said to be the poorest country in the world. From the age of 10-20 his country was in civil war.
The canvas was prepared at the time he was here and it was convenient to have him model for me. Through painting him I experienced his personality, his being. As he was a very extroverted person he shared many of these stories from his life.
One more thing should probably be said is an aspect of the civil war which might help to understand the painting is that the gorilla army trying to take control of the diamaonds, which the country if full of, was trying to take over control.
The President at the time made the slogon…’future is in your hands’…because they would vote using their finger prints for personal identification. The Gorilla army in protest began cutting arms and legs, collecting them and then threw them against the president’s house. The national army responded in kind and after a few years the country was left with hundreds of people w/o limbs…you can imagine what it was like…
As I drew him he told me many stories from his life. I did not want it to just be a horrific painting, but my experience of Noah as a person. The painting is about my experience of Noah as a person especially since I drew him, looked carefully at his face, but in it all I experienced the beauty of his personhood through the process.
Up till now Africa was just a continent. Crisis and tragedies of Africa were always just information, but experiencing him as a person made Sierra Leone and Africa in general a personal reality with a face.
As I finished the painting later I was challenged by his being, person, and I realized how much he had changed me.
I would like to finish with a quote from John Dewey, a philosopher from the US as he wrote in his book, Art as Experience…
“Art is the extension of the power of rites and ceremonies to unite men, through a shared celebration, to all incidents and scenes of life. This office is the reward and seal of art. That art weds man and nature is a familiar fact. Art also renders man aware of their union with one another in origin and destiny” p271 Art as Experience John Dewey
Thank you again.
“Thank you again President Murariu (president of the Art Guild of Galati) and and Mrs Cocos Tomosei (Critic from the Contemporary Art Museum in Galati) for allowing me to show work once again,…and that you haven’t thrown me out of the country yet.
An interesting thing I found out in the past six months that my great grandfather ‘Stefan’, a Ruthanian, moved from southern Poland to the US and now a couple generations later we Klepac’s have returned to this part of the world.
As I think of these paintings it is probably good to say that for me a painting is done when every part is connected in some way…and that nothing in it irritates me any more.
I think if you have patience to look and examine these paintings you can find the connecting elements. Everything is done purposefully, so if you think you figured something out you probably did.
I wanted to say something about this painting with Noah from Africa. This guy in the middle painting is of a young man named Noah or ‘Noe’ in Romanian, and is from a country in Africa, Sierra Leone, said to be the poorest country in the world. From the age of 10-20 his country was in civil war.
The canvas was prepared at the time he was here and it was convenient to have him model for me. Through painting him I experienced his personality, his being. As he was a very extroverted person he shared many of these stories from his life.
One more thing should probably be said is an aspect of the civil war which might help to understand the painting is that the gorilla army trying to take control of the diamaonds, which the country if full of, was trying to take over control.
The President at the time made the slogon…’future is in your hands’…because they would vote using their finger prints for personal identification. The Gorilla army in protest began cutting arms and legs, collecting them and then threw them against the president’s house. The national army responded in kind and after a few years the country was left with hundreds of people w/o limbs…you can imagine what it was like…
As I drew him he told me many stories from his life. I did not want it to just be a horrific painting, but my experience of Noah as a person. The painting is about my experience of Noah as a person especially since I drew him, looked carefully at his face, but in it all I experienced the beauty of his personhood through the process.
Up till now Africa was just a continent. Crisis and tragedies of Africa were always just information, but experiencing him as a person made Sierra Leone and Africa in general a personal reality with a face.
As I finished the painting later I was challenged by his being, person, and I realized how much he had changed me.
I would like to finish with a quote from John Dewey, a philosopher from the US as he wrote in his book, Art as Experience…
“Art is the extension of the power of rites and ceremonies to unite men, through a shared celebration, to all incidents and scenes of life. This office is the reward and seal of art. That art weds man and nature is a familiar fact. Art also renders man aware of their union with one another in origin and destiny” p271 Art as Experience John Dewey
Thank you again.
posted by Joel at 7:59 AM
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