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'Merciless', a memorial painting... by Jean-Pierre Bal. -- "Hello to you. The picture above is taken in my city-office, hastily transformed into a makeshift artist workshop, on 30 December. An industrial spotlight on a tripod, my sets of soft pastels lying on a rolling tray, two sturdy easels, holding a large-size canvas. The painting is shown here in its final stage though, it is 80% completed, the calendar-date is 1 January 2005. I'm writing these lines three days later. I intend to take you on a very short but oh so dramatic travel back in time. We start on Christmas-day, that warm-hearted day that preceded the 'other' one, that wretched 26th of December 2004. Viewing guidelines. I suggest that you now print out this page, withholding yourself of reading the next paragraphs below the dotted line, until you have seen the painting. Then click on the hyperlinks to view the on-screen reproduction of the painting. Subsequently, while you remain on the webpage showing the on-screen painting, you would read all of the printed paragraphs of this 'storyboard'. Print this page, then click on: fullscreen and afterwards on leftside ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the following paragraphs only when you viewed the painting,
'Merciless' explained I usually do not explain my paintings; there is a saying that once you start (over)analyzing and explaining an artwork you destroy its charm -- it is probably often the case. Anyhow, since there will be viewers who are not familiar enough with the visual arts, symbolism or surrealism in particular, I gladly provide a highly condensed guideline. General comment : the on-screen version of the painting may, because of screen settings/preferences on your computer, appear to be quite different that the original painting (more/less light; more/less contrast; more/less intensity, pixel density of your screen, etc). As a whole, the painting is split into two main parts, and into four subparts. The two main parts are the ones above and below the white line that crosses the painting diagonally. The white line represents : (1) the edge of the earth (as if one were orbiting around earth), (2) the sliding movement of the wave on the earth (glides on its own water-flow), and (3) most importantly, the lifeline, the two extremes at the outer edges of the frame being life (upper-right) and death (lower-left). The four subparts are on (1) the left-hand side of the painting, namely the white curve ('moon') within the wave-curves (2) the crest-portion ('crest') of the wave in the upper right-hand corner; (3) the right hand portion of 'earth', which is below the 'clouds' were one perceives the greyish area of devastation after the wave has passed; (4) the left-portion where the water is still flowing (as if flying over the ocean) . The 'moon' subpart holds a number of components. First, its outer rim, which is greyish, expressing the damage it holds in its spell. Secondly, the face within the inner rim. The meaning of this face is two-fold: (1) it is the face of the tsunami, as if it were depicted by the head of a scary and evil creature. (2) It is however also the face of any person caught in the wave and succumbing in the wave, intense fright being the last facial expression of the drowning person. Then, in front of the face is a light haze, which can be viewed in two ways :(1) it is the fine splash of the crest above, (2) most importantly it is the fine mist that hangs over an area within the moon's curve, this area represents the eternal field, a haven of peace for those who have left this earth, where they can still rest in peace. The rim of the moon thus becomes a protecting wall around the eternal field; one would then need to imagine the moon with a friendly face or simply without a face. The white line is, in fact, the line of hope. One needs to travel it upwards, gradually shifting one's sight from lower-left (death) to upper-right (life). Slightly tilting one's head to the right, one will better perceive the curves and lines of the outer part of the wave as being slight rays of sunlight that emerge from the center-portion of the painting. The curled rays represent the leaves of a newly planted palm-tree, the tree of life. The greyish area of devastation below the line of hope becomes an area of recovered industry. Not shown online is the line of hope continuing on the side-edge of the painting. In all I would dare dream that 'Merciless' would perhaps relieve a bit of the pains of the many people who survived, of the ones who do not rest under the good moon's guardianship, of the orphans and child-deprived parents to start with. Merciless is, however, a work with lots of sadness in it, the monochrome (turquoise) sea being overly present. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Technical' information. Shades. Only three shades of light (colours) were used in this painting : white, grey, and turquoise. I chose turquoise (similar to lagoon or greenish blue) because the seas near the afflicted regions are often of this colour. Size : one to remember, for a large wall. Technique : soft pastels, covered all of the surface bare-fingered (no gloves nor stumps). Soft pastels are, simply speaking, sticks made of chalk and gum, blended with a high colour-pigment content. Support : acryl-primed cotton canvas taut on thick frame ('3D'). Pastel-painting is most often done on paper or carton (cardboard). This painting will be framed soon, with glass in the front, since pastels are wear-and-tear sensitive (so do human beings actually). To avoid colour-degradation pastel-paintings may not be exposed to direct sunlight, but I believe this one will stand it to some extent. ================ < Back to tsunami newswire or to School's homepage
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