9/2/2004
The art of love
Arndean Gallery, London
Artists were invited to submit works on the theme of Love. Our selection panel will select around 100 works for show in the exhibition.
Londonart call for artists attracted over 300 artists. Artists were
invited to submit works on the theme of LOVE for an exhibition at the
Arndean Gallery in Cork Street, London, from the 9th-14th February.
Our selection panel will select around 100 works for show in the
exhibition.
'Love is a canvas, furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.'
Voltaire
Art has been an expression of human thoughts and feelings for almost
as long as they have been felt. Through the centuries, artists have
turned to love as their inspiration, in literature and in poetry as
well as the visual arts. The classical myths of ancient Greece and
Rome provided ample instances of love stories and figures of love for
them to draw on. The Renaissance in Italy was a time when artists
looked back to these tales; depictions often were centred around
Venus, goddess of Love. Both aesthetically and intellectually, the
classical stories provided a perfect subject matter. Aesthetically
the female nude suggested the sensual nature of love, a timeless
ideal form, whilst a knowledge of the classical stories complemented
a desire to emulate a by-gone age. Venus appears in many scenes, more
often than not as a reclining nude, ideal in both beauty and
connotations of love. If love existed in an ideal world, then this is
what it would look like. A combination of female beauty and immortal
dedication to the pursuit and championing of love.
IDEAL LOVE, REAL LOVE
But even though artists were depicting love as an ideal based on
classical myths, their inspiration could often be based in the real
world. Botticelli's 'Primavera' has the central figure of Venus
looking out at us. The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo de'
Medici, who was a leading figure in Florentine humanist culture and
poetry, and who was in love with a woman called Lucrezia Donati. The
figure of Venus was as such a portrait of the woman he loved, the
imagined portrait of the goddess of love is emancipated in the real
presence of Lorenzo's actual object of affection. A portrait of a
loved one represents private hopes and experience, the portrayal of
love, a public idea.
LOVE IN AN UNIDEAL WORLD
Just as the Renaissance saw love as existing pictorially in an ideal
world of beauty and immortality, Manet's 'Olympia' of 1884 went and
turned the tables on these classical references. A modern day
reclining Venus, she signified a shift in the approach of the artist
towards conventional ideas and inspiration. This Venus is actually a
prostitute in her boudoir, a signature black ribbon around her neck.
The female nude no longer was an innocent and pure vision of love -
realism brought along with it the desire of artists to react and
incorporate in their work, social issues to do with the world around
them. They didn't want to look back to Arcadian times of the past;
they wanted to show real people doing real life situations. And so
began the desire of the artist to use art as a vehicle to express
their own personal response to the social issues they felt were
important.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
'In our life there is a single colour, as on an artist's palette,
which provides the meaning of life in art. It is the colour of love.'
Marc Chagall. Twentieth century artist.
Chagall lived through both world wars, a Jewish refugee who fled to
America during the occupation of the Second World War. Most artists
at one time or another experienced war in their lives, especially in
the last century as communication and warfare became so advanced that
war reached global scale twice. Artists have the power to draw
massive attention to issues prevalent in the world around us, and
many see art as one of the most powerful mediums to express social
issues.
Chris Ofili, a young British artist, incorporates racial issues
beautifully and humorously into his paintings. In 2000 he started his
'Afromantics' series of three paintings depicting the love story of a
black couple. Ofili is drawing on what he saw as the old-fashioned
values of Afro love that still existed, his inspiration coming form
an illustration he saw on the back of a dry cleaning sign in the
Caribbean. All three paintings have the same colour scheme - the
colours of the pan-African flag. Green for the lost kingdom, black
for the fallen and red for the blood that was shed. Ofili is on the
surface presenting a traditional tale of boy meets girl, but seeping
into it an underlying message of Afro culture and awareness. How many
other young British artists have raised the profile of racial issues
in art so wittily and peacefully?
LOVE IN ART TODAY: MESSAGE OF PEACE
Art has the capacity to bring attention to imperfections in society
and provoke reactions that can help change the way people think. The
conscience of the artists is powerful and far-reaching. In the past
where love was depicted as an ideal in an ideal world, for gods and
beautiful people, nowadays, love is conveyed in art through the way
it can fight prejudices and stand for freedom of expression. In the
Western world, freedom of expression is what is constantly
challenging and driving artists, but where there is no freedom, the
existence of art itself becomes a symbol of oppression. Freedom is a
form of love in society, where art struggles to exist it shows the
love in society trying to overcome its oppressor.
Until recently in Afghanistan, the Taliban would forbid paintings
depicting living figures, as they thought it highly blasphemous for a
human to attempt to re-create a living object. But portraits of loved
ones that had died were a tradition that was very important to many
and so artists would receive commissions in secret. One of the
countries leading artists, Mohammed Yousef Asefi, who was also a
doctor, was among them. He defied the Taliban one step further when
he heard that many figure paintings in the National Art Gallery were
to be destroyed and decided to intervene and save them. The Taliban
were told that he was to perform restoration work on the paintings,
but instead watercolour was used to paint over figures in the oil
paintings. With the Taliban gone, a damp sponge was all that needed
to be used to reveal the original saved paintings beneath. He saved
around 80 works, the Taliban destroyed 400. Such brave defiance for
the sake of paintings is a symbol of inspiring loyalty towards art.
Many aspects of art the Taliban dictated - the destruction of old
works, the censor of much-loved portraits of dead loved ones, even
artists prevented from teaching anything more than calligraphy. Now
artists are free to paint figures and everyone can enjoy painting
once again. Lack of freedom and harsh punishment associated with the
Taliban have now been replaced by hope and freedom for artists to
create what they wish. This is not about love between two people, but
love as a symbol of freedom and a metaphor for hope for a better
world.
VALENTINE: THE ORIGINIAL CHAMPION OF LOVE
Nowadays love can be anywhere where a prejudice is overcome or some
positive warmth of humanity is felt. The saint associated directly
with love is St Valentine, but the original story behind the
commercially pushed day in February, is entirely rooted in a
combination of a fight for freedom and the human right to love.
Valentine was a priest in third century AD Rome. The Emperor Claudius
II decided that single men made better soldiers because they were not
distracted by thoughts of home and the one they loved. He therefore
made it illegal for young men to marry, in the hope that he would
start winning more battles. Valentine however continued to marry
young lovers in secret. When he was discovered he was put to death,
on February 14th, the day now traditionally associated with love.
Hannah Watson
curated by Paul Wynter
private view 10th February 6-9 pm
ARNDEAN GALLERY Cork Street, London