Great news for Tomas Lanner (aka The Planner, or me) who leads the way for the SALT Gallery group into a more coherent program of physical exhibits for the otherwise only online gallery. This exhibit, entitled Bona Fide was the first in a line of many, and the opening reception was an intimate and well-attended event in the old Danish merchant town of Christiansted, St. Croix. Many conversations during the evening revolved around subject matter & symbolism and what makes a painting successful, what makes it move the viewer.
For those of you who missed the event, the pieces can be seen here.
I have noticed in my wanderings through life that we humans tend to avoid talking about the subject of death. It sometimes surprises me that people rarely allow time to talk about something that will happen to us all. But a moment later, I’m hiding away from the subject myself and finding things to say about the weather or some new trend or what the neighbor is doing. The subject of death carries such a deep and well-tended taboo, and it draws my attention. Those who have experienced it know that to survive the death of a close one brings confusion and a hollow metallic shock. As a survivor, no matter how hard I try, it is impossible to keep down the tears, be they physical or not.
But then I wonder: when it is my turn to die, what will I think? Will it be dark and scary? – a place into which I will try to postpone entry for as long as possible? When it’s my turn, will I know that it is the end and will part of me feel drawn to crossing over? Hard to say and impossible to know, until I get there.
The mystery of the after-life takes on an aura of acceptance and peace if we see death as a gentle passing into a different dimension. Death is a return of our molecules to the earth, a closing of the physical loop of our planet. It is worth taking a closer look at this elusive non-state of existence, almost hypnotic by nature.
Arizona artist Kathy Taylor at SALT Gallery has developed an intriguing bridge between the living and the dead with her artistic process Ashes to Art. Ashes to Art works like this: a family member or loved one of a person who has died asks Kathy to create a painting for them using some of the ashes of the deceased to mix into the paint. Scary and morbid you say? Not so much as a creative and compassionate way in which to dedicate time and space to a lost loved one, almost like a monument to someone who made their mark in the world. The encounters Kathy has had with this type of client and the creative energy she has found in the process have been part of an astounding journey, which she does not regret.
The paintings Kathy has on display at SALT Gallery do not contain ashes, but they do bring us closer to an understanding of the other world, the place beyond: nature’s constant decay, demise and rebirth. Her images of horses and ancient shamans with a forgotten past float with a hum of time’s passing on cloudy and pale multi-textural backgrounds. Red Trilogy is a masterpiece of this imagery, although there is nothing pale about this background: the three horses are engulfed in a passionate red and we feel the movement of the muscles rippling off the surface. We are not quite certain if the horses are three, or if it is only one, in different stages of movement; different levels of its life. Like the horse, we humans are strong and at peace. We should smile upon life and refrain from putting things off until tomorrow, as we are all constantly drifting towards the next mysterious stage of the unknown we call death.
