Art, artists and more artists

Chapter I: In which Nina goes over the wall

My best (and only) friend – I think it’s time to introduce her, from now on I’ll refer to her as Nina – attends an art school. I’m not very well-read in painting. My knowledge of it basically consists of three things:

1. 1)   You need a brush
2. 2)   Paints are mixed on the palette
3. 3)   Van Gogh cut off his ear

But I like to watch Nina at work and unlike me she doesn’t mind onlookers. Nina is crazy about contemporary art. She turned her room into a wacky studio filled with all sorts of painting supplies, self-made motivating posters and bizarre stuff of unknown purpose. Each time I come in I feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. You can never tell what you’ll see next in this Wonderland. Last week I found her splashing paint onto the walls right with her hands. She called that ‘a creative experiment’ and seemed to be pretty proud of herself. Her mother didn’t join the celebration, though. She made her wash the walls and paint them all over again – in a regular way. But that didn’t discourage Nina from creative experiments.

Chapter II: In which we meet Mr. Afremov

Today she was all about palette knife painting. She showed me some sort of a cake shovel and said it’s used instead of a brush. I can’t really imagine it, but the ways of contemporary artists are inscrutable. Nina says she picked the idea from Jewish painter Leonid Afremov. He runs a gallery on the web where everyone can view and buy his artwork. Before I could answer, I was on Nina’s laptop, browsing the site under her watchful eye. Even from the depth of my ignorance, I could immediately tell why Nina called this man ‘one of the grooviest contemporary artists.’

Paintings by Mr. Afremov are simply incredible and incredibly simple. He doesn’t try to impress you with cryptic images or shocking tricks. His art is a quiet, down-to-earth world of night streets, rainy parks, kissing couples. Things we all love and share. And the way he paints makes them even lovelier. I was mesmerized by this kaleidoscope of bright colors and swirling lights.  It seemed like I plunged into a rainbow. There is so much color and energy in Mr. Afremov’s works that they literally flow from the canvas right into you filling you with pure joy. And you just can’t help liking them. I shared my impressions with Nina and she said there is hope for me yet.

Chapter III: In which everyone gets creative

Our world is full of creative people. This very moment, thousands of contemporary artists, painters and sculptors are sweating over their easels in an effort to create another Black Square. My friend Nina is probably plotting something mind-boggling within her four stripped walls. And I’m writing about it in my blog. What I want to say is that there is always some place for art in our life, be it a painting by Leonid Afremov or silly stuff you scribble in your notebook. You just have to find your inner artist and let him drive. You won’t believe where he can take you!

Do you believe in fate?

You know how they say that all events are related and nothing happens without a reason? I think I get it. One day you wake up and just follow a chain of thoughts, talks and steps without realizing that they are all pieces of the puzzle leading you to something incredible. And though it seems to be just a coincidence, it isn’t. Some call it fate, others quantum mechanics. But if the universe indeed leaves clues for us, do we have any sway over the outcome? Can we change the DNA of our life by taking different decisions? Or are we actually predestined to act this way because everything else is predestined as well? My favorite writer M. Kundera says (and Aslan the Lion agrees with him, heh) that we can’t possibly know what would have happened because we have only one shot at living.

I recently watched a movie called Frequences 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequencies_%28film%29. I know it’s three years old, but I’m kind of a cinema retard, don’t be too harsh on me. The hero is a ‘low-frequency’ guy in love with a ‘high-frequency’ girl who can’t love him back because of her impaired ability to feel.  During the film, he is looking for a way to level that difference so that they could be together. In a tight lock of events, he suddenly stumbles upon the ultimate pattern of life and gains absolute knowledge of what is and what will ever be. The point of the movie is that the script of our existence is already written and we have no choice but to play our part. No free will implied. Where is the truth? Unlike the lucky guy, I don’t know. Do you? 

Message in a bottle

Knock-knock. Another internet tramp at your service. My name is Kara Summers, which is pretty symbolic because I was born in summer (of course, that wasn’t planned, heh). If you met me somewhere, you probably wouldn’t even notice me. I wear no flashy clothes, no makeup, I’m not good at running friendly conversations and keep to myself while others are having fun. I live in my own world, a world of old books, cozy things, cinnamon cookies and daydreams. And I must say this world isn’t that bad. My best (and only) friend calls me a bookworm because of my obsession with reading. I read everywhere – in bed, at breakfast, on the subway, at lectures… Once I even tried reading on a bike while getting home from a book store with a pile of fresh paper treats. As you can imagine, I ended up driving into a road post. But apparently I didn’t get my lesson despite a painful reminder on my forehead. It shouldn’t take you long now to guess what I’m studying. Right, literature. Nobody knows it, but I actually write a bit myself. Nothing serious, just verses, short stories… Common stuff. I haven’t shown them to anyone except by best (and only) friend. She says I should get them published, but I guess I’ll never have the guts to do it. This blog is my message in a bottle. I’m sending it afloat into the web hoping that someone will open and read it. Knowing that will make me feel a little more visible… and a lot less lonely.