Day 20: this quiet Sunday afternoon allows me to add a new object – the silk kite that traveled to Japan, and back, last year. Then nothing noteworthy, until Johanna enters – thirty minutes before closing time – bringing fresh air and a fast-paced, playful flow that leaves the space refreshed and smiling, almost singing.
A chilly, rainy day. A neighbour cleans his windows across the street. Yesterday, guests helpfully removed some of the large canvasses (but stopped short at the last two). Today, I continue opening up the space – although I’d need more help to empty another wall. Meanwhile, I place some smaller works at the entrance, so as to welcome the gallery-goers of the weekend. A few of them venture a quick look inside my place.
Finally, a guy from the Netherlands proves happy to play along with my works, in a most gracious way; chosing three paintings, arranging them carefully and then presenting me an interpretation where they mirror spiritual evolvement from chaos to fulfillment and peace. Yesterday’s theme, today’s gift…
A day of sharing – sorrow, hope, joy and wonder. Being creative sometimes brings about a certain frailness. Being creative together enhances awareness, opening up for sensibility… Meeting former students and artist colleagues reassure me that art is real; essential knowledge, sincere communication.
“This is not a gallery”.
It seems like people who usually don’t go to art places, as well as artists, tend to welcome an exhibit that potentially changes with each new guest. Oddly enough, people who know art – without making it – seem to have more of a difficulty to embrace the concept. I try to address the issue by a hand-written note at the entrance – eventually also giving credit to all those who contribute by their additions and interventions.
Today’s visitors are of the open-minded kind; an international artist / curator gives encouraging feedback. A couple living nearby peep in, stay a while, and compliment my work in the most wonderful way – dubbing it “kind of industrial”. I’m delighted.
This day turns out to be a talkative one. The first guests enter as soon as I open the door. Thoughtful observation generates reflections on normality, perfection, body grounded voice… and the unforeseeable response, that sometimes expands the horizon. Other visitors arrive and leave again,
keeping their experience private. Finally, somebody with keen eyes and careful hands makes a small adjustment with great impact. Thank you, Alexander and Marcus, Emma and everyone who ventured inside!
Day 15: the gravitational field of yesterday shifts, as Thea gives me a hand… A sky underfoot, a spaceship flying low… Close encounters.
Later, a dancer’s understanding takes place in front of the green canvas; a slow attentive movement, hands waving, weaving, softly. Even later: shared musings on words and listening with Erik. A day of quiet wonders.
The day begins with a sushi lunch, followed by a major remake. First, the Vitruvian figure takes over the void on the back wall – creating a coherent, almost hermetic sequence; completely altering the ambiance. Suddenly, all things are on the move: chairs, tape drawings, post-it notes… and circles are floating over the longer wall. Thank you, Lisa and Jonas, for an encouraging intervention! The coming visitors will encounter a very different mood…
Day 13: just like the other weekend, something has come to a close. The theme is still there, like a lingering note, but only the occasional gallery-goer pops in. Not that it doesn’t count; on the contrary, it’s most rewarding to meet somebody from outside one’s own circles.
A special thanks to Sigrid and her father – for good company, a beautiful flower arrangement, and for the drawings you shared!
Day 12: changing the set-up of the green chairs, to suggest interchange in groups of two or three, where the partners in dialogue are focused towards different parts of the exhibition. Today’s theme – gravity and abstraction – follows from the conceptual braid of yesterday… but today’s visitors follow a more whimsical path, trusting intuition to add a little disorder.
A long-awaited rain has soaked the ground. The soil is fertilized, the sky is clearing. The inside / outside theme transforms through the day, in dialogue continuously carried on from one visitor to another; forming a braid, where the strands are concepts such as abstraction, resonance, gravity… A dialogue where words don’t dictate, but detect; where there is no right or wrong, only truth.
What fits between representation and abstraction? I don’t know yet… is it the gift of flying?
Thank you – Kennet, Johanna, Cecilia, Hannes and others!
Helena Hildur W. 