Critics Corner

[tcvarlh]

Originally Posted by loripo

Yes absolutely. I would also choose the Aboriginal rock paintings of Australia and Inuit art.

True, their art has verve and ardour with none of the ‘schooled’ techniques in more ‘sophisticated’ work. Amazing simple clear-cut and vivid, as it is, so to say, wondrous!
I was never more astounded though, than by my illegal entry into a cave with a friend who knew where the work was. The friend never mentioned what I was to see. I assumed phenomenal formations or a measureless dark chamber where my light beam would fall short of reaching the ceiling or the far walls leaving me as it has done many times before with a sense of the vastness of the hidden underground world. Ha! No! My friend played about a bit pretending there was a lighting problem with the huge power beam we had brought with us and splashed a little light here and there. And then there it was, just flicked over, I called and shouted “go back” and got the jolt of my life. Someone’s soul was on that cold hard surface and the whole cave became more than alive, I do not believe in the supernatural, but that day (although Time ceased to have meaning for the lifetime I stood there) I was in touch with my, your, our ancestor. Whoever he/she was imparted their world into me, the sense of fervour and frantic need to understand and control just a bit more of the world he/she was in. To make sense of things and the burning desire to create something lasting, something veiled but also displayed. Whoever it was who drew and painted the item they poured their ‘Geist’ into the picture, for whatever rationale, but it was Millennia later current, extant, effervescent and oh so animate! Seeing that wall, transformed me; and the spirit of that artist still lives. Immortality is ours for the taking.
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[loripo]

I understand what you mean, I just wish I could express it as you do...