“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
The summer 2018 is slowly coming to an end. As far as I am concerned, it’s been the hottest and the most exhausting summer ever. From many people that I am in touch with, I’ve often heard that they’ve been struggling with the boiling hot temperatures. There’ve been days when the truly exotic climate became a course not only to human beings, but to the helpless fauna and flora that had to function for many long weeks with no access to a live-giving water.
(c) Christian Vincent, ‘Tiny Boxes’, 2012
I prayed for the colder days to come which finally would give Europe and rest of the world some well-deserved relief. Deep down I knew it is just matter of time the heat is soon going to be over, trusting the expected lower temperatures which are typical for the geographical location I live in. The way I felt about the summer this year reminded me of what kind of thoughts occupied my mind just few years ago.
During those years when the summer time used to be rather rainy and cloudy, there were days when I would contemplate on how wonderful would it be if I could move to Greece or Spain and live and work there – having easy access to the warm sea waters, sunshine and warm, ‘holiday weather’.
I felt like I was unable to be completely happy where I lived,it was some kind of restlessness, ‘wanderlust’ that dictionaries describe as strong desire to travel.
(c) Christian Vincent
Luckily, back then, at some local bookstore I came across a mind-expanding book, that came up with the right answers, like a remedy to my strong feeling of displacement in the modern world. Something that I was certain I had in common with thousands and millions of other people.
The novel I have in mind is ‘Flights’ by one of the most talented, Polish contemporary writer Olga Tokarczuk.(*1962)
Tokarczuk, whose works are often compared to Milan Kundera wrote ‘Flights’ in 2008, but for some strange reason the Man Booker International Prize jury needed an entire decade to digest and appreciate the value of the content the writer shared with the world and finally, after10 years awarded the writer with 50k pounds prize.
‘Flights’ is an exquisitely precise prose, fascinating and odd hybrid of a novel, composed of miniature, headed stories and observations about travel and search for the identity of ‘world’s citizens’. Olga investigates peoples motivations by sharing the stories of wanderers who wish to understand violence, follow the Odyssey, move along the Meridian, escape from monotony.
This book can be a kind of bible for the people with restless legs, people whose biggest fear that they will have to spend all their life in one place; to whom travel is the religion, road is the home and their own house merely a comfortable hotel. The narrator is one such person:“Standing there on the embankment, staring into the current, I realized that – in spite of all the risks involved – a thing in motion will always be better than a thing at rest; that change will always be a nobler thing than permanence; that that which is static will degenerate and decay, turn to ash, while that which is in motion is able to last for all eternity. From then on, the river was like a needle inserted into my formerly safe and stable surroundings, the landscape comprised of the park, the greenhouses with their vegetables that grew in sad little rows, and the pavement with its concrete slabs where we would go to play hopscotch. This needle went all the way through, marking a vertical third dimension; so pierced, the landscape of my childhood world turned out to be nothing more than a toy made of rubber from which all the air was escaping, with a hiss.” (O.Tokarczuk, ‘Flights’, 2008)
(c) Olga Tokarczuk
Today, when I look back and think of the award-winning novel by Tokarczuk I simply have to make a link in my mind between the inspiring and apt observations made by the author and the artworks of 2 contemporary artists whose work I’ve discovered few months ago on social media Christian Vincent (US based and represented by c24gallery.com) and Peter Mcardle (UK based).
In my opinion – both visual artist create art that is both philosophical and disturbing in a good sense of the word. The first painter, Christian Vincentt, whose art is represented by the C24 Gallery just like the title of one of his series seems to have his ‘ear to the ground’ and listen carefully to what the subconscious mind of the earth was trying to tell him. His canvases are speaking of longing, isolation, search for own identity within a group. To me some of Vincent’s mysterious artworks seem to perfectly illustrate what Tokarczuk spoke of in her book:
(c) Christian Vincent, ‘Return’, 2015
“Whenever I set off on any sort of journey I fall off the radar. No one knows where I am. At the point I departed from? Or at the point I’m headed to? Can there be an in-between? Am I like that lost day when you fly east, and that regained night that comes from going west? Am I subject to that much-lauded law of quantum physics that states that a particle may exist in two places at once? (O.Tokarczuk, ‘Flights’, 2008)
Christian Vincent, ‘Styx’, 2017, C24 Gallery
Another painter whose artworks recently caught my attention and whose art has to do with the topic ‘travel’ is Peter Mcardle.
(c) Peter Mcardle
Mcardles paintings seem to ask the viewer a question on the current condition of our society, if the modern society could find happiness, if the nature still has got the power to offer us a shelter, and then last but not least – if our acts and decisions are any better than the ones made by the world of vulnerable animals .
Another question that his paintings bring to mid is following: Is ‘the modern wanderer’ really unable to keep things private? Is there anything that the modern social media user would decide to protect from the public eye? Mcardle exposes the modern worlds weaknesses in a very intelligent way. Somehow this is very much in line with reflections by Tokarczuk:
“An old friend of mine once told me how he hated travelling alone. His gripe was: when he sees something out of the ordinary, something new and beautiful, he so wants to share it with someone that he becomes deeply unhappy if there’s no one around.
I doubt he would make a good pilgrim.”
(c) Peter Mcardle
Mcardles artworks present, at times surreal and surprising compositions of people who seem to feel lost, abandoned, uncomfortable in their own skin, alienated from the society, ignored even by the nature, struggling to make a difference in indifferent world.
(c) Peter Mcardle
The conclusion that I made many years ago was that travelling does not happen only when the all doors are properly locked, when the tickets and travel insurance are bought and when the hotel is booked. In truth travelling could be a state of mind of people who look at the world with the curiosity of a tourist.
Fortunately both literature and visual art offers an opportunity to travel to the most exotic, exciting, faraway places, allowing us to explore the unknown worlds and the depths of human mind, and live not just one life – but hundreds of them.
“There’s a race of men that don’t fit in,
A race that can’t stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain’s crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don’t know how to rest.”
— Robert W. Service
Frankly, similarly to many well-known and unknown poets, authors, painters, photographers living now or in the past – I am fine with belonging to the ‘race that does not fit in’.
It is something that true wanderers must accept for their own sake.
To me Art is the only ‘in-between’ that is there. And how about you?
27 August 2018 at 01:24
Well written post.
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27 August 2018 at 19:52
Thank you very much for your kind comment – I appraciate it a lot knowing it comes from a writer:) hope all is good at your end – and I guess you are busy with a new novel – wishing you a great rest of the week!
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27 August 2018 at 20:36
Thanks, Anna. Actually I’ve also accepted the position of Director of the Foreign Languages Dept at a university in Istanbul so I’m doing that as well as writing. Hope your week is a good one, too.
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27 August 2018 at 20:47
that is a great news, congratulations – your new job sounds truly exciting and very prestigious! Good luck with all that you do:)
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28 August 2018 at 18:38
Thank you, Anna.
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29 August 2018 at 00:25
Reblogged this on From 1 Blogger 2 Another.
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29 August 2018 at 00:25
Excellent post Anna! I am happy to reblog so others may find there way here! – Douglas
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29 August 2018 at 20:28
Thank you so much dear Douglas, I am really happy to hear that you enjoyed my latest posts – in fact, I think you and your Passion for Art, Music, Film and your talent for finding the most beautiful and meaningful quotes that you share with the followers of your blog – make you a true Wanderer, that wanders troug many disciplines of Art findng there little jewels – words of the artists – thank you very much also for sharing my posts on your blog, this means the world to me! Wishing you a beautiful and inspired rest of the week!
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30 August 2018 at 19:54
You rock Anna! Thanks! Be well! – Douglas
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29 August 2018 at 12:19
This is the first post I’ve read on your site Anna and it exceeds my expectations. A truly erudite and engaging essay. I am captivated by Mcardle and Vincent’s paintings. Vincent’s in particular puts me in mind of Hopper, there’s that same air of mystery created by a figure(s) waiting/contemplating. The philosophy behind my thoughts on art is that for me a painting/poem or whatever must stimulate both imagination and intellect both artist’s work do exactly that. After 9 years fighting Parkinson’s disease I’m pretty much house-bound, yet my mind allows me to be a wanderer still…………….and travel further than ever before.
Nigel
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29 August 2018 at 20:25
Thank you so much dear Nigel for your long and well-thought comment – I had the same feeling about Vincent’s paintings the first moment I saw them – when you check on his website his earlier works, they have contained even more of ‘Hopper’s’ air and exceptional allure. I am very sorry to hear about your disease – but at the same time knowing how much you now you use the time spend at home to develop your writing skills – actually I can see there is also some sort of ‘blessing in disguise’ – the most talented artist that I know – the contemporary ones or the ones from the past – have created their masterpieces in suffering (I have to think of Amadeus Mozart, Chopin, Van Gogh and so many more). I have always felt there is the wanderlust running trough my veins – and I thank God for books, for Art and for the fact, that sometimes – when I am lucky I can discover new poems, new short stories, new novels with exactly the same sort of excitment which Columbus felt while discovering the land of America. Wishing you all the best, Nigel- and thanks once again for taking the time to read my post.
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29 August 2018 at 13:20
A truly fascinating post filled with such poetic depth and wealth that it is hypnotic. I enjoyed the entire read which I rarely have time for. I look forward to more!
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29 August 2018 at 20:18
Thank you so much dear Alexandra for your lovely comment – it matters a lot to me – when my writing can stir mind and give the simple pleasure of reading – that I always look for and sometimes, when I am lucky I find it when and where I did not expect it. I really hope you’ll enjoy my future posts too, all the best to you:):)
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29 August 2018 at 22:06
Beautifully written Anna. I enjoyed it immensely,so inspiring. I must say I am definitely happy to be part of that race that does not fit in. I love your articles. You have amazing intellect and creative genius for writing articles, and finding art and artist that perfectly illustrate and expand upon the ideas you are writing about.
Thank you Anna for another interesting, thought provoking, and beautifully written article.
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6 September 2018 at 20:55
Thank you my dearest John for this beautiful comment – I am so pleased to see that you enjoyed the artworks and my reflections on what it feels like to be a ‘misfit’ – I am also very glad to hear that you found my post inspirting – I think that is the best compliment that the writer could ever acheive, to inspire the reader – means to ignite his or her inner fire – and that’ s exactly what I hope my writing has power to do. Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week ❤
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30 August 2018 at 19:34
An articulate, concise look into the state of the mind of the ones who shall never truly rest. Glad I found your piece!
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6 September 2018 at 20:56
Thank you so much dear Navid, finally this weekend I’ll make some time to read your wonderful posts – !
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9 September 2018 at 05:14
Looking forward to your feedback!
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