Project 5: Writing and Text to Create Connections, Understanding and Promotion

Exercise 3. Two pieces of writing.

Instructions: “Develop at least two pieces of writing: one as interpretative, promotional and/ or marketing vehicles, and one other piece exploring writing as a discursive creative dialogue for your own ideas, connections, and as a process.”

Below are my writing pieces I developed for this assignment as a preparation for my upcoming exhibition event.

Promotional/Marketing purposes writing:

Text 1. General.

It is essential to have an attitude of embellishment of the spaces we spend our lives in. How much is someone’s life worth if it’s spent deprived of aesthetic delight for eyes, heart and Soul? This deeply rooted human desire to search for and lean on beauty is irresistible, hence vital to sustaining the right vector for human’s life. My artworks are created and designed as an inspiration from the ultimate manifestation of the Divine’s aesthetic revelation- Nature. We, humans, are placed in a sublime environment, where the surrounding natural beauty is so awe-inspiring, wondrous, and overwhelming. Only nature’s beauty provokes in us the sense of transcendence, the anticipation of something staggeringly great which lies beyond our lives. If I manage to captivate in my paintings at least a tiny spark of this radiant, spellbinding and intense beauty, I am happy.

Text 2. Related to the particular project “Riviera Garden“

The Enchanting Côte d’Azur: a Timeless Inspiration.

The Côte d’Azur has long been a sanctuary for the soul, with its luminous light, azure waters, and vibrant landscapes. It enchants and captivates the hearts of many for the rest of their lives. As the Riviera sparkles under the Mediterranean Sun or is wrapped in dreams under the Moon, it stands not merely as a destination but as a living muse -a timeless source of inspiration for those who seek to capture its essence in their lives, words, colours, and melodies. I invite you to join me on my artistic path, where the vivid, untamed beauty of Côte d’Azur’s flora awaits your gaze.

Discursive Creative Dialogue.

My consciousness is deeply immersed in the beauty of nature. The intense green colour is literally making me lose my mind and overwhelming my senses; I have to paint it over and over again, which is why green hues are always present in my paintings, and I am never bored with them. The strong geometry and architecture of the petals of large plants and flowers in my garden fascinate me with their vivacious power; even when they are dry, they still carry this immense impulse of beauty. My strong connection with plants and flowers needs to be channelled, because my aesthetic pleasure is so overwhelming that I have to paint, translating and harnessing this energy. I am very lucid in my understanding of why I paint – this is my way of staying connected with the highest available vibration for me, a direct, intimate connection with the Divine, the universal creative source.

I primarily use inks because their unique intrinsic qualities resonate with my creativity and visual language; their fluidity and transparency allow me to stay loose, and my work guides me through the process, unfolding naturally by itself. My curiosity and the pleasure of exploration and discovery are the driving forces behind every painting’s journey. Another reason I work with inks is that I am profoundly moved by Japanese traditional visual art, characterised by a highly refined artistic style, diverse brushstrokes, a sophisticated and elegant visual language, and a poetic and emotional expressive style.

RESEARCH:

“Research two artists who you feel have utilised writing effectively within their practice. You may choose one or two from the suggested research, or select your own artists. Explore and evaluate how and in what ways they use writing, and your thoughts on how this might (or may not) inform your own approach to writing or text.
Post these to your learning log for your tutor to respond to, and reflect on the nature of the purpose, function and nature of language.”

I conducted research on artists who directly involved themselves in self-promoting and promoting their artworks through writing, and I understood that this approach was very individual. Most of them didn’t create written works to supplement their artworks, leaving space for viewers to interpret their art (for example, Claude Monet (1840-1926)). They were very shy and humble like VINCENT VAN GOGH ( 1853-1890), who assigned all sales dealings to his brother Theo and wrote letters/communicated in writing mostly to him only), but some followed a proactive approach and engaged themselves in writing actively and creatively or even more- got very busy with shaping the public image, such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

I became interested in Paul Gauguin’s (1848-1903) “Noa Noa” novel (1919) – a semi-fictional narrative that romanticises and promotes his Tahitian works. I read it online on https://archive.org/details/noanoatranslated00gauguoft/page/4/mode/2up , translated from French by O.F.Theis. This novel is a substantial read, spanning 182 pages and illustrated by the author’s drawings. It was a pleasure to read because Gauguin was a talented writer who could make his ideas and thoughts even more notable because of his amazing drawings. I think Gauguin’s Tahitian impressions were so profound that he had to channel them not only in drawing but also in writing. I also believe that Gauguin indeed faced a lot of ignorance and perhaps arrogance towards the subjects of his paintings, his Tahitian people, since Tahiti was so exotic and alien to Europeans, so he understood that some explanatory help was necessary. Gauigin was a master of words and storytelling. I was very impressed by this sentence ( among many): “...They had the grace and elasticity of healthy young animals. A mingled perfume, half animal, half vegetable emanated from them; the perfume of their blood and of the gardenias — tiare — which all wore in their hair. “Teine merahi noa noa (now very fragrant) ,” they said” (p.12, Noa Noa, Paul Gauguin,1919, translated from the French by O.F. Theis, New York N.L. Brown; online https://archive.org/details/noanoatranslated00gauguoft/page/12/mode/2up [accessed on July 1, 2025]; Paul Gauguin has a whole new life at Tahiti worth telling about what he did in the book.

I was reflecting on the assignment task to find artists who utilised writing effectively within theor pracice’, I came to a conclusion that “writing” can be understood in board format, when the artist actively experssed his options on different matters especially on art and culture, as well as was giving a rich food for thought about his own creative practices and artworks. Thus, this provocative and self-centred speaking up is equal to writing in the sense of efficiency.

In this regard, Pablo Picasso is an excellent example of a visual artist who shaped his public image through numerous lengthy and extensive interviews, as well as collaborations with his time’s writers. I enjoyed reading the “Conversations with Picasso (1935) online on https://gallowayexploringart.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/picasso_conversations.pdf

I resonate with his idea of the painting:

“..A picture is not thought out and settled beforehand. While it is being done, it changes as one’s thoughts change. And when it is finished, it still goes on changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it. A picture lives a life like a living creature, undergoing the changes imposed on us by our life from day to day. This is natural enough, as the picture lives only through the man who is looking at it.” (p.499, “Freedom, Responsibility and Power”, “Conversations with Picasso (1935) online on https://gallowayexploringart.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/picasso_conversations.pdf [accessed on July 1st, 2025];

This interview is full of interesting opinions about art, painting and the creation process. Picasso’s opinions were bold and strong. I particularly like this one:

“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the songs of
a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without
trying to understand them? In the case of a painting, people have to
understand. If only they would realise above all that an artist works of necessity,
that he himself is only a trifling hit of the world, and that no more importance
should he attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the
world, though we can’t explain them. People who try to explain pictures are
usually barking at the wrong tree. Gertrude Stein joyfully announced to me
the other day that she had at last understood what my picture of the three
musicians was meant to be. It was a still life!”

I think this interview can be included in the OCA curriculum, as well as Van Gogh’s letters to his brother, Theo. Both materials contain numerous comprehensive explanations about the creative painting process and creativity in general.