Artabus, contemporary artists

Stories

Dan has been encouraging me to write down the stories behind my paintings.

I am always unsure about how much to say about a painting.

I am motivated to paint by so many things. Sometimes, the motivation is purely visual: I am attracted to a particular pattern of colours, the light or perhaps the shapes I see. Other times the painting is born of an idea. In this case, I can spend a great deal of time thinking before I even begin.

I am really only interested in one thing in my art: exploring what it means to be human. I am drawn to contrast and irony, sometimes humour and issues that affect us all. My paintings are often questions. They are almost never answers.

But whatever the idea or motivation, the result must be visual. The goal is always to create something compelling to look at…..something to draw you in and make you look. Sometimes I am more successful at this than other times.

I am always unsure about how much to say about a painting.

When someone looks at a piece of art, they bring with them their own life experience, which affects what they see and what it means to them. If I provide an explanation or story, I’m not sure if it enhances the experience or whether it narrows the meaning down so that it is no longer relevant or interesting to the viewer. Because ultimately, all paintings are really about the painter, in the same way that all stories are really about the story-teller. It’s not that I want all my paintings to be about me. It’s just that everything I paint is the result of how I view the world: it’s a view of things through the filter of who I am and my experiences. It can’t be any other way.

I don’t think I understood this at first. I don’t think I understood why exhibiting my work made me feel like my skin had been peeled back and my insides exposed.

I hope you are not too disappointed by this…..that I’ve somehow let you down. You probably thought I was telling the stories of the people I paint. I would love to do this, if I could. But I would never assume that I could tell you someone else’s story…..that I could begin to know what it’s like to walk a mile in their shoes. I can only tell you about my experience of meeting them. I can only tell you what I saw, what I sensed, what they said….or didn’t say to me, the feeling I took away from our meeting.
I know….its not much. But it’s all I have.

And so…I am always unsure about how much to say about a painting.

But…….if I were going to tell you a story about a painting, I would tell you this:
In the painting called “Fayoum Baker”, the young man had a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve and one tucked behind his ear. He was the epitome of ‘cool’ and I think was trying to fix me with a steely gaze to prove it. But….what you can’t see…..what is not included in the painting is this. In his hand, he held, not a knife or a revolver or a big stick but…..a bag of icing. I feel a great affection for him because of this.
I tried to paint his façade of ‘cool’ but it didn’t work.
The icing came out in his eyes.

If I were going to tell you a story about a painting, I would tell you this:
In the painting called “Dahab Woman”, the word dahab means gold. When I met this woman, we had only recently moved to Egypt and I didn’t know a word of Arabic and she, of course, knew no English. We were in her home…..a great sprawling house in a tiny village. She…..a domineering woman; a mother; grandmother of a great sprawling family. I was a little afraid of her….and also impressed.

In Egypt, there are many traditions that accompany a marriage. One of the requirements of the groom is to provide the bride with a sizable amount of gold in the form of 22ct gold bangles as well as earrings and necklaces. This jewelry is the property of the woman. Even in the case of divorce, it is hers to keep. It provides her with a form of security.

I was wearing a necklace made of glass beads that Calla had lovingly strung together for some past ‘Mother’s Day’. The woman looked at it with disgust. She pulled back her headscarf to show me her large, hammered gold earrings. She gestured to my neck and my bare wrists and ears. And in non-verbal language (since we had no common ground here), she fairly yelled (and I’m sure I understood her explicably), “where on earth is your gold, woman!”
Clearly, she was not impressed with my lack of security.

I am always unsure about how much to say about a painting.

What do you think? Should I tell you a story?

June 17/07, Cairo

My Art On-Line

Greetings friends,

I have finally photographed some of my art and put it on-line to share with you!

This includes my most recent works from rural Egypt and others from Zimbabwe and Canada.

Visit here:

http://www.artabus.com/paleczny/

Suzanne

Of Pride and Circumstance: the people I met in Africa

Artist’s Statement, Suzanne Paleczny

See sample photos of the art here: http://www.artabus.com/paleczny/

This body of work grew out of a personal journey into African culture. I moved with my children and husband to Zimbabwe in 1995, where we lived for three years. During that time we took every opportunity to travel with our tent throughout Zimbabwe and into the neighbouring countries of Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. I returned to South Africa in 2003 where I was able to meet old friends. The three sections of the show mirror my own journey into a different culture.

Part I: Looking In On Life in Africa

In the first section you see the paintings as an outsider looking in, or in my case as a newcomer observing a way of life that was unfamiliar to me. The people in the paintings are absorbed in their own world and oblivious to us. Ancient traditions meld with the new. Some activities have changed little over the centuries like gathering wood, making clay pots, and harvesting mealies. Others show the influence of European colonization—school uniforms and polished shoes, and youthful ballerinas beside bare-footed dancers in dusty rural areas.

Part II: Of Pride and Circumstance

The second section, consisting of life-size portraits, represents interaction and a transition from outsider to friend. I was invited to the homes and rural villages of my new friends and allowed to participate in events in their lives. The paintings depict people of different walks of life, ages and social status. The people have posed for their portraits. As they make eye contact with you, they are no longer anonymous. They have a past, a future, joys and hardships, a story to tell.

My intention here is to honour and celebrate the individual lives of these people I met while also acknowledging the huge societal issues they face. I am appalled by the relative indifference that much of the world shows to poor countries in crisis, particularly poor black countries. So I decided to paint the people life-size. The paintings are too large to be ignored.

Part III: Through Their Eyes

Masks have been a universal expression throughout time. In some African cultures, it is suggested that ‘masking is not so much a portrayal as an actual embodiment’: the mask is the spirit.

What is our face but a mask? It is neither who we are nor the sum total of what defines us. Yet, the mask we wear determines so much. These masks are an expression of my growing concern and awareness of the discrepancies that exist between the perceived value of people’s lives, depending on the wealth of the nation they live in, and the colour of their skin.

I have few answers and many questions. The masks represent those questions: What does life hold for those born into poverty? Here I would like you to ponder the lives of the people behind the masks and ask the question: “what would it be like to see the world through their eyes?”