Fiona Halse: Poetic Symbol: West End Artists Exhibition (June 15

West End Artists Exhibition - Poetic Symbol

Poetry: a passage, the symbolism it holds and the way it is processed

Visual art referring to a poem, a stanza or lyrics from a song or ballad.

Above Image: Duo, mixed media on canvas, 60x60cm, 2019

Artists

FIONA HALSE

MONIQUE LACEY

ELEANOR HART

PAMELA RATAJ

LORNA CRANE

FRAN O'NEILL

ANNA CAIONE

DONAL MOLLOY-DRUM

CLIFF BURTT

OLIVER ASHWORTH-MARTIN

CEZARY STULGIS

SARINA LIROSI

Exhibition Details:
Exhibition: June 15 - July 14, 2019
Location: West End Art Space
Address: 137 Adderley St, West Melbourne VIC 3003, Australia
Hours: Wednesday - Friday: 11am - 5pm; Saturday: 11am - 4pm
Opening: Saturday June 15, 2-5 pm
Web: www.westendartspace.com.au
Email: westendartspace@gmail.com
Phone: +61 0415 243 917

This painting ‘Duo’ is about the tension between red and green and the intertwining of the linear forms in a shallow space. Line is the underlining structure in my work and the application of this line or passages of marks needs to be considered in relation to time ( line is defined by speed and pressure). ‘Duo’ could also be considered a waltz where the red and green connect and disconnect and where line and time interconnect.

This poem by Brossa ‘Time’ refers to ‘line’. But line is not a linear drawing structure as in ‘Duo’ . It is about reaffirming the line as a marker of time and reminding the reader of their mortality and existence. My work relates to this sense of being present and my personal space being affirmed for the viewer.

Time - By Joan Brossa
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

This line is the present.

That line you just read is the past
(It fell behind after you read it)

The rest of the poem is the future,
existing outside your
perception.

The words
are here, whether you read them
or not. And no power on earth
can change that.

I discovered Brossa when was at Can Serrat International Arts Centre in 2005 and visited the Joan Miro Museum. His work was playful, spontaneous and I enjoyed how he placed the words on the page. His poems related to Miro's work and other Catalan artists and his contribution to the arts through founding Dau al Set and advocacy for the conscious and unconscious mind interested me along with many other Catalan artists. There was an unpredictability about his work and a value of the informal . Dau al Set means "the seventh face of the dice", which expresses the movement's rupturist character.

http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2009/06/joan-brossa-time-from-catalan.html

https://www.fmirobcn.org/en/activities/adults-i-altres-grups/2/73/miro-and-the-catalan-poets

https://koyac.net/en/post/joan-brossa-the-poet-of-uncomfortable-truth/58

Other thoughts that relate to Chopin's Waltz in A Minor ( music and art)

When I had access to a piano ( before 18 years) this was my favourite piece of music to play. I learnt through a routine of practice to read, rehearse and play the music from the sheet music for exams. The way I learned music was not intuitive or by ear. Therefore I just can't sit down at a piano and play ( I have been taught to rehearse, practise and then play). But I enjoyed the visual aspect to playing music, reading symbol and sensing the structure and probing into this as I practised. I enjoyed seeing the grid structures and how the notes sat on the bars of music and rhythms in the spaces. Whilst I haven't played or read music for a long time and much of my music theory needs refreshing - I remember enjoying playing the double appoggiatura in this piece as it felt the forms were turning in space as in a dance ( there was a sense of swinging in the notes and sense of being unsure). To me, many of the rhythms in this work is a like a shallow space and reminds me of flat areas of a Giotto with overarching structure and strategic repetition and tricky shifts in the space to turn the form or create inversions. There are long, linear constructs with turns and strategic areas of flurry or texture. The feeling in this piece of music is languid and reflective and there is room in the structure of the piece to be romantic and expressive in accents, timing and pressure on the keys to convey this. On reflection, this piece of music seems to connect to my visual practise on many levels. The waltz is about the body in space, movement and linear constructs.