Monday, May 16, 2011

In Search of Beauty

A Day In The Life - page 8 color pencils

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Ralph Waldo Emerson's words ring in my mind quite often, especially when my wants and needs rear up their heads! This past week in Chicago was no exception. These days though, finally, more often than not, I use my camera to bring home the beauty. (The airline luggage restrictions help too!) And, more importantly, I understand what he meant. 

In the past couple of days there have been two stories on NPR about art, beauty and collecting-  'World's  Richest Man Opens Flashy Museum in Mexico' and 'Chasing Aphrodite and Other Dirty Art World Deals.'  The stories mentioned 'object lust', 'because they wanted it', 'they lose reason', 'minor and mediocre pieces by big name artists.'  When I finished listening, I was quite disillusioned by the elitist  mindset of some of the museum directors, curators, professors and one reporter whose tone I definitely did not care for.  I realized how easy it is to judge another or lose one's way when dealing with issues of ethics, art, culture, and greed.   I love going to the museums, admire the collections, but, I was once again wondering about the ethics, pros and cons of collecting, standards of beauty, value of art pieces etc.  

On a much simpler note, having just completed my sketchbook Fiction Project for Art House Co-op, A day in the Life, I was also very excited to see on display,  "Color and Rhythm: Henri Matisse's Jazz " at the Art institute of Chicago. 

  



As I had mentioned before, working on my book has given me a new appreciation for others' efforts and I marvel at the end results! 

6 comments:

padmaja said...

Yes, such profound words.. if there is no beauty within, the beauty around can go invisible!

Business and greed mostly go hand in hand, there may be exceptions though.. art is not spared I think..

I liked your pencil work as well!

Meera Rao said...

Padmaja, Thank you! Definitely art is not spared -- and sometimes its the center of those dealings. And nothing is ever straightforward and black and white, is it?

Crystal Cook said...

I love the piece from your journal. Very free and YOU and I like that a lot. Also the quote is brilliant. :)

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Crystal! I really enjoyed working on my sketch book project :)

RAJESH ANNOOKKARAN said...

hi,loved your works.those are amazing, its interesting to watch ur blog. keep going.....

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Rajesh. This has been an amazing experience for me too :)

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