ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #89 | Page 154

ART Habens
Irena Romendik
in small kids who like to play with colors. I
believe that most people of all ages fit this
category more or less, if only they are open
to play.
avoid mechanical replica, the way of
mapping dance to paper is selective and not
mirroring. Even a little variation tilts the
picture. For example, when I was drawing
Yuri’s South Indian dance, my drawing
suddenly shaped into a depiction of historic
Indian sculpture because of vectors of
traditional movements. And when I tried to
catch figure eight of her veil on camera, it
became impossible because that shape only
existed as optical illusion during the dance.
Dance only exists as a process of dancing,
calibrating perfectly to my drawing practice,
and making wonderful metaphor for life.
With auscultating approach, everything
matters, and drawing of different people and
movements produces distinct modes of
expression, very specific to the dancer, light,
music, and whole surrounding atmosphere.
Hand extends seeing mind, brush continues
hand, music moves soul, rhythm changes
heartbeat -- symbiotic interactions are
difficult to pinpoint.
As I’ve pointed before, similar to music
notation representing a melody, artwork
invites personal interpretations. The
difference is that even if it’s beneficial to
know musical grammar, it’s not required,
and still possible to play.
Passive spectatorship is nevertheless a
conversation, with an artist silently
screaming in a loudspeaker and the viewer
thinking aloud. I don’t mind that either -- not
everyone is ready to dance, they might want
to observe first and decide for themselves
later. As long as there is a willingness to
listen, there will be a melody.
I’m currently experimenting with tapestries,
conductive lace, and going back to oil. I’m
also engaged in a long term experiment with
a series of oil canvases and considering to
“finish” the process, put it in a “stop bath”
so to speak. Basically, it’s a series of
multilayered paintings that I started about
15 years ago, and added layers of
handmade paints over these years, working
with chemical reactions. That might turn out
as a total failure, but I hope to see very
interesting development the