IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO INNER WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTING
Lost Londoners, real life and world events in art, There But For The Grace Of God, World Family Tree, Surrounded by Serpents, The Heavenly Armies, Missing Madeleine, Carbon Footprint, Pollution, Dia de los Muertos, Requiem Shark, London as a White Goddess, The Business Snowman, Snowmen Hunt, Abundance, Blessings in Disguise, Ascencion, Rainer Maria Rilke
WORLD EVENTS
In recent years a new phenomenon has 'crept in': for my annual Open Studio Event in March I try to have one new painting on display that comments in some way on what is going on in the world. It wasn't a conscious decision, more something that just happened and got very positive reactions. I love mythology and stories and the great themes that touch the lives of every human being, but the other side of that coin is real life and what it throws at us.
2009 London shows her White Goddess Persona!
To make a statement about the year 2009 I have not chosen any paintings. I have taken photographs of snowmen instead! I suppose you could call it an 'installation' inspired by the snow that covered London in February 2009 and normal life as we knew it came to a standstill!
My boys and I went on a 'Snowmen Hunt' and had the privilege of meeting some incredible snow spirits... we saw a whole new side to the city we live in...
Once upon a time (on Monday the 2nd of February 2009 to be precise) there was a snowman who lived in London. He was a Business Snowman and wore a tie every day.
He was obsessed with grooming and making the right impression. He worked every hour of the day and many hours of the night...
One day everything changed. There was so much snow in London that no one could go to work. Everyone went sledging in the park instead. Our snowman walked about and met many other local snowmen. He discovered what it was like to have friends and free time. It was like a light had gone on in his brain. He found himself a torch and had great fun shining it in all the dark corners of his life...
Some of his friends in Telegraph Hill!
From that day everything changed: our snowman decided that life was about play.
He decided that life was too short NOT to enjoy every moment until it all melts away!!!
London showed her White Goddess Persona that day!
And as a matter of synchronicity.... following the coincidences in life.... we saw a White Goddess in a front garden right next to Myatt Garden Primary School the next day!
She was as tall as I am (5 ' 10" !), buxom and gorgeous.
I do not know who made her, but full credit to this person on Rokeby Road in London SE4. You made my day and not just my day: you captured the Zeitgeist, as far as I am concerned!!
And here is a painting I worked on from January - March 2009:
ABUNDANCE
This painting is about Abundance, about daring to believe in abundance. Quite a feat in these days of the Credit Crunch and tightening of our belts! Yet nature abhors a vacuum and when a space opens in our lives, something will move in to fill that space. It is up to us to decide what form this will take. I am realising more that we are the creators of our own reality. The limits of our own thinking and beliefs limit what is possibly in our lives. So.. defeat the credit crunch and dare to believe in abundance, dare to open your eyes to the abundance that can enter our lives even when things are tight financially. Sometimes being poor in terms of money can mean being more time-rich. Time can be the greatest gift of all, something we have lost track of in our busy city lives.
2008
BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE
We are living in the days of a gear-change, of a 'credit crunch' in the financial world and an awareness that our way of life up to now is not sustainable. This invokes a lot of fear and uncertainty. Doing a piece of shamanic work recently this image came to me: our fears (or: the things we fear) are like children or friends 'wearing Halloween masks'. Once you get 'beyond the mask' they are friendly. In other words: the things we fear can be blessings that come calling in disguise.
CLARA LUCES: ASCENCION
This painting was made during the months of November and December 2008while listening to litte known Christmas Carols of Latin American Baroque origin. The image was inspired by 'The Tree of the Soul', a diagram created by William Law, an 18th century English mystic.
'A beam of light from the world of consciousness pierces the "dark world" of the unconscious in which the tree of man's spiritual and psychological development is rooted. Passing through the firre world of suffering and experience it opens out in the light of greater consciousness towards the light of God'. This is the process Carl Gustav Jung refers to as Individuation.
The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:
Oh, I who long to grow// I look outside myself, and the tree//inside me grows
We are living in an era of great change.
2007
By the end of the year 2007 I took a break from working on canvass and went back to monoprints, producing smaller work on paper. Rather than one large painting, there are four smaller paintings that sum up the year 2007 for me:
MISSING
By now there can't be many people who are not aware that Madeleine MacCann was abducted from Praia Da Luz in Portugal on the 3rd of May 2007.
As a parent I know about that heartstopping moment when you have lost sight of one of your children. For one mad instant you stop breathing and think the worst has happened. Usually my children stand just behind my back when this happens, or they aren't far off and the moment of terror passes.
For the parents of Madeleine the terror did not pass. They are still living in that space of not knowing, fearing the worst, fearing they may never know. No parent should have to live through that.
My heart goes out to the parents of little Madeleine and to all parents who have lost a child. The image of Madeleine is one of the sad icons of the year 2007.
CARBON FOOTRPINT
The concept of a 'Carbon Footprint' has become part of everyday consciousness and every day language. I booked an easy jet flight recently and was offered the option of paying for 'offsetting the carbon footprint' effect.
The definition of a 'Carbon Footprint' is 'a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gasses produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
In other words it conceptualises for individuals how they contribute to global warming. To me this concept seems very useful, because it marks a move from vaguely feeling we 'ought to be doing something' to actually having a far better sense of the carbon dioxide level everyday human activities produce. It gives us the opportunity to live with more awareness and change our habits.
And so the concept 'Carbon Footprint' refers to something very disturbing (global warming) but it empowers people to make different lifestyle choices and in that sense it is a positive concept, I think. For me it is a conceptual 'icon' of the year 2007.
POLLUTION
This print is related to the Carbon Footprint image. Recenly my husband nipped into a newly opened Sainsbury's supermarket in Brighton. I waited for him by the doors and caught sight of myself on the screen of the security system. The thing that struck me most was that in the short time I stood there, there was an endless procession of 'orange blobs' flying across the TV screen. All produced by people taking away their shoppings in the signature orange carrier bags, as opposed to bringing a bag from home. It suddenly dawned on me that I was seeing 'pollution in progress'. It was an extremely visual summary of how we all contribute to polllution and global warming. I realised that I had to turn that moment into an image for this webpage. Another 'icon' of Britain in the year 2007.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
After running off a print of 'orange blobs' for the Pollution image, I ran the same plate again without adding more paint and got another set of orange blobs that showed more black detail. Those orange shapes reminded me of skulls and Halloween pumpkins and I thought: yes, that is what pollution is all about really. We are courting death and extinction.
In Mexico the 'Dia de los Muertos' is the feast day when people celebrate and remember the dead.
REQUIEM SHARK
What started as one print about pollution (Carbon Footprint) became a series of prints exploring related issues.
There is a family of sharks called Requiem Sharks, I have not made that up. However, sharks, along with whales and many other aquatic animals, are at risk of extinction.
This print plays on a double meaning of the word 'requiem': it depicts a requiem shark but it is also 'A Requiem for a Shark' because if we don't start taking better care of our oceans and the shark population, many species will reach the brink of extinction.
And while on this subject I will just throw in two other snippets:
There is a fascinating tale in Inuit mythology that reflects the ecological necessity of death. For a long time people were periodically rejuvenated and no one died. The population became dangerously large, threatening to tip the land over and plunge everyone into the sea. An old woman, seeing the danger, then used magic words to summon death and war. This way the world was lightened and global catastrophe averted! (From the INUIT SERIES)
The Inuit speak of an early history where animals and humans lived together and spoke the same language, changing appearance (i.e. shapeshifting) and intermarrying. The polar bear was said to be closest to human beings, of all animals. In his 'human appearance' he could be 'spotted' by his oversize canine teeth and huge appetite for fat!
And here is a solution for the problem of over population:
There is a Southeast Asian myth from forest people that describes how the creator god solved the problem of overpopulation by transforming half the people into trees! (A great concept for our 21st century with its dual problems of overpopulation and deforestation, if you ask me!!) From the CREATION STORIES page.
2006
This year's painting that reflected on world events was:
LOST LONDONERS
This painting was made in July 2005 in the period of the terrorist attacks on London. These attacks made all Londoners feel fearful and powerless. This painting is about Londoners. Londoners who lost their lives. Londoners who feel afraid and lost in a city where they felt at home before.
I love London because it is a thriving multi-cultural place where 'it does not take three generations before you are not considered a newcomer any longer'. Like many people I have spoken to I took these attacks personally, even though I was lucky enough not to have been in the vicinity when these explosions happened.
This painting is to say STOP and to pay tribute to all Londoners in some way affected by these attacks and the terrifying prospect of more attacks.
BOXED UP! 2005
Shamans in Siberia would lock a bad spirit in a water-tight container, so it couldn't do any harm ever again... This painting is about the wish to do the same thing to all terrorists and other evil-minded people
It's about travelling on the London Underground and being transported to a 'different Under World' altogether
CURUPIRA
(MESOAMERICAN SERIES)
The Father of the Game
The Curapira is a small hairy goblin who punishes those who abuse nature. Sometimes he rides on deer's heads. He whistles to death anyone who kills too many animals or wastefully cuts down a tree.
The rainforest (& our world!) needs a Curupira more than ever before!
2005
THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD
Just before Christmas 2004 I had a very vived dream. There was a behemoth, it looked much like a dinosaur, moving through an exotic landscape. There were a river and a rainforest in the background. The dinosaur was trudging along, seemingly unaware of anything but its own movement. There were lots of tiny people all over its back. Some were holding on for dear life, aware they might slide off any time. Other were having a tea party, chatting away, completely at home as if they were on rock solid ground. But here and there people were losing their grip and in the process of sliding off, knowing they'd be left behind and could never climb back on.
In the dream I was just an observer, taking it all in. And suddenly I realised: this dinosaur is life itself, or the earth. It has got a force and a rhythm all its own - though a lot of the time we are not aware of this. We feel secure on the little patch that is our life and daily surroundings. But one unexpected movement of the dinosaur, an earthquake in human terms, and we are thrown off. Our hold on life and existence is very frail, mostly illusory.
Boxing Day 2004 brought the Tsunami in Asia. Summer 2005 brought terrorist attacks in London. And this dream came back to me: the realisation that we are on earth but for the grace of God really. A medieval way of looking at life, in a way. This painting therefore has one foot in the Medieval Series, a second foot in the Dragons and Serpents Series and a third foot in the World Events series. And that's where I finally gave it a place. The aftermath of the Tsunami and terrorist attacks all over the world has shown that for the survivors life goes on. The behemoth keeps trudging.
FAMILY TREE!
This painting is about the fact that as human beings we are all members of one big family and so we form one huge family tree! It is also to remind us of the fact that we should look after Mother Nature, just as she looks after us and provides for us.
This painting was made to a backdrop of contemporary issues such as racism, pollution and global warming. Unfortunately these issues aren't specific to the year 2005, they are just as relevant one or two years later.
2003 Was the year that the international community put pressure on Iraq to disarm. Saddam Hussain remained defiant. On March 20th th USA launched a military attack on Iraq. In Great Britain prime minister Tony Blair decided to support him and send in British troops as well. The leader of El-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, issued the threat that if the USA and Britain didn't back off instantly, the events of September 11th, 2001, would have been child's play compared to what is to come. What follows in 2003 are terrorist attacks in Bali and Casablanca. In 2005 bombs went off on London Underground and a double-decker bus in London. Terrorism and the possiblity of terrorist attacks have become a fact of everyday life.
This painting was inspired by Mozarabic Art. This can be definded as Christian painting produced around the year 1000 in an Iberian peninsula under Islamic rule. In that period the three great 'religions of the book' coexisted in present-day Spain: Christianity, Juadism and Islam. The paintings from that period have a visionary quality. As in today's world, tensions were mounting rapidly and alarmingly between the Western and Islamic worlds.
In Mozarabic art denial of the physical world and or real time is a striking feature. Everything is frozen into one single moment. There is not 'one window onto the picture', all details are given the same treatment and therefore need to be studied seperately. Therefore these images invite you to read them on a conceptual level. The main object of these pictures is to encourage spiritual contemplation. (To read and see more, click here on the Medieval and Mozarabic Series).
As one of the visitors to my Open Studio pointed out: the painting is ambiguous. It isn't clear who the serpents are and who is on the inside. And that is one point about this painting: two parties perceive themselves as surrounded by serpents, it's a clash of cultures and religious beliefs. Do we have to perceive each other like this?
THE HEAVENLY ARMIES
(SOLD - this painting has moved to Vienna)
'The Heavenly Armies' is another painting inspired by Mozarabic art. I worked on this painting in days of acute anxiety and worry about what was happening in the world. The notion of an 'Army of Angels riding to our rescue' was comforting and lifted my spirits.
In Mozarabic art colour is often used to create the effect of both stability and dynamism. Particularly bands of contrasting colour in the same image. Pictorial space is divided into two or three levels that express a fundamental distinction between the physical and spiritual world. - Often you find two bands of colour: one shows what is happening on earth, the other shows what is happening in Heaven at the same time! - In this painting I have used different bands of colour to show angels of different 'ethnic backgrounds' seated on different horses riding out together to come to the rescue of mankind. This painting gets a lot of attention at Open Studio events. Some people 'visit it 'every year. I take that as a big compliment.
(Updated March 2008)
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Lost Londoners, real life and world events in art, There But For The Grace Of God, World Family Tree, Surrounded by Serpents, The Heavenly Armies, Missing Madeleine, Carbon Footprint, Pollution, Dia de los Muertos, Requiem Shark, London as a White Goddess, The Business Snowman, Snowmen Hunt, Abundance, Blessings in Disguise, Ascencion, Rainer Maria Rilke
IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO INNER WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTING
