in loka b, “the cloud room”

january 12 through february 21

matt sayre | metalworks

january 2009

we received the following piece from painter ona matulic, who was inspired to write it after attending two loka events in december: artist pierre delattre’s exploration on the subject of “coming home to beauty,” and poet dora mcquaid and photographer lenny foster’s reading/exhibition launching their 2009 calendar, “the dreamtime of horses.”  we decided to make ona’s poem/essay our first “guest blog.” what she says is something we all must consider.  let’s let 2009 be about that.  

the audacity of beauty

dares to reflect to us the truth of who we are…

birthright apparent…

folding away from the mundane, peeling it layer by layer, till every act is an act of beauty

i had decided to stop painting …there was simply too much stuff in the world …it can’t feed anyone i told myself.

my paintings didn’t fit in anywhere, not realistic, not completely abstract, not edgy, not hip, not, not, not…

why i would have thought that i should fit into a paradigm that touts independence while all the while keeping us in dependence is beyond me…why i would want to fit into a paradigm that values predatory profit over resource-based nurture is beyond me….what about interdependence?

leafing thru a daniel smith art supply catalogue I came across a quote: dostoyevsky said, “beauty will save the world”

stillness ensued and now

i savor the saving. let it roll around my tongue, palette and teeth:  take it deep within my being and i am fed….and so i continue to paint…not fitting in, rather creating my own space.  a new freedom birthed. others respond to this leap, and together we are nourished.

 

the audacity of beauty

idiom of essence

prayer of possibility

 

it’s how we speak source to each other.  How we remind one another of what it means to be