Photo previously posted here was of the painting Books, palette knife and oil on canvas, date unknown, by Leonid Afremov.
Today is World Art Day. As mentioned on the linked site, art may be visual, written, spoken or musical.
My love of visual arts skews toward paintings more than sculpture, but that could be more of a lack of education and exposure than anything else. This blog makes it clear I’m a music lover. I’m also a fan of performing arts (movies, theater, dance), but of course, my own favorite art is written, whether as fiction or poetry, thus my choice of a painting spotlighting books.
Some of my characters in the Neverending Saga are big readers; others aren’t. But they all love stories–telling, hearing, imagining them. It only came to me slowly why these novels would likely never be commercial–there is plot, with some storylines resolved quickly and others spanning decades, but really, the novels are stories about people who love to share stories with one another.
I’m sensing well used, withered, torn, battered, tossed. I think they are maybe not rejected book piles, since effort had to be spent painting their presence. Rejected books are removed from existence, usually with prejudice, especially in Florida just like the Nazis did.
On the flipside, making that canvas look that way took strenuous talent that is much appreciated.
I agree they look like well-loved books. The painting looks like an invitation to a comfortable space.
Book banning is a harbinger of authoritarian overstepping into people’s lives. But that’s no surprise, as there are so many other signs of that being the direction the noisiest and most ill-informed among us are trying to push us in. Sometimes it feels like they hate everything that brings joy, comfort, and hope to people’s lives. “Hate” is in their symbols, their words, their actions. Hate, greed, and cynicism: what a sad trifecta to bet on.