Highlighting Presence through Absence

"Spring for Nobody". Jan 2011.

"Not the Same Place". May 2011.

Maybe someone
from somewhere
will come here and wonder:
"WHY?"

Maybe a family will walk by.
The child will say:
"Hey, Mommy, look! It's a picnic!"
And the mother will reply:
"No, dear. It is not"
"Why?" asked the child.
"Because nobody is there to enjoy it."

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These two paintings were my attempt to deal with the challenges of showing a strong absence. Painting is a static object, so for me the only way to show absence is by juxtaposing it with presence. Therefore, in order to create a strong impression of absence, I need to - at the same time - create an overwhelming presence.  It was a tough challenge to present the two diametrically opposite situations in one unified painting, especially because I was a beginner. However, after completing these paintings, I have learnt an invaluable lesson: one can express human emotions, actions and exert a presence by projecting it onto objects, landscapes or atmosphere. Quite impressionistic, huh...


I do paint once in a while, so there might be some paintings popping up every now and then in this blog. For a complete gallery of all my paintings, you may visit my deviantART page.