As we went up the stairs into the gallery, there were many art pieces that caught my attention. The most mysterious and shocking pieces however, were right in front and to my left. I had never seen anything like this before; and to my luck it was last part to be discussed. I was fascinated by it. A person in the picture and drawn on the person, there were symbols that depicted different ideas. Who was the creator of these wonderful works? Rimma Gerlovina.

I had never heard of her before, but the pictures were stunning. Out of her display, I loved two pictures. The first one was a picture of her, with a bird drawn on her. The wings spanned right across her forehead, with its tail coming down to her nose. The odd part was it was caged… not by metal bars, but by what seemed to be her hair. As you looked, it seemed that the eye of the bird, and Rimmas’ eyes were looking at you. My mind wondered how she created a cage out of her hair, and I thought it was all wrapped around in one piece. It made me feel tense, because it reminded me that we all have secrets, which we do not let out and it could make us feel, locked away. I felt reminded that we all abide by societies standards, and that we may have talents, or new ideas, but we are all too afraid of not being accepted that we lock it away.

The bird is the symbol, of the soul and how beautiful our minds are. I felt the wings are spread through the frontal lobe because this is the powerhouse of decision-making. I felt that she may have wanted to portray, that we have the ability to make the bird wings flap, but we don’t either because of our fears of others perceptions, or we ourselves feel trapped and do not know how to express our thoughts. The frontal lobe is what regulates our movements. It has been hypothesized that we move without thought, and it is our brain that says; “yes, go ahead” or “no, do not do that.” If this is true, then we are all unconsciously moving and acting, but our brain itself, is what makes us feel locked away.

The frontal lobe aids with problem solving, the control of purposeful behaviors, and emotions. I feel that the bird is also a symbol of a person’s unconscious thought. I feel she had a cage made out of her hair, to show that it is we; in our bodies that hold back our brains. We can allow ourselves to be set free, but we don’t. She writes a small explanation on her paintings; “BIRD: Self-enclosed spirit, or beating against the bars of one’s own mental cage.”

The other painting dealt with the concept of time. She has a Spiral coming out from her face. The arrow is turning and for this picture it is at the top, towards her forehead. There are roman numerals; like a clock, XII, 12; III, 3; VI, 6; IX, 9. I thought that it was a paradox, because our concept of time is wrong. Time can be bent and twisted, like the spiral dawn. It may change upon your speed, and your mass. This is what makes it a paradox, we are all familiar with time, but it has a misconception of measure, There have been experiments which have proven that time can be slowed down for an object that is traveling at a fast speed. They wrote, “SPIRAL CLOCK; It is believed by most that time passes; may be it stays where it is. ‘Never was time it was not’”

In the photograph, she is sleeping. This made me think of how time passes no matter what we do. I receive a message from the picture that says we have to also allow ourselves to let go and be happy.

She is a Russian born artist who works with Valeriy Gerlovin. They were both founding members of the underground conceptual movement in Soviet Russia. Their art is based on Paradoxes. Their art is also philosophical and mythological based on the writing in their book.

I also wanted to say that it was beautiful, and I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to visit and see the beautiful paintings. Although these paintings drew my attention, all of them were beautiful.

 

 

 

References

  1. Mark Sloan. “PHOTOGLYPHS: Rimma Gerlovina, Valeriy Gerlovin Hardcover – January 1, 1993.” PHOTOGLYPHS: Rimma Gerlovina, Valeriy Gerlovin: Rimma Gerlovina, Valeriy Gerlovin, John P. Jacob: 9780894940446: Amazon.com: Books. New Orleans Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.