"Art in the Time of Coronavirus" ... food for thought

Original: Tribal Kimono, 2020. 24"x36", mixed media on panel.

How is it that being under New Mexico's "stay-at-home" mandate provides so much "free time" at home, yet the days seem to fly by during the current Covid19 crisis? I know I could be/should be in the studio painting away for hours on end, since there are no places to go or things to do to distract me. But that is not happening, and I am flummoxed by it all. 

I do try to resist the newsfeed and emails on my cellphone, computer, and iPad. I have avoided watching daylong media reports on the TV as well. I even put my cellphone in another room while I am working in the studio. 

Yet, the notification ding on my electronic devices is seductive and being "informed" is addictive: Is it good news or bad? Is the curve flattening? Are the number of infections rising? The death rate increasing? Is there a test yet that is truly reliable? Any progress on a vaccine so this can be over? When will my stimulus check arrive? Will our country go broke for working people? Or will working people die if they go back to work? Whom to believe: Wall Street? or Scientists, Doctors, Healthcare Professionals? 

How will I know if I don't at least look at the headlines to know what is going on in the world at large? And then I am hooked for hours on end, reading every incoming scrap of news and related story. And day after day, another day has slipped by.

Back in my small, personal world of home and studio is Tribal Kimono, a painting I finished last month just as Coronavirus was replacing our "Normal Lives" and cancelling my April exhibit at LRoss Gallery in Memphis. It's quite different from many of my other kimono paintings which are based on organic, harmonious, nature-based forms. 

Tribal Kimono is geometric, map-like, with strong opposing arrow shapes, rendered in  black white, grey, red and gold. There is chaos and order, light and dark, pattern and randomness.  

As I look at this painting today, I ask myself: Did Covid19 seep into my subconscious as I worked on this kimono painting during January, February, and March? Are the horizontals and verticals the charts and graphs of coronavirus spreads, deaths, recoveries? Are the dotted areas hotspots of outbreaks? Are the curves rising or flattening? Which beliefs, opinions, and facts are right--in the blacks, whites, or  greys?  Which "authorities"--government, scientific, healthcare, corporate, political, religious--should we follow? Which arrow is the direction our country should take? Are the red areas warnings and dangers? The gold ones, truths and solutions? 

Since "We're all in this together", does this painting somehow represent the current "tribal" kimono that America is collectively wearing?

What do you think? And how are these days in the Time of Coronavirus going for you?

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©2020 Carol L. Adamec, text and image. All rights reserved.

"Art in the Time of CoronaVirus"....

Kimono Swing 2, 2020, oil, gold on canvas, 36" x 48"

It's been several weeks since I last posted. Since Christmas, I have been working 6-8 hours a day, almost every day, painting new work for a solo exhibit “In a Japanese Garden” that was scheduled for the month of April at LRoss Gallery in Memphis, TN. Last week the show was (mutually) cancelled, hopefully postponed until later this year, or rescheduled for next spring.

I am feeling part disappointment; and part relief to not have a 1,000 mile drive from Albuquerque to Memphis ahead of me and being away from home during this turbulent, unpredictable time.

However, I thought I’d use this blog to share a sneak preview of some of the new work that I completed for the show. Enjoy!

The painting posted today is “Kimono Swing 2”, oil on stretched canvas, 36” x 48” (yeah, it’s a big one for me!)

The work "kimono" means "something to wear" so there are many styles of kimono for different occasions. This painting is based on the furisode, a woman's kimono, and the fanciest Japanese kimono worn for various special events. Traditionally the furisode kimono was worn by young, unmarried women and was made with the finest fabrics, the most lavish designs, and embellished with metallic threads. The word "furisode" means "swinging sleeves" which can vary in length from 15 inches to three feet. If a young woman wanted to attract a certain young man's attention, she would gently swing the long sleeves of her furisode kimono to signal her interest.

Inspired by these factors, I composed this painting to portray the layering of materials and colorful patterning with gold accents of a furisode, along with the excitement of youthful romantic attraction on a lighthearted, breezy spring day.

Thank you for taking a look at my work. Please stay safe and be careful during this time.
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©2020 Carol L. Adamec,Text and image,  All rights reserved.