Our life as a work of Art?

Nowadays ( and nowyesterdays too...) many things seems to turn into Art.

Doubt it?

A Google enquiry gave 1,250,000,000 entries (in 0.62 seconds)!!!
Just to name a few of them:

Art of Living,
Art of Dying,
Art of War,
Art of Peace,
Art of Killing,
Art of Kissing,
Art of Problem Solving,
Art of Drink,
Art of Shaving,
Art of Cooking,
Art of Eating,
Art of Aging,
Art of Staying Young,
Art of Democracy,
Art of Illusion,
Art of Happiness,
Art of Seduction,
Art of Conversation,
Art of Silence,
Art of Selling,
Art of Buying,
Art of Politics,
Art of Lying,
etc...etc...

Is mentioned even the Art of sharpening pencils (?), Art of Doing Nothing, and the famous Art of Asking Stupid Questions.

And of course Art of Internet,

Interesting to notice also the Art of Science???

There is practically an "Art of..." everything (verb, name etc...) that one could think of.

If you search Google, in the same way for "Science of...", it will return "only" 755,000,000 entries.

Seems like Art is more popular than Science, in human thinking.... :o)









Three monumental chapters in humankind civilization.

Religion, Science, Art.

Three different ways to approach life and what we call the "world".

The first explains it through God and his Creation, full stop.
The second analyzes it and formulates it rationally,yet it is often rather puzzling.
The third, well, is still in construction... It seems that it feels and reflects about it instead of coming to definitive conclusions.

Yet this is a vast subject, so we'll keep it not too long for now.







Now, have you ever thought of considering your life as a work of Art?
Like a vast canvas where you would draw, paint, refine the subject and elements, like a symphony where you would tell a profound story both unique and universal, a poem where the most subtle feelings and insights would be behind every words?
Have you ever considered that instead of feeling like a poor victim of existence, you could transform it into a most inspiring work of Art?
Have you ever considered how inspiring that would be for the young generation coming just after you?








What means " looking at ", for a painter?
How does he perceives "things" visually?
How intense is his faculty to penetrate the world around, as well as inside his being?
How deep is his quality of observation?

What means listening for a musician, a composer, a conductor?
Is it just casual listening like for most of us?
Surely not, one can guess.
Why do we live in such noisy environments called urban life?
What is the difference between "cacophony" and " harmony" ?
How a good musician can tune his instrument so easily?
How hundreds of musicians, in an orchestra, can do that practically in the same ( and short!) time?
Can we tune our brains together by listening deeply?

These are just few questions we can ask if we are going to learn to be the artist of our own life.
One of the most fascinating discovery that can be made by being in contact with real artists, is how little of the potential that resides in the brain/body, is actually left free to awake and reach unusual depths of perception and creation.
This sounds complicated?
Ok, very simply put, there is an immense waste of potential in humankind.
Nevertheless, learning from people inspired, may give a totally different depth to our daily life, as it changes into a creative field full of possibilities.







So, " si le coeur vous en dit..." it's up to you to make the first step in this refreshing journey.

L'Homme d'Art





Beethoven, Esref Armagan, they defies scientists and traditional logic.




Here, two links to explore. Quite surprising and inspiring. Recommended.

http://www.esrefarmagan.com/index-en.html

http://www.cosmos-club.org/web/journals/1997/water.html





And because we Love green color at the moment,

West and East perspectives

Today was a magnificent day.
It started with birds waking up as the sunrise slowly dissipated the shadows of the night. There was no breeze and you could hardly hear the sea, as it was quiet like the surface of a lake. The water was unusually clean and a bit cool. Hundred meters further on the beach, a young buffalo was eating some green leaves from the bushes. And his presence attracted four dogs who came barking aggressively to him. They went on barking for a while, then got tired since it was clear that he wasn't at all impressed by their noise. And the quietness returned. The day was hot and it felt good to stay in the shade.

In the evening the sunset on the sea was particularly spectacular. Not these bright red skies with blazing clouds that photographers crave for.
No, just a ball/disk of intense yellow light, falling down towards the sea, its color shifting gradually to intense pink. It was exactly above the little island. This intensity went on fading slowly and the ball/disk disappeared behind the small island, leaving a sky empty, without a single cloud.

The economic crisis the world is facing, is also quite spectacular. One can read numbers like " one trillion of dollars", " 48% of unemployment in the country", " big resort hotel having just two rooms booked" etc...
How did we come to that situation?

Well, since this blog is NOT the place to analyze, speculate, explain and fill our mind with more blah blah blah, we will leave the question open :o)

Nevertheless, it feels appropriate at this point, to play a little game. A game relating the economic crisis with art...

Please remember that we are not economists, experts in finance, but simply human beings Looking , Listening and Learning.
Learning by insight.
We won't take things too seriously, we are just looking at it from an artistic perspective, in a playful way. After all, why not?
Ok, let's start.


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Question: which (graphic) artwork is the most popular in the world?
( Please, don't search the Guiness Book of Records...)

Well, one start to think, "most popular?", " in the world", a painting? a photography? an advertising poster?
Perhaps the " Mona Lisa", or a Marilyn Monroe portrait, or ...

Ok, here is a little hint: it is so popular that people look at it every day, often many times a day and even at night. Practically all your (thinking) life...

Oh, oh, maybe the portrait of the Christ ( if you happen to be very devout from this particular religion)
Or Krishna, or Buddha if you are from another.

Another hint. This artwork is so popular, that it is reproduced in millions of copies, and people would do anything to get it. In fact millions of people, and probably more, just dream, pray and crave for this artwork. When they look at it, very often a big smile take place on their face, and quickly their brain start to think about what they will do, next.

Still not guessed?

The artist who produced this artwork must be a celebrity... Picasso, Van Gogh ?

No, not a celebrity at all, in fact, almost no one know his/her name.

Give up, I give up...Please tell me!

Well, well.
Then click on these links ( in another tab) and the mystery will dissipate.
Why didn't you think about this?

link1

link2

link3

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Now, let's have a look at this video below, and observe the differences between a bank note from the West, and one from the East part of the world. You will immediately recognize their country of emission. Different cultures, different religions, different geographic locations, etc...

The key is perhaps in the center. (just like a keyhole???)
In the Western culture, you see that the center is occupied by the important man. The personality, the portrait, the ego. All this is in the center. You can't avoid seeing it. It's as clear as a black spot on a white face. Every day, it's in our hands, reminding us the importance of being at the center.

In the (far) East, what do we see in the center?
Just plain paper (ivory). No ink, no portrait, no name, no symbol, NO THING. This void, emptiness, in the center of the rectangle of paper, contrast sharply with the one from the West. Here, no ego, no Me, nothing important.
( Of course, there is a portrait of some important person on the side, but we are at the moment interested in the center, not the periphery).

So, every day, during most of their life, people like you and me, being from the West, the East and in between, look at this little image and get a message repeated millions and millions of time, without being even aware of it.



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Ego, selfishness, is everything but a holistic way to Look at Life.
There is not place for every one at the center/top of the world.
Is there any center in Life?

People have listened or read the words of the Pope decrying selfishness in this huge economic crisis.
But we knew that already, didn't we?

The human brain has learned to translate Life into words. Isolate more and smaller fragments of Life and put a label on each. Drawings become symbols, symbols become characters (letters), letters are combined into words, words are put together to form sentences, and sentences pile on top of each other to produce long paragraphs, texts and stories.

But the brain, also can be an expert in other fields of language. Verbal language (words) is not the only form of thinking, even if, for most of us, we have been intensely trained since our young age, to concentrate on words, speaking, writing, reading etc...
Ask to a banker, a accountant, a business man, or a mathematician, and they will tell that their brain is very, very busy with numbers. Calculating, evaluating, measuring almost constantly. Everything or almost everything can be put in a formula, an equation, and defined by measured parameters.
These very complex calculations ( why do you think, man invented the computer? to play games?) are at the center of space exploration, wars, society regulation, and economic stability.
Or... instability.

What about musical language?
For a long period of time musicians have been considered, somewhat minor elements of the society. Their music, if pleasant, is usually just good at bringing sweet "rêveries' to our mind, relaxing from our tensions, and also exciting and stimulating to work hard or to go to war.
Yet, only recently, the musical brain and the complex processes involved, have been the focus of some researchers who try to translate it into words to remove part of the mystery.
Artists, graphic artists, painters, have also a proper language, non verbal. A language of colors, forms, textures, relationships etc...

To try to translate one language into another can prove to be very hard. And inadequate.
In fact, Art, Music start perhaps where words end. Poetry flowers freely, when calculation and measurement stops. A computer works at its best, when it has ( of course) no emotions coloring, interfering with its calculations.

It can be very challenging to look at a landscape without thought starting to put words on it.
Or listen to a music quietly without escaping into mental imagery and memories.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing.

The brain can learn to function in different fields and be inspired. Inspired and perhaps inspiring. Different dimensions. Different perspectives.
This diversity makes Life so full, so rich.
Rich?
Yet the small rectangle of paper with a very, very familiar image on it, has be, day after day, the very center of our focus, and today we miss it...

Yes, missing more than one trillion of $...






Economic crisis?
And what if, deeper, it was a profound spiritual crisis revealing its symptoms?



L'Homme d'Art

Nature paints part2

The path to the light

Extravagance?

Flowing

A long story

Space to grow

Nature paints

Little strokes of warm colors on a Gray canvas

Orchids always make a lovely painting

Light, water and rocks, deep abstract composition

The huge, bright leaf

As you get older, you get warmer, the leaves seems to tell

Just in case you might have any doubt, we publish here a post called " Nature paints".
Yes, of course, Nature paints, and beautifully, one just need to keep eyes open,
follow the path of the light, and the mysteries of the shades.

Who taught man to paint?
Who even gave him the idea to play with colors?

Nature is a great artist, the only one who knows how to paint without a frame.
Man invented the frame.
He would feel lost without.

With its infinite painting, ever changing, Nature teach us a great Art.

The Art of Looking

L'Homme d'Art

Bird's eye view

Like this: there are two main perspectives for looking at a landscape.
Like a tree you stand on the ground and look to the horizon line.
You can also fly like a bird and from the sky, look at the landscape, below.

Now , do this and you will find that what you see is completely different.
The bird's eye view gives much more a sense of texture, unfamiliar shapes that we qualify of abstract. Abstract because we have not yet completely invented a vocabulary to fragment and name what we see. Therefore it is much more difficult to describe.
But if we look at the landscape from the ground perspective,
then we see trees, mountains, lakes, skies or whatever we can isolate and label.
Of course it is much more familiar and we feel more comfortable in one sense.

It may be different for the bird...

We could look at our life like this. From a totally different perspective. Probably unusual at the beginning, but we can learn, can't we?

When these two perspectives merge, we have an immense field of perception open.

Lucky birds, that's maybe why they sing all day long.

Compassion

This afternoon, as we were riding the motorcycle on the little road that serpent through the banana trees and the rubber trees, at the border of the jungle, we saw on the side of the road a young dog laying down. Here, often you would see dogs resting on the road, sometimes just on the middle, half asleep. There is not much traffic, the drivers usually avoid them, or the dog just get up and move to another place if he perceives the vehicle too close.
But what attracted our attention was the, somewhat odd, posture of his small body. We stopped and walked to see him. But three meters from him we understood, by noticing the great number of flies around, that he had already passed away. Another dog who was not far came to us barking, but not aggressive, even a bit shy. It was the mother, you could see the same colors and traits, and she was trying to keep away this intruder. The young dog probably had been bumped by a car.

Later in the evening, we returned home via the same road. The sun had already set and now there was a clear night, and on this deserted road, you could stop and look at the stars. There were so many of them in the indigo/black velvet of the sky. So bright, and some of them so close that you could have tried to touch them. Alone, there, in this quiet night, with many crickets filling the silence with their noise, the air scented with the many wild flowers and plants releasing their natural fragrance, after a hot day, you would feel like a guest among the tall trees standing still and silent, since there was no breeze. Feel like a guest only if you could keep quiet, tune to the spirit of the woods, immerse yourself in this harmony that you didn't create, and which was not created for you.
Just be quietly part of it. You are not more important than the firefly with its green blinking light or the old tamarind tree on the side of the road.
He has been there long before you came, and it will be after you leave. Even the black scorpion crossing slowly the road is the host, there. You can't kill him. If you are scared, leave this place and find somewhere more comfortable and secure. Go to the town, to the noise, to the dirt, to the world of entertainment and pleasure . Here, none of these. Here, you can stay if you accept to be part of all. Nothing else is required. Just to not invade the space and the silence of each creature. Because here, each one has his own life, his own business.
Far away, there were the sound of dogs barking.

As we returned on the place were we had stopped in the afternoon, everything was the same, like a déja vu. The mother dog was there, looking, sniffing at her dead child on the road.
Was she expecting that he would get up and play again with her?
Nevertheless it was so evident that she was missing him so much. She barked again to this stranger, as we stopped for few minutes, wishing that she could understand that we were not here, in the night, to harm her or take her child. We felt really sorry for her. We felt her loneliness and the void left in her heart. She would have to forget, to let go, and live her life the new way. After a while, she seemed to feel that we were not a danger for her, but still waited for us to leave. So we did.
And returned home, with these mixed feelings that we share now.
Have we ever seen a living creature that doesn't mind to be hurt, or killed?
Each creature, animal, vegetal - or in between -, will avoid the dangers of life. Each creature has to learn to detect what can be dangerous or harmless, to remain alive. No creature accept blindly death.

This morning, all the birds were singing in the sunshine. They were so excited, flying, jumping from one branch to another. An intense life was animating these little creatures. A big black crow came on the banana leaf and the small birds disappeared for a while.
Tonight, they are silent, sleeping probably, and you can feel their absence.


Compassion: a passion that encompass all the creatures sharing life, like you and me do.






L'homme d'Art

Colors of sunset

One day we discovered that our guitar was color of the sunset.


Colors so warm, so true.

This guitar so close to your heart, when you play.
This sunset so far, yet so present, as the day ends.

Total delight for the eye, and the ear.

Listen, look at the sunset, this evening on the deserted beach.
Look, listen to the guitar, this evening in your peaceful heart.

Silence and Sound are One
Color and Darkness are also One

The Great and the Tender

O Grande e o Carinhoso

Grandeur et Tendresse

Un magnifique coucher de soleil et Dame Nature nous dit " Bonsoir"

O sol já vai caindo
E o seu olhar
Parece acompanhar a cor do mar
( A.C Jobim, "fotographia")

Is there anything more inspiring than a sublime sunset?
Who knows?


L'homme d'Art

The Art of the 5 L blog has got a "voice" now...

Today looks like a beautiful day. The sun shines, the breeze returned to animate the trees and the grass, and the birds seems full of energy, busy in their tasks and singing as they do it.

Here we are also busy to implement a new music player ( just like your iPod) with many things to listen. No pop songs, or commercial stuff, since the point is not fashion and entertainment, but learning the Art of Listening. Listening to sounds, often unfamiliar, where surprise, discovery, curiosity are present. We are at the doorstep of the unknown, we will avoid repetitions, because life, even if it has apparently its own cycles, nevertheless doesn't repeat exactly itself. If our mind can perceive every moment as new, fresh, unique, life then, is an endless flow, very creative, very inspiring.

Listening is something extraordinary. Really! Let see why.

We all started to listen, in the womb of our mother, much before we could open our eyes and have our first glimpse of the world, around us.
Sounds, through the wall of flesh, started to awake us very early. The resonance of our mother's voice was very closely part of our first listening. Other sounds were more vague, far away, merged together. But the FLOW of the sounds was already impressing our little brain and being. Moments of silence, moments of activity, loud, soft, tense and peaceful.
The melody of a singing voice must have been a delight!

Before the iPods, the mp3 players, the radio, the TV and the invention of the loudspeaker, the soundscape panorama was quite different from what we are used nowadays. The big sounds were like the thunder, imitated by men, with their shouting voice, their big drums and their cannons. Men found very early that by making very loud noise, he could impress and stress so much his fellows, and therefore control them, but realized apparently only recently that all would suffer from lots of disorders in their life, with tinnitus becoming our closest companion.
Before, long ago, the ancients listened to the sounds of nature, they would pay attention to what Nature was telling night and day. They could learn a lot from that. Today in the cities, in the big metropolis, noise is everywhere, constant and loud. The loudspeaker is king and telling us how to live.

At that point, isn't it interesting to notice that man invented a way to amplify the sounds and noise, but not to make noisy environment more quiet? Unless you build a sound proof studio with thick walls and absorbing materials, how can you protect your ears from the blaring loudspeakers and the car engines? What about the earplugs, one could suggest? Well, try it, and you will see, if the feeling is the same that a quiet atmosphere, when everything stands still, and your listening is fully awaken, sharp to the most subtle sound. There is a tremendous difference when the mind is fully awaken, listening, and when it is closing its doors to the world to find a bit of rest.

How to use the virtual iPod? (by the way, like it?)
Well, very easy, if you are already familiar with the real one. If not, just clicking on the menu or the little arrows should help you find out. To start, click on the bottom arrow.

In the playlist, you will find some quite unfamiliar tracks. Don't resist, don't try to judge if you can, just listen with an open mind and a welcoming heart. There is nothing to hurt, nothing to violate your own space.

Here, all the musical compositions are produced by L'homme d'Art, except of course the birds singing.

That would be really beyond our capacity to create such a wonderful sound, you probably guess why.

They are the true masters.

Portraits of animals part 03

Looking straight ahead

Conversation

Frog, you were attracted by the lights of the car, which went on you. And now you are dead flat.

Sneaking around?

Happy to be with you

From the most familiar to the less familiar.
Since we were born our relationship with anything is dictated by familiarity. Familiar the face of our mother, father, members of the family; we will remain attached to these images, portraits in particular. We will frame them and keep them on the piano, the furniture or inside our wallet.
Portraits of dogs, cats, hamsters, any pet which has become part of the family, part of the familiar. We will become soldiers to defend them, and cry when they are gone. But we keep their portrait.
The rest, which is not familiar, is foreign, strange, scary at times. See this little boy, he run to his mother and want to hide in her dress, because he has seen a stranger, unfamiliar being, different from what he knows.
And he knows so little.
The same with this dog; familiar with his master and relatives, and barking to the new visitor, human, animal, whatever.

We derive a feeling of security with the familiar. It feels at home. The unfamiliar, we don't know; it requires attention, observation, energy.
But as we look, a transformation take place.
The unfamiliar slowly become familiar, as we learn about it. By Looking, Listening, our brain Learn, there is a curiosity that we share with all species. This curiosity makes us look, listen.

At the other end of the line is the most unfamiliar, the most different from what we are used to know. The world that is ignored by the eye. And because we neglect to look at it, it remains very unfamiliar, and thus sustains the feelings associated with fear.
If it hasn't one head, two legs and two arms, and remains in a scale similar to us, it is not part of our family, of our community, of our species.
So why should we pay attention?
Well, wrong question.
Or better said, immature question.
As we mature, we learn to look, listen, come closer to this unfamiliar. It maybe risky, if we go to fast. And as we come closer, we go through the wonderful transformation of maturation. This learning, observing silently, understanding, are freeing our mind from its ignorance, its fears, its obstinate attachment to the familiar.

When you mature, you feel that you are not going to spend the rest of your life with always the same familiar objects, which don't disturb you anymore and give a permanent sense of comfort.
When you start to mature, you feel that you want to learn from what is NOT familiar. Which has not one head and two to for legs. Which is of a completely different nature, different shape, different color, different movement.
Can this be familiar?
Can my sense of family expand so much that it will include all beings on this planet? Tremendous challenge, one may think!
Well, ultimately, can the whole universe become somewhat familiar, or at least not so unfamiliar ( since our life won't be lasting forever, we guess...) ?

Painters will tell you that looking from every angle, under different light sources, at an apple, is necessary to be able to paint it correctly. More one look, more the image become alive in the brain, full, complete, rich. And as this apple start to be so familiar, it is so easy to paint it. But to paint is not the main point. The main point is that this apple which was a bit unfamiliar in its details, is now so familiar that the distance between the apple and you is not anymore, therefore the apple is you and you are the apple.

No more division.
Simple.

Next time you'll see an apple, it will be part of your family too. One might smile, yet isn't it wonderful that, just by using our senses and letting our curiosity (together with vigilance), "surf" the unfamiliar, we can merge with the whole universe, and leave fear as a thing from the past.
And now that the present is so rich with all that is unfamiliar being looked at, listened to, and learned from, what is the use to cling to a dusty past with all the same familiar routines, and old venerable portraits?

Now, go off the track, just a little bit.
Transpose, invert, change, look from a different perspective, listen to what you never noticed before. Look not with the eye which is expecting the familiar, but with the eye of curiosity for the unfamiliar. Can you look at things which have no names, hard to describe. Not categorized objects, familiar and evaluated, but to the light, the colors, the curves and shapes, the textures, the movements, and the relationships with all neighboring things. Observing the relationship is of great importance, to discover why things and creatures are what they are, and to learn from our false conclusions, prejudices, distortions.

Me, my family, my friends, my pets and familiar objects stored in my room, my house and my car, my land and my country, apes and mammals, animals and plants, animal/vegetal/mineral, our planet Earth or Gaia ( as you wish to call it), the other planets, the sun, the galaxy and many other galaxies, and... the UNIVERSE.
And perhaps beyond the Universe...
All these categories, a kind legacy from Aristotle and followers, show how words conditions the way we look.
Looking without naming is a great Art.
Looking with our eyes and not just with our knowledge.
Looking deep with our heart to be able to learn what makes this life worth.
Looking and Listening to be part of the great family of Living things.
Living together, related, in a dynamic ever changing flow, not stuck in this old portrait in the dark frame, which - by the way - has its own charm and charisma.

Portraits... of animals.

L'Homme d'Art