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ARTICLE IN THE NATIONAL BULLETIN MAY 1990 |
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Visions and Vagaries Beyond Beauty by Julie Goldman Connard There's a quality I always seek in painting....and rarely find. Beauty isn't necessarily lacking, and the masterful fills every great art museum. It isn't hard to find paintings to like, paintings that appeal to the various senses... the landscape that invites, the portrait that captures some delicate emotion, the flower that delights, the abstract that intrigues. Any of these are a pleasure to experience; all add beauty to the world. But yet there's another quality, mysterious, ethereal--a quality which so often eludes... Perspective and color theory, line drawing and life drawing--the mechanics of technical execution, mysterious as they are to non-painters like me, can be taught. But what can not be instilled, what can only flow from the soul of the artist, is the reason: Why does the artist paint? The notion of painting--or, for that matter, composing or writing or performing - with a grandiose aim to change the world, might evoke derisive smiles or condescending laugher from the academic sectors whose participants may aim for technical expertise or dramatic impact or graphic piquancy, but probably not for a renewed society. The idea that a painting could bring new hope, could induce exhilaration, could catalyze, resolve, could change a life, could elevate a culture--such an idea might not be taken seriously in learned circles. Our society doesn't tend to nurture such idealistic indulgences. Even so, such notions still might grow in the minds of individual artists who love mankind and have dreams for its future, dreams which they share through the gift of their creations... That elusive quality I seek is a quality of communication--of a communication which, in its feverish urgency, enlists aesthetics to disseminate its message. Of the many incarnations of beauty, this quality to me is its highest harmonic. From April 20 to 29, 1990, such quality illuminated a corner of the International Arts Exhibition at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida. Many viewers were drawn to this corner. The glow came from the exhibit of Lucie Bilodeau, a 22 year old painter from Montreal. In that corner, six of her works were displayed. Their titles allude to what Lucie is about: "Being Exterior to the Body," "Immortality," "It's Only a Game," "Night Voyage," "Exterior From the Universe," and "The Return at Dawn." It isn't just that Lucie's work has "a spiritual quality.". Her work, in fact, is about the human spirit. Lucie's paintings portray the individual as a spiritual being with an existence independent of the body. To explain with works how she achieves this could only degrade the magic of her work, for if the same technique were attempted by an artist of lesser technical ability, or with a less lucid vision, it might easily defeat its own purpose and invite disdain for its controversial subject. But Lucie's paintings evoke a much different reaction. They work--regardless of the viewer's attitudes about the spiritual nature of man. So infectiously aesthetic and conceptually compelling are these that they reach through a spectrum of ideologies--religious, philosophical, or otherwise--to deliver their joyful message. It is hard to imagine that even the devoted materialist, the common grouch, or the hardened criminal would be immune to their wonders. Indeed, Lucie's paintings have won "People's Choice" awards several times in exhibitions which allow the public to choose its favorite painting. That Lucie's paintings "work" is evidenced by the comment of viewers. From her notebook, stationed at the recent Clearwater show for those wished to write messages: "...Your great competence in painting, added to your dreams...is what makes these creations ones that I not only find easy to look at but also, in my opinion, have that very rare and very special quality that marks the difference between the very good and the masterpiece." "I love your painting above all others I have seen...." "I was very touched and awed by your work. It communicated...magic, beauty, hope, miracles." "Your paintings take me right up the scale into aesthetics and a transcendence of the physical. Absolutely exquisite communication." "Your work brought such emotion to me. Could not stop crying. It touched me so deeply!!" "It is just great; it opens the eyes about what a person really is." Some viewers have returned to the site of Lucie's paintings over and over, because they had to see them "one more time." And others, on occasion, have cried in front of her display, some welled up emotion apparently released by the contemplation of immortality. In "Night Voyage"--which won the People's Choice award in Clearwater, and also at the Montreal show with 800 artworks seen by 25,000 people--a woman gazes out from her darkened bedroom upon a night scene both familiar and exotic, in which a brilliant moon beckons her into the starry enchantment of space. This exchange transpires even though the woman is asleep in bed--thanks to this technique which must be seen to be appreciated. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this painting is that, like lucie's others, it strikes one not as "imagination" or "fantasy," but as a perfectly plausible reality! Lucie's purpose, she says, is "to actually communicate to people the possibility that they may not be only a body, that there's some hope for spiritual freedom." Her works radiate this communication. It is possible, just possible, that the magic of a painting could glow itself into mind and open its portals to consideration of new realities hitherto shunned. And possibly, beyond beauty, that elusive quality awaits--mysterious, ethereal..... 1990 Julie Goldman Connard, All rights reserved.
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