Hans Silvester: Tribus del olmo

From Storyculture: Hans Silvester describes his mission, "what’s most important for me is saving, in some way, as much as possible of this truly living art, which is mobile, changing, subject to infinite variation, and whose constituent elements are simple and form a link between man and nature. It seems to me that our modern painting found the purpose of these elements, this simplicity, and used it as its foundation."

Learn more about Hans Silvester's time with the L'omo people at the Marlborough Gallery website.

HERE IS A SLIDE SHOW OF MORE THAN FIFTY OF SILVESTER'S IMAGES

Tribus del olmo

The Painted People of the Surma and Mursi Tribes in Southern Ethiopia - Photos by Hans Silvester.

These people, their rituals, what to us is face painting but to them a calling and embodiment of the spirits, are caught on camera in beautiful portrait shots. They are hesitant, you can see that, before the clicking black machine that the photographer holds. Yet they allow us to steal their images away to show in galleries and books, to post on the NET and spread around the world in ways they will never see or understand. Watching is a complex process of awe, wonderment, tenderness, voyeurism, and a wish to imitate. Yes, paint my face in white and ochre, pigments from ground rocks, shards, plants, and put garlands of flowers and vegetation around  my head and I'll dance shamanically calling and embodying whatever Modern spirits who are in the vicinity and happen to be attracted.

It would be a cacophony.

If it wasn't for copyright restrictions, I would put many of these images in my forthcoming 22 minute videopoem, Tangled Garden.

                              

Woman in Red and Blue

From my Moleskine Project today:

Woman in Red and Blue, 21cm x 29cm, 8" x 11.5", 2012, Moleskine folio Sketchbook, mixed media.


You might guess, I am working on studies for a self portrait painting. Still haven't achieved a good likeness (according to my beloved children), 'but,' they say, they 'like them anyhow.'

I layered this with different types of inks, pens, paints, scratchings, and so on. You might be able to see the detail if it opens in full screen and gives you an option to view at original size.

Let's hope so.

:)


While the darker image is from a scanner, this is closer to what the painting looks like in bright natural daylight (it's an earlier version, too).

                              

Concerto n°9 by Pierre-Marie CŒDES

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO
direct link to Pierre-Marie CŒDES' Concerto n°9 on Jamendo


direct link to Pierre-Marie CŒDES' Concerto n°9 on SoundCloud

Pierre-Marie CŒDES' Concerto n°9 opens with a trumpet call. A swan is glides over the still water of the river. It is dawn. The sun rises with strings and drums. Such tension in the music, coiled, ready to open, and when the piano begins, it does. We are flowing in a dance of water birds. The water is a thick glass floor and when a plummet is thrown, it dives down and down. There is no end to the depth of this music.

We are brought back to the fingers, nimble playing, the breath, even clear notes. The swans lift out of the water, drops of water falling from their wings, angels rising into the brightening sky.

Flutes, reeds flowing to the music. Those on the banks witnessing the ballet of birds in the water, still, awe.

The Allegreto is restrained and draws its power from its restraint.

There is such joy in the melody. The piano sings, lightly across the keys, deeply in the bass notes.

Trills, lightly, lightly, the swans have become ballet dancers with wings. They are sweeping around and around.

Newness arises with the sunrise, the day opens with Pierre-Marie's Concerto N°9. He is ever gentle with us, inspiring us to awake and swim with the day, to sing and dance with the joy of living deep in our hearts.

By Andante, the river flows through plains and vast open spaces. We are in a Surreal land where fairytales turn into operas, where passion fills the landscape. There is magic as the river flows. The dancers have deepened their dance of life to include lonelinesses, moments of quiet communion with what is divine, and all the while distant trumpets remind us of the strength of our spirits. The piano, as ever, sings its notes, carrying the central voice of the Concerto.

In our metaphor of river music, the piano carries us through rapids, drops, over rocks, winds through forests, allowing nature in all its beauty to be seen.

Sometimes we are flying over the river, watching our lives progress, watching the widening of our experience as we move slowly towards the ineffable.

Lovers dance quietly in the peaceful but steady dream that this symphonic concerto opens.

Sometimes there is drama, yes, moments, but the overall flow of joy rushes on.

A catchy jazzy rhythm, with rich Classical undertones.

By the end of Andante, the breadth of Pierre-Marie Coedes vision becomes evident.

Dancers like swans fill our imagination.

Allegro begins with almost a jazz beat, distant flamenco, under a sweet, encompassing blend of instruments. The day is steadily revolving with the sun in trills, moments of flight, laughter, pain, togetherness, the echo of all creation communing.

Our ballet dancers are almost doing a slow tango, their wings open behind them as they swirl, bend, bow.

We are nearing the ocean, a regal entry into oneness. All the levels are echoing, singing, trills, notes, repetitions, a choral of complex patterns and pastel overlays, the harsh lines only rise from the depths, pulling the movement together so that it ends with a flourish of delicate piano notes, everything is shimmering, the pulse of life is here, its stunning gift.