"Life is a constant clashing and combining of perceptions..."
Evidence & AnecdotesI first saw this video months ago, but was reminded of it today after viewing an interview with Glenn Lowry, the director of MoMA in New York.
Vladmir Baranoff-Rossiné, a Ukrainian painter and multimedia artist, created this work in 1913. As the video states, it is a "pivotal example of abstract sculpture."
He made this piece to tell a story about a changing world. The introduction of automobiles. The first hints of globalized war. The sudden swirl of new pressures and ideas being imposed upon an individual's place in all of it. Frenzied. Chaotic. Mechanical. Constantly in motion.
Because of the perceived enormity of events (which were in fact actual), Baranoff-Rossiné needed a new vocabulary—that of cubist abstraction—to convey his thoughts and emotions. Simple figurative sculpture or whistful painting would not do.
Today we face a similarly changing world (or perhaps one that just continues to change while our generations churn through it). Life seems to have sped up considerably, and as I sit here typing away I feel fortunate to have a least a little time to pause and reflect. Too often I feel like Symphony No. 1.
That said, it is a relief to know that I can empathize with a man who lived almost a hundred years ago. We often yearn for a simpler time, but no time must be simple when one is in the midst of it.
I wonder what media Baranoff-Rossiné would use today to express his thoughts about this world in which we live.
Reader Comments (1)
I just try to write simple, declarative sentences. You know, with grammar, spelling, and proper spacing and punctuation...