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FiftyFive ~ # 19
Every now and then you come across somebody new and I stumbled upon Ke-Hsin Jenny Chi because I was looking at images of Heloise and Abelard and her work is quite astonishing. At first glance, you can see Rubens and Veronese - the strong lines, the slight coldness of the flesh tones, the voluptuousness of the figures themselves. And yet the faces and expressions are contemporary: these are images of our own times, when to describe someone as Rubenesque is likely to mean a black eye - and the word volumptuous - well. But while the image does depict the celebration of their love, look at their expressions, not happy but more forlorn, as if anticipating their doomed fate. And yet, I still find myself drawn to the mandolin in the foreground, which has always been one of my favourite instruments, and I wonder what songs they played to each other on this - or indeed who played and who listened and I like that idea too, that this great romance has soul, music and singing. All too often it is reduced to the sex but it has to be more than that surely - well that is what I think. But hey - you can take yourself too seriously - like Heathcliffe and Cathy - who got a mention yesterday and deserve to be saved today - this be sublime - leotards or Lyotard anyone - falling from a wuthering height, Icarus? Not a mandolin but a ukulele...