The Stars.
Detail : “Petals” by Kevin Sloan
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
- Oscar Wilde
...and so here we find ourselves, in the midst of chaos, disease, uncertainty and ugliness. It's easy to get lost in it, the anger and despair of the gutter. Though, it is precisely times like these when looking at the stars is crucial. Beauty, love, and dreams abound, we simply have to open our eyes and look beyond our current situation. The world around us is still beautiful, humanity is still...human.
There is a reason we show the style of work we do, though the art world has, for a very long time, celebrated a dystopian ideal. There is, of course, merit in work which is upsetting, brutal, painful, and ugly; there is merit in all artistic expression. However, curating your daily environment, your living space, with examples of misery is, at best, unhealthy, whereas beauty can be transformative. It brings harmony and balance to our lives and reminds us of what we are able to achieve.
Orit's work, (below), springs from being a woman in a male dominated society and the misery of being a child bride. Andres' SOCIAL series was born in protest of the government that held his father as a political prisoner for seven years and destroyed his homeland of Cuba. Pablo makes an exquisitely painted, morbid joke at the expense of Spain who plundered his home country of Chile in "El Dorado No Estaba en Chile" or "The Gold Wasn't in Chile". Kevin's work speaks to the destruction of the natural world and humanity's perception of nature as separate. Beauty, my friends, need not be vapid.
Ultimately, the one thing in the current climate I can control is myself, and so have decided to curate my life accordingly. I will double down on kindness, limit my exposure to all media, plan for a better future, relate to humanity one person at a time, and continue to work in support of the creation of beauty in all areas.
Be safe, the world needs you.
S
Orit Akta
Join us in welcoming Orit Akta aboard. Akta works in oil on canvas, her work, in general, relates to the female experience. She carries with her stories of child brides in her own family, and the mourning of the child as with a death, that takes place prior to the wedding. These stories have influenced her life and work.
More...
Painting No. 11 | Orit Akta
Art for daily use.
If you like what we do and want to support the gallery, check out some the COCO Gallery Store!
Gráfica and Bohemia candles.