Picture of the day

A woodcut by Emil Nolde, ‘Candle Dancers’ 1917

“…depicts two ecstatic dancers, their writhing bodies wrought with unfettered emotion, erotic energy, and spiritual freedom. The dramatic contrast between the exposed paper and the black ink suggests flickering candlelight, which accentuates the dancers’ movements. Expressionist artists like Nolde sought to make art that was intuitive and passionate.”

I think about what it means to have intuitive and “unfettered emotion”, to be a dancer immersed in the proprioceptive landscape of dancing. I think about moments from the senior’s 5 rhythms session on Friday where people were encouraged to feel the music, and feel their way into the moment. How can someone be taught or encouraged to feel their way into listening and paying attention to their body. How do we view the body.

I like the thought of dancing by candle light, where the visual cues are muted, and one leans closer into sensing and feeling body.

impressions from Filipa Pereira-Stubbs on Vimeo.

I find this gorgeous book on Outsider Art at The Strand book store and wish I could magically lighten it and stow it in my luggage, but have to be content with reading this:
“As groundwater seeps to the surface and flows towards the stream in many rivulets, many expressive impulses run in many creative paths into the great stream of art.”
Hans Prinzhorn

I think of the different styles and means of expression I have witnessed this week.