« This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. »
— Quote from Leonard Bernstein, after J. F. Kennedy's assassination, 1963
EYES WIDE OPEN
On February 24, 2022, eight years after the annexation of Crimea, Russia invaded Ukraine.
The world was in shock.
Sudan, Republic of Congo, Yemen, Gaza... over the past three years, devastating conflicts have become internationalized, intensified and radicalized. The extremist contagion continues to expand and supremacist visions multiply all around our bloodless planet.
t is so hard to remain a passive witness to this entropy ; but what can a painter do?
As a Zen practitioner and conscious artist*, mobilizing the pacifist force of an equanimous heart through shapes and colors is a call as ardent as it is urgent. By touching the souls of Men in the absence of stopping the bombs, this intention also seems to me capable of fighting against anthropocentrism to open us to a deep ecology**.
Yes — but how?
How can we mobilize the forces of Art and loving kindness in the service of Peace and a viable future for humanity?
I explore some complementary paths to try to place Art as a manifesto of love and light for a habitable, harmonious and resilient world, such as:
— Imagining unifying artistic events opening spaces for dialogue and reflection in favor of greater solidarity.
— Painting and drawing while remaining firmly aligned with my values and aspirations. "Creating for the sake of all beings" is creating with the unwavering intention of manifesting beauty as an energy of Peace stronger than the lethal one of ignorance.
— Offering Art Therapy sessions to suffering children and using the uplifting power of the creative process to help them overcome their trauma.***
* To claim that I am an activist or even engaged would be very pretentious.
** See the work of Johanna Macy : https://www.joannamacy.net
*** Discover the non-profit ELOVUTION : https://www.elovution.org
ARTISTS MOBILIZE FOR UKRAINE
02.22.2022.
Once the state of shock had passed, my childhood friend Carol Dubois-Deffains and I immediately imagined organizing an art sale for the benefit of children who were victims of the war in the Donbass region.
As part of our association ELOVUTION, we urgently collected about a hundred works very generously donated by artists from all over France: paintings, sculptures, original comic strip boards, silkscreen prints...
In collaboration with Marlène and David, our friends from Bercail, we then organized a publicized exhibition in their beautiful space, in Saint-Malo.
A notable evening in support of Ukraine took place as the opening on April 9, 2022.
A few weeks later, at the end of the same spring, ELOVUTION had collected 8,425 euros, immediately donated to the Ukrainian association Voices of Chidren (Голоси дітей), which, like ELOVUTION, promotes Art therapy with traumatized children.
A EQUANIMOUS HEART HAS THE POWER TO DEFUSE ALL WARS
As the founder of the association, I did not present any of my work at the exhibition-event for ethical reasons.
But I started to paint, my heart in meditation.
This painting appeared.
This is a plea for peace and an ode to the power of Art as a means of reparation, fraternity and inspired global vision.
The poet Rumi invites…:
“ Get out of the circle of time, and into the circle of love. ”
The latter is where Benzaiten (弁財天), the Japanese goddess of arts (~Saraswati in India), wisdom and longevity, is located. She is also considered one of the most powerful warrior deities.
In this circle of love, Benzaiten plays the biwa*, for the sake of all beings.
Right click to scroll through the slideshow | © Caroline Maby
Sukhoi, Mig, Rafale, F-16 of the civil protection return to the base.
The fertile lands infuse their cadmium yellow into the celestial space which, if it remains tumultuous — the phenomena cannot be stopped — does not affect the living matter by egotistical or narcissistic storms.
Love, solidarity and harmony prevail.
Yellow and blue, earthly matter and celestial transcendence blend gently; Ukraine in the background will soon become the resilient symbol of a Europe conscious and united around the urgency of climate change and socio-economic challenges.
This is the first time that I use the two large studio seals (" Art as Dharma Rain " and " Painting to Liberate All Beings ") at the same time. The canvas required speaking with a strong and confident voice.
May emanate from it a meditation for peace, tolerance and solidarity in the face of the terrifying progression of obscurantism.
* A small, short-necked lute, the biwa is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument.
