go 4 change!

SLOVENŠČINA

in the high school curriculum of my generation and my surrounding there was even marxism. at that time, i did not think much of it. politics and social struggle were far out of my interest range. in my recent study, however, i came across the name of karl marx again. surprise of surprises, it was in the subject of biblical hermeneutics - science of interpreting the bible, finding its true meaning).

well, i am not going to write here about marx's views comprehensively :), but let me mention his belief that philosophy, religion and art are merely ideological superstructures of economic realities. so, what you think of my art is, according to marx, true only if you can connect it to the socio-economic situation i live in? now, will you tell me what your conclusions are, and why?

in his theses on feuerbach, marx stated that philosophy only interpreted the world. the interpretation brings about understanding, and understanding, in turn, must produce change. although marxism is said to be an opposition to hegel's idealism, (and indeed his course is philosophical materialism; please note that i do not intend to enter into deep philosophical debate i am not competent for, but just use the same terminology to point to rather superficial meanings) this part about the inevitable change where there is understanding is, in a sense, a naive stance. of course, it took much incitations and even manipulation to bring about the social revolution, and then, after decomposition of the communist and socialist regimes due to the poor economic environment it produced, one could ask, why were the revolutionary forces able to survive only by using repression and terror. what kind of “understanding“ and  “truths“ the proletariat was fed with to maintain the status quo? marx's contention about bourgeoisie producing its own grave-diggers proved a reality for the socialist moguls and societies as well.

no true change in society is possible without personal change. communists have the same corrupt heart and selfishness as everybody else. somebody recently said in essence: “if the ideology and socio-economic well-being in former socialist countries were ideal, why people fled out and nobody escaped the 'inferior' capitalistic and imperialistic societies to find a haven in romania or german democratic republic? so in every type of society there is the same danger lurking in ourselves.

it takes much more than information or intellectual agreement to be willing to change. it takes courage and determination, moral integrity and the ability of critical thinking which implies action, not just understanding. and it takes the power from above. jesus said: “if you stay joined to me, and i stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. but you cannot do anything without me.“ (john 15:5, contemporary english version; the fruit here referred to is every kind of noble and decorous deeds)


so, what do you think of changing yourself? no motivation? no hope? how about joining to the source of power you can do nothing without?


this is what developed while i was contemplating the new set of letters needed to compose a sign to be printed on some t-shirts. the metameaning of what you can see above is: why not this summer? and why not whatever change (x) you need the most? go for it! even if you are in maribor, slovenia!


but ok, i will explain the first meaning of what you see. there will be some activities of medical students from eu (if i am not mistaken) in maribor. one of them who called me 'daddy' for this purpose (although he never calls me that, but simply 'dad'; and this ought to be sth in our family for just about the same time his brother called me the same, and asked me to translate his baccalaureate certificate) and got me to think of the t-shirt he would wear.

it started with basically two lines. the figure was vaguely planned to be put somewhere between, or even on -  as a transparent element). but, obviously, one e was in excess, so the first one was erased. now, the x needed to be highlighted in some way. i chose to do it using a different font, size (augmentation) and position (rotation).

it was too big then, and i tried four rows. after adjusting the kerning, i gave thought to the number. somehow now that i had worked with the x, zeros completed the association - the tic-tac-toe game. the idea was that the decision to participate is a winner. (the number is readable, all right! proven. i asked my youngest son to tell me what he saw, and he did see it. if you do not, i must have asked a wrong person for help.) /sorry, vesna! i ended with your smiley. can you see now that it must be a bit more elaborate, anyway?/ 

lettering

SLOVENŠČINA

to convey messages to a viewer and possible consumer, commercial signs, advertisements, and other visual communications all use letters besides illustrations, photographs and symbols. in our day-care centre we chose to personalize hooks with a drawing and a tag. in order to make the tags original but systematized and as nearly unified as possible (similar to what it would be with typing them, as opposed to handwriting), i designed the letters myself. (see below the matrix used)

last year, which was the initial year of operation, when the number of children was limited, i had used a different colour for each child's name, which was fun to do, but proved to be impractical. first of all, the number of children augmented and it takes time to hand-mix attractive shades that are different enough from those already in place. then the paint used was normal wall paint, which is nowadays durable, all right, but believe me, not every parent is art oriented. so hanging sturdy backpacks and heavier stuff with metal parts take away some of the paint. that is why we need to do it again from time to time. and that is why i decided to write the names in only three colours - white, gentle blue and equally gentle pink.

the design of the letters is an imitation of the way children start writing. but each letter was written only once on the cardboard strip i used as a model, which means that it was positioned in every instance in the same way. should i, therefore, call it a font? of course, the kerning in a more or less unified way was the most difficult thing to achieve, as is seen in the photo in the left.

last autumn i made a new set of letters to refresh the cloakroom a little. this time it is uppercase. last year's lettering is found now only on the door of the bathroom. 

seen in the left is a combination of what is written/glued on three doors. the letters are painted with the use of a similar matrix as those on the bigger photograph above - on the main door, and the hats are actually cut out from an adhesive plastic foil and put without any inscriptions on the men's and ladies room respectively.

feel free to like them. i do.

what is a worth of a sparrow?

SLOVENSKO

i had already depicted the dog, the squirrel, the mole, and the storks. complete with the fir trees edging, raspberries and dandelion flowers as details, and the big elements (the hills, the tree, the bushes, and the clouds) my landscape was just about finished. but not quite. the foreground tree was empty as well as a big peace of the sky. so i decided to add more - birds.

until now i drew a hen, a sea gull, a penguin, a parrot, and a duck, but none of them could be used in this idyllic european setting without violating the childish logic it would deal with. sure enough, hens are seldom seen flying or in tree crowns. so i needed something new. and little. that is how i decided to draw a common sparrow.

i admit, it took me a day and a half, and much effort to finish these three. perhaps it was due to the chosen perspective or not easily attainable goal under the motto: simple is beautiful, or something else, but it was hard. nevertheless, the final result gave me much satisfaction. aesthetically and otherwise. frankly, i do realize that the cute birdies obviously lean towards caricature - more then other drawings on the wall. but, what can i do now?

simple sparrows can teach us a lesson: “29 aren't two sparrows sold for only a penny? but your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 even the hairs on your head are counted. 31 so don't be afraid! you are worth much more than many sparrows.“ (matthew 10)

P. S. i am sorry i can not show you the blueprint with the clear-cut outlines, and without background, for it is gone since my HD stopped working - i am still waiting for the data to be recovered.

wall paintings

SLOVENŠČINA

in edita's day-care centre there are two playrooms. in the big one there is quite a big sun shining from the wall. since i drew it using the computer and the painting is, as it is expected for the sun, rather high, i chosed to print a dozen of  sheets of paper with a section of the drawing and then copy them on the wall. it was not an easy task, but in this way i was able to avoid putting the projector in an unsafe position high on a ladder.

(RIGHT: this is probably the most colourful spot in the painting, and the only one without the outline - if you can wink at the graphite line left visible. it is a detail of the nest.) well, later i spotted the dog too.

in the smaller room, my wife wanted a story-time corner. installing a rail from which drapes would hang, and adding a green clothed sponge (for grass) on the floor with cushions, she planned to imitate a spot outdoors, but she needed some sky and a scene from the nature with several animals in it. this was the moment she thought of me. :)

in the foreground of the painting, there is a little hill with bushes, flowers, a tree and a pole with a couple of storks, and in the background another hill grown with a line of fir trees around the edge. the idea was that each element on both hills would be positioned on an imaginary spoke radiating from the the hub somewhere below the floor.  just for an effect. (in another post, i will show you the whole scene. for lack of space for pictures - they are surely too big for the web use, anyway, but i always check a higher quality square hoping for better results -  i attached here only a few details.

the challenge was that the painting needed to be in the corner. how do you do this? the image projected in the middle would be badly distorted. project one half of it on each wall, and the outcome would be a broken image. but i did project it that way, and then corrected the lines, where folded, to make them appear as they should, when looked upon from the opposite corner and from the perspective of a toddler at that. it was not sooo very difficult, for i put only one hill, a tree an a cloud on both walls, if you know what i mean.


as this was a painting for children, it seemed a contour would be appropriate. i believe a special impact is obtained with the light colour of the line. i decided to use a peach pink. you judge for yourself, but i liked it very much.

choosing the right animals to depict gave me a bit of trouble. i wanted to represent those found in the nature and those the children can easily identify with. but as i had started drawing before i fully understood edita, i already had a tall building with many windows, tulips in a flower bed and a doggie sitting nearby, when she explained what exactly she wanted. i did not even think to waste the doggie, so out in the nature there is a puppy as well. you guessed right. it is a look from the flower bed with the tall building with many windows behind your back. :)