A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

I am a lover of art. Not all art. Just those images that connect with a chord in my being. I can be moved by color, by design, by subject, by artist, by moment. It is unpredictable. I know what I like, and if it is at all within my power to possess that art, I will bring it into my own world, my home, my family.

From Cyprus, I am taking two paintings back to California. Both were purchased here. The first is a blue door. It was painted in 2007 by N. Petkova, an artist visiting Lemesos from a middle European country. It is beautiful, inviting, historic, memorable. I didn't see this door in Lemesos, but I found and photographed another version during a walk within a mile of my flat in Engomi.

A door means many things--an opening to an inner world, an exit to the world beyond, an invitation, a blockade. I like to think we choose our front doors carefully--to show our personalities, our desired relationship to others. For me, this painting represents Cyprus and my opportunity to go beyond the physical facade of a closed door, however beautiful, into the welcoming, family circles on both sides of this island.

The second painting, with totally a different style and impact, is one of a series completed in 2007, by Gïrne artist, İsmet Tatar. This painting will be part of her collection to be shown in Nicosia in September, when she participates in a month-long exhibition focused on thirty Cypriot artists. (One-artist-featured-each-day, I understand, at different locations around the city. What pleasure September will bring to those who love art in Cyprus!) I wrote about İsmet's art in an earlier blog. We are soulmates. I think I understand her work, and I certainly feel her emotions when she describes her paintings. This collage is a landscape of sorts. Imbedded are bits of architectural drawings, notes about ownership, covered with a thin layer of color--shades of yellow, for hope, she says. İsmet's subject, here, is property dispute in Cyprus, the issue that is key to resolution of the Cyprus problem. Not only does this painting represent the trauma of the Divide, but it offers possibilities for resolution, reflected through color and design. Hope and possibilities for Cyprus are my good thoughts, too.