Kat Eye Studio

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Art Expressing Spirituality

All around Europe, there are religious images. It would be impossible to live and travel here in Europe and especially Italy without seeing religious art. From a street corner niche to the vast cathedrals, we are surrounded by it. Much of it, while impressive and beautiful and historically significant, falls flat to me in terms of actually touching something inside my soul. It’s no reflection of the belief system itself – they just aren’t me; they don’t reflect my beliefs.

For me, it is often the everday images that reach out and touch my soul – as evidenced by the things I share here. But once in a while I run into something that is both of a religious nature and I feel some connection with – that is this piece of art, in this chapel of the Bled Castle in Bled, Slovenia. I love the simplicity of the sculpture, the light on it, the location it was placed, the surrounding chapel. There is something more real to me about this religious art than a perfectly executed Rennaisance painting. This would be a place I could sit and ponder the nature of the universe or the nature of myself.

Perhaps this is the reason why I keep ducking into churches or chapels, just looking for the one or two pieces of art that speak to me. That give me a greater understanding of why art is so important to spirituality. And maybe a little better understanding of myself.

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Alive


“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” – Agatha Christie

I read this quote this morning and it struck me as so true! I wanted to share the quote and chose this picture, a sort of self portrait of me in the mirror behind an Egyptian statue at the museum in Torino. One of the interesting things about ancient Egypt is their fascination and preparation for death. In one exhibit, they showed a tomb of a common man. This guy labored all day building the tombs of the mighty and powerful and then in his free time labored to build his own tomb. His life spent preparing for death.

I think I would rather spend my time alive in living, no matter how messy it might be.

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Capturing Light

For a long time, I didn’t understand how photography was the “study of light” until I took enough pictures, took the time to see what I was really doing was capturing the light that illuminates the object as much as the object itself. In the same way, I’ve never really understood or appreciated sculpture as capturing light. It was two things that did it for me, seeing and photographing this work Eros and Psyche by Antonio Canova in the Louvre, and seeing an exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs alongside Michaelangelo’s David in the Accademia in Florence.

Sculpture really is the study of light on a volume, the same way that photography is. But it’s in 3D. You can walk around it, see it from all angles, and appreciate the art in a different way. Next time you see a sculpture, whether modern art or classic figures in marble, try to notice how it captures the light.

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Waiting

One of the things I loved about the Paris museums is that they actually allow you to take pictures, unlike the Italian ones. Usually I don’t want to take pictures of specific art, but want to capture how it is presented. I loved this look down a wing of the Louvre. Not one of the famous works of art was here, as evidenced by the lack of people. Just the docent, sitting quietly, and the art iself, waiting for someone to happen by. For some reason this just makes me smile.

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