Kseniya is possibly one of the greatest artists (with one of the strangest mediums) of our time. She reveals to us some of the most beautiful scenes from all around the world...all of them ending in warfare, protest, public outrage, or some sort of raucous destruction. It all ends with a 1945 painting of a man leaving his family to go off to war. Her art, constantly in motion, is nothing short of wondrous, but aesthetics aside, could she be conveying a greater message?
By using such scenes, she is revealing to us that we need to reform our values, stop, and think: is war necessary? Look at what it does! In each drawing, what happens to the characters? They are destroyed: killed by something unnatural--things that end our lives in an untimely manner. Gunshots, bomb droppings, and a cacophony of other tremulous sound effects are typically accompanied by the sloshing of sand onto the lit plexiglass, signifying the corruption of beauty by wars and hatred that need not exist. Simonova is simply encouraging that the world, starting with Ukraine (seeing as how she won "Ukraine's Got Talent" with this performance), should develop a more peaceful demeanor. Who needs war anyway? Who wins in a war? Isn't society and family destroyed on opposing fields of a war? Is war not just the intensification of humans' need for competition?
I think the last line of your comment deserves further exploration. If you equate war to competition, what else is war equated to related to competition?
ReplyDeleteJeux Sans Frontière
ReplyDeleteBrian - I like your phrase. Indeed, it rings true...and sounds way better in French.
ReplyDeleteRobert - I'm prone to ending my notes on a question. It seems by questioning something at the end of a passage, the readers are more likely to comment. My opinion? It's all a struggle to be number one. When it comes down to it all, the world is in constant division because one way of thinking is better than another in the mind of the citizen of one country and vice versa for the citizen of another.
I can completely agree with the war is nothing but competition. Look at it though history it was always some group comparing it's guns, bombs, swords, skills and such against the other and the prize is always land, money, or something like that. It is just man on man competition on a much larger scale. War also has a lot more casualties than normal competition. If this is true, if war is nothing but competition the two armies can have a football game instead. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI, also, agree with Kylie and Dom. War is nothing but a competition. Not only is it just a way to acquire something that one country doesn't have (like oil hint,hint), but its a way for countries to play the "My horse is bigger than your horse" game. Nothing good and healthy comes out of competition on a war-like scale.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, Kseniya is a wonderful artist and her talent is one of the most moving and influential I have seen in a while. I didn't really know what to expect from the video, but I was deeply moved. The scenes she depicts with her hands is something I could never master. I think that her message is one of peace and to avoid warfare for the sake of everyone because war affects every person in some small way.
I'm glad you introduced us to an awesome new artist dom!
It's funny, I was just watching this with my friends and we were debating what it was about. We decided it had something to do with World War II and reading this confirms that. War is an immature way to solve a conflict. We're too lazy to sit down and work things out, so we drop bombs and kill innocent people to try to get people to do what we want. I always compare it to fighting. You can physically fight with someone, or you can sit down and find out what the issue is and work it out. One takes more energy and compromise than the other, and the other is the easy way out.
ReplyDeleteI`m am so glad that you posted this Dominic. Izzy's mom showed me this a while ago and I was just blown away.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching it, I wanted to know so badly why everyone in the Audience was crying and I found out.
Ukraine lost one in four of its population after World War Two, and it happened that that episode of the show was tapped on the anniversary, so it is only natural that they would cry. Many of them probably lost family members to the bombings and killings back then.
I don't even see why someone would want to kill another human being. It is just not natural. Who cares if they took your lands. I don't know. I praise Kseniya for her skill. Makes me wish i can draw in sand.
I can only Imagine the things I would draw.