In summer's hot smelt
colours dance dusk's susurrus
as adults chatter.
The Painting 'The Common’ - A Psychedelic Summer Party
This painting by Kathryn Maple won first prize in the John Moores University painting prize in 2020.
It originally caught my eye as it inspired a powerful feeling of nostalgia in me. As a child I was taken to many meetings of the ‘Free Nelson Mandela Campaign’ and other activists groups supporting the Anti-Apartheid movement in the 1980s against the South African government.
In the summer a lot of these meeting were held in local parks, or back gardens of people’s houses and I always remember them almost being like a super-charged party. With adults vehemently discussing the inequality and injustices of the South African regime of the time, and having had my mother explain in detail what Apartheid essentially meant for the native people of South Africa, even at an early age it had sunken in the ridiculous nature of humankind in finding any excuse to persecute another people, e.g. based on colour.
I guess the bright - almost psychedelic intense colouring of this painting – triggered the intensity of the emotion of that time. Also, it reminded me of the fact that basically us children would often spend these meetings in a big group just running around in play, exploring the undergrowth and climbing trees when the meetings were held in Sefton or Princess Park in the summer.
It was a time of innocence, and also great colour and intensity. These were the thoughts that cascaded through my head as I looked at this painting. It actually took me back to a memory of when I was about 5 years old and we were visiting the annual Granby Street festival, which at the time was a massive (for such an impoverished area as Toxteth in the 1980s) concert held on the field behind the Caribbean centre. From my child’s eye view at adult waist height, this painting describes almost exactly what I remember. Many people, of different colours and cultures all wearing brightly patterned clothing. I remember being fascinated by the scene for many minutes.
I always maintain that art is subjective, and my vivid remembrance brought on by Kathryn Maple’s painting is probably far flung from the artist's objective experience that inspired her painting. Yet when you delve into art it’s often as it was for me in this instance. There is a saying that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, and with art, it so often could be paraphrased as ‘meaning is in the eye of the beholder’.
A Brief Exploration of Kathryn Maple, Her Work and Artistic Influences
According to the Canterbury-born artist Kathryn Maple ”My paintings are based on landscapes, both imagined and travelled through, that are reconstructed into paintings. I am interested in exploring the potentials of drawing, mark-making and colour. My most recent paintings investigate our relationship to the environment, interrogating the present and revealing something of a changed space”
Kathryn Maple studied Printmaking at Brighton University and undertook a residency at The Muse Gallery on Portobello Road. Kathryn won the 2014 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and has exhibited in the Jerwood Drawing Prize, Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, at Christie's International for 'The Best of The Drawing Year 2012-13', and at the 'Betweenlands' exhibition hosted by Blain Southern in 2014.
Her work combines very fine detailing with areas of minimal working, the open spaces enabling the eye to focus on these marks.
Source: royaldrawingschool.org
The Walker Art Gallery
I recently visited the Walker Art Gallery with my girlfriend. During the three hours we spent there I took many pictures and wrote Haiku poems inspired by the art that had grabbed my attention.
Art galleries have a strange effect on me. I always find myself drawn into a meditative place by the gallery's quiet and the art's impact.
I am always this way in any gallery... names don't impress me. I could walk past a Picasso (although I do like Picasso) to sit and write in response to an unknown artist's work if it caught my eye and senses. I find it hard to explain, but it is like a force that draws me to certain paintings.
Although I was drawn to some of the world-famous works that the gallery holds, such as the Pre Raphelite, 'Echo and Narcissus' by John William Waterhouse, my eye was also drawn to the painting The Common (by Kathryn Maple) pictured above, which won the 2020 Liverpool John Moores University painting prize.
If you are visiting Liverpool I fully recommend you visit the Walker Art Gallery (the link takes you to a Google Maps location of the gallery).
Whether you're looking for world-famous artists' original oil on canvas paintings - or fancy checking out some more modern art (as they host the Liverpool John Moores Art Prize Collection) - there is something for every art lover.
Thanks for reading 🙂🌿
To read more about the aesthetics of true haiku, and the difference between haiku and senryu, please check out my post: Haiku Vs Senryu - The Aesthetics of Form
All images in this post are my own property, taken at The Walker Art Gallery.
Camera used - Samsung S7 Smartphone
If you have enjoyed this Haiku, please check out my homepage @raj808 for similar content.
