tatau pounamu - enduring peace

The fourth and final artwork for "Reflections of Italy" Exhibition that opens at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in  Wellington on Monday.

Title: tatau pounamu (enduring peace)

Artist: Sophia Elise

Media: Acrylic on torso. This is freestanding sculpture. Dots are handpainted - greens and white.

Torso is textured.

For Sale: $1500 contact sophia@sophiaelise.co.nz

 

This torso was actually started over a year ago for the "Legato" exhibition in Cassino, Italy.  After spending days preparing the torso, texturing it, painting the background, repainting it etc the idea I had started with didn't work for this torso. He was left behind - sitting in the corner of my studio - waiting for inspiration to come. 

 

Once we started planning "Reflections of Italy"- which is being held exactly a year after  "Legato" - some very different ideas came to me.  The ideas were inspired by our time spent in Italy.  However, once again after many practice runs with designs, those ideas didn't make it to the torso. 

 

Then two weeks ago - it came to me in a sudden flash of inspiration and I just "Knew"what it was going to be. I spent a day designing the outlines of what I wanted on the front and back getting it ready for the next stage.  Then came some more thinking time - planning the colours and design of the dots inside - more test runs - and finally paint to torso.

 

This torso was always designed to look like greenstone - it is symbolic of the tears on greenstone at the Army Museum which is the wall of remembrance for our fallen soldiers and returned servicemen. I think that the symbolism combined with the title really says it all - we want and need enduring peace  ...... 

The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world. – Marianne Williamson

The Art of Peace is based on Four Great Virtues: Bravery, Wisdom, Love, and Friendship -Morihei Ueshiba

"To be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions, but not contented with yourself until you have made the best of them; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies and often of your friends... these are little guideposts on the footpath to peace." - Henry Van Dyke