Royal Academy Sculpture, Barbara Hepworth and Costas Coulentianos
Art is a very evocative instrument, if one is really in tune with it. Certain pieces, certain artists and what they conceived as art often upset out serenity, our peace of mind and start an internal storm of thinking and creativity.
My visit to Christies on my rounds of London last week was an eye opener for many reasons and it is still keeping me at it for reasons I cannot explain myself. An abstract structure at Christies was one great surprise but to face a second, bigger surprise a few yards further up at the Royal Academy entrance, I did not expect.
Barabara Hepworth
I stood still for minutes and the penetrating eyes of the structure kept at me, piercing my soul and inner peace. It was NO exaggeration to say I was mesmerized and transfixed by the art of Hepworth! Impressive, calm and yet revolutionary it was not easy to escape its piercing effect and get away from it. What a piece of art!!
Royal Academy Construction
Does it matter who the artist is? Does it matter whether it is attributed to him or her? Not really as far as art and impression is concerned! I really felt lost in the piece but also went round and saw time and again. What is the construction is all about? I came to several interpretations and that made me get down to writing this article here. I had NO definite answer but more interpretations that give more food for thought. Great, I like this! I am in general not a friend of abstraction and high brow art but the impact from the constructions I saw make me think again!
Why have I invested in Costas Coulentianos Abstract Composition?
Spirit of FREEDOM
Apart from money considerations and investment potential there were many other reasons this abstract construction has been a central piece in our collection. We title the work ” Spirit of FREEDOM”. What is your title once you look at the work is up to you. The Benaki Musuem in Athens where the second and third piece of this unique construction were exhibited the title they gave was “Untitled”.
Looking at this piece of art daily cannot but inspire me to write daily about FREEDOM and its impact on me and Humanity in general. There is No higher value on the planet that FREEDOM and that I see embodied in this work of an artists who fought for Freedomm in WWII before settling in Paris to become one of the top European abstract artists of the last half of the twentieth century.
Three different constructions in one page allow me to write for days without coming to an end ever. This is not weird because in Hepworth’s work I see Greek Classicism, Modern world evolving and looking for basic Humanity through Art. In the Royal Academy Structure I see the quest, I see the human struggle to lift off and go beyond our planet to the stars but the reality is that you the readers see something completely different. Finally, the Coulentianos abstract piece is for my eyes and my inner world the epitome of FREEDOM of Greece and the Greeks as the artist saw it evolving and happening in the 1980s when the work was conceived and executed!!
