|
|
|
|
Tanya
Hoddinott
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I am
currently working on paintings commissioned for the inclusion in a book
due to be released this year, ironically entitled 'Unfinished Journey'.
I was invited to travel for a period of 3/4 weeks to a country of my choice.
I chose Central America. After travelling for 2 weeks I met the man who
was to become my husband. I eventually returned to Australia, only to
return to Mexico 8 weeks later.
We are now in Australia after living in Mexico for the past year. Living
in a small rustic cabana on the Caribbean sea. There was no electricity
or telephones and we ate fresh fish and coconuts daily. We swam with Manatee
and watched huge turtles lay their eggs in front of our home. We snorkeled
in front of the towering pyramid that once acted as an ancient lighthouse
and listened to stories about the spirits that lived in the sacred cenotes
that surrounded us.
|
|
Swimming with the Sharks 2002
acrylic on
canvas
170.0 x 135.0 cm each
|
The
land we stood on is the youngest land in the world, made of sea-shells and
coral, but the place and the people are ancient. The Yucatan Peninsula has
over 2000 known pyramid sites that is one state. Central America is covered
with the ruins of ancient cities. My travels have always taken me to places
where I can feel that history. Walk along the causeways in Tikal, the famous
ancient city in Guatemala, and you feel that time erode, you walk amongst
the ghosts of the Mayan astronomers, who took these same walks of contemplation.
|
|
|
What
started as an interest in the physical nature of these places, has led me
to learn much more about the spiritual qualities of both place and people.
The stories are unavoidable and sometimes unbelievable, Pyramids that glow
in the dark, Crystal sculls found deep inside many of the sites, said to
contain the history of our universe and formed by pure thought. The incredible
soul paths of ascension and descention, which explain the strange labyrinths
of the interiors of these huge structures, the connection of Egyptian, Peruvian
and Mayan cultures, I could go on and on, but there is no denying the infallible
knowledge of the stars and mathematical precision of the Mayan calendar
and the conviction of the stories lend themselves to the magical nature
of the place. You become a believer. |
|
A Day of Play 2002
acrylic on
canvas
120.0 x 90.0 cm
|
I
am particularly interested in the work of the American scholar Joseph Campbell.
He devoted his life to the study of cross-cultural myth and religion. He
wrote extensively about the Central American Mayans, Aztec, Olmec and Toltec
civilizations and their beliefs and has really helped me in understanding
further the complexities along with the humour of these people, who have
a completely different way at looking at life and death. |
|
|
I
consider myself to be a landscape painter, although, not in the traditional
sense, I like to break up the canvas using line and this stems from flying
and looking down, the natural and man-made lines, the fences of the farmers
and the colours of their various crops, the river-ways and natural contours,
the way an aboriginal painting works, like an aerial view. I am told that
all artists tend to naturally paint the landscape from an elevated position.
These lines are like the many roads on a journey, and inside these delineated
areas are the people and the animals and the stories. They are to be read
in a similar way to the early pictographs or hieroglyphs. There is no particular
story to read, although the title may offer a clue to my own, they are different
for everyone. They are to be seen and read according to the viewers own
experience and interpretation. Sometimes they are completely abstract, these
works are to be experienced rather than read. |
Counting Days 2003
acrylic on canvas
170.0 x 135.0 cm
|
Painting
in Mexico, in a small cabana that I shared, with quite large canvas's to
finish, was an experience to say the least. It was also something I had
always wanted to do. Paint on a large scale, in another country, with all
of those feelings and senses fresh and alive. I had 6 months before we were
due to return. We had visited many of the great murals of Riviera, Orozco,
Siqueiros and other incredible Mexican painters and I automatically became
bolder in my own use of colour and brushwork. The layers of blue that make
up the Caribbean Sea, the stark contrast of the colourful red and yellow
birds against the deep greens of the jungle, the heat, the rainbow-like
embroidery of the Mayan women, force you to recognize a great love and celebration
of life. |
|
|
Learning
to read the symbolism of the exterior carvings on the ancient buildings
has also brought me to incorporate some of those elements into my work,
becoming more conscious of the power of repetitive patterning and design,
as both relative to our modern life and connecting to our past.
The image
of the snake, for example, now means something totally different for me,
for as in Joseph Campbells own words 'Poor Snake' he always gets the blame,
whereas the snake, often shedding his old skin for new, represents 'new
life' rather than rejecting, we should embrace him. Symbolism is not reinventing
itself, it is all there, and in some way we resonate with these old images
and shapes, they strike a chord, just as colour does the same thing, a
burning red painting produces a much different feeling than perhaps a
pale green might. Something that is also very important to me is that
the painting has rhythm and balance in its composition; I like the picture
to look like a piece of music sounds.
Travel and
work come hand in hand for me, and the more I see the more I have come
to realise that there are many things that are different about our separate
lands, but the people and where we come from all have a common thread,
all the stories, the architecture even the religions all have a common
beginning, so I feel sure that the stories and symbols that you see in
my work are to be felt and experienced by all people".
Tanya Hoddinott, Melbourne,
2004
|
