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The New Question
Entry 11 of 32 | show all | print this entry |
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Today Ed and I wanted to check out the art scene in the neighborhood of San Telmo for a project we have in mind (will talk about this in the future!). San Telmo is known for its antiques, tourism, and art. It's the old colonial part of the city. Since it was such a beautiful warm day we decided to walk all the way from my place to San Telmo, which is a LONG way.
On our way there we stopped to go inside the Buenos Aires Cathedral which neither of us had ventured in before. I totally did not expect what I saw. I had never imagined such opulence and beauty in our own Cathedral. There were murals and paintings portraying Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints on the walls and ceilings, combined with baroque gilded decorative motifs and different marbles. The floor of the entire cathedral were little 1cm x 1cm tiles that drew floral and natural motifs on the entire perimeter and center of the building. The cathedral floor plan was in the shape of the typical Latin cross, complete with a huge apse, cathedra behind the altar, and small chapels in the exterior naves. All in all, the cathedral was designed and decorated in a very Baroque style.
I always loved the deafening silence that lingers in churches. And when someone makes a loud noise or a child yells out, the echoes bounce around the arches and domes startling everyone. Even when I studied Art History I could never get over how amazing some churches were, and although I am not a religious person, I definitely appreciate the grandeur and artistry of churches all throughout history and worldwide. Byzantine churches, for instance, always tended to reflect how a person should be : plain on the outside and beautifully rich on the inside, meaning your soul is what is important. Hagia Sofia in Budapest was built with this hidden symbolic meaning. Those who have visited it I'm sure noticed how plain and tough it looks on the outside, while on the inside it makes you feel like you're in another world, and the sun glittering on the Byzantine golden tiles are there to create exactly that effect.
When you study Art History, you mainly study religious art since that was what art was based on from Roman Empire times to well beyond the 16th century. It has never ceased to amaze me the means used in churches to attract the faithful. Some were quite enticing, such as the sweet face of a girl angel, while others were not too pleasant, like monsters and demons scaring people into not sinning. The image of Jesus also changed throughout the centuries, either a gentle caring deity or a terrible fearful one...it all depended on the age you were living in. What all churches have in common though, is the preaching of the faith, the teaching of the scriptures, and the attracting of the faithful. The Buenos Aires cathedral would definitely attract me to visit her again.
We walked and walked, stopping in antique fairs and historical sites until we reached the spot where the largest concentration of tourists from all over the world were. Most we walking around taking pictures or watching music and dance from local street performers. I felt I was in another city suddenly. We stopped at the most amazing fruit kiosk and bought bananas, plums and grapes for lunch. As we walked around eating our refreshing fruit, we became part of the tourist scene : taking pictures where we could and stopping in every stall to see what was being sold. We talked to some artists and admired their work. There is such a big art scene in Buenos Aires and most of it is of high quality. Despite this, most artists in Argentina are struggling so I was very pleased to see a few tourists admiring and buying Argentine art.
After a long day and sore feet, we took the subway home. During the ride, I thought about the great pieces of work I had seen and how hard it must be to be an artist. Sometimes you have to succumb to what the public wants to see or buy so instead of creating something that reflects your emotions, you're painting something tailor-made for a fashionably hungry audience. It's definitely a very competitive trade. But I guess most artists had the same problem throughout history, where patrons commissioned specific works of art. The genius of the artists lay in the emotion and expression and technique that was portrayed in the obliged masterpieces. So as the subway reached our destination, I found a haunting new question in my head : what is Art?
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