Lola Lonli
For the first time I saw the works of art made by ebony carvers from the African nation Macondo, in 1989 in the Kunstkamera, in St. Petersburg. They were brought from Africa at the beginning of the last century by my beloved poet and traveler Nikolai Gumilyov. The sculptures were called "The Roots of Life" and were amazingly finely executed, they struck me to the very heart with their unusual beauty, I memorized them for a lifetime.
After 9 years, I drew a picture with ink on paper called "The Root of the Life by Master Makonde". It was a period in my life, when patience was needed, because I was in the hospital. I was drawing all the time and received the nickname "Leonardo" from the doctors. I was inspired by the fact that each wood carver from the African tribe Makonde, having reached the highest skill in wood carving, makes the sculpture "Root of Life". This sculpture is the result of the entire life of the Master, in which he expresses not only his own worldview, but also the experience of previous generations. And the most important, plots of mythology. Often, shortly after the completion of the "Root of Life" the master dies. For me, the life example of a master from the Makonde nation is the personification of creativity and focusing on the creation. A symbol of life in art, when creativity occupies all thoughts and directs in all matters, when you see the world through the art.
In 1999, I started working on the painting "Master of Creative Forces". The creation of the image of the Master, controlling the flow of creative forces, was a milestone in my own journey. I was finally able to paint the ideas that have long been asking for being recreated on canvas. The picture was created in "difficult" conditions, at the kitchen of my friend, writer and poet Alexei Pavlovsky, who made an impromptu easel for me and let me live and work in his apartment for free. Creative personalities of all directions and forms roamed around the easel. Their energy were all painted as form of patterns. There were especially many jazz musicians, for example, the famous bass player Rustam Abdullayev. The musicians continuously made the sounds of music with which the whole picture is saturated. Artists and writers, as well as poets, advised me, though I did not listen to them in a respectful way. So the carver from the Macondo tribe turned into a cosmic image of the Master of creative forces.
On a distant planet not of the physical world, but of the spiritual Universe, where our symbols and our thoughts are alive, in place where creativity and love were born, there lives the Master of creative forces. All souls ready for incarnation ascend to this planet to receive their talents. The master is not strict, he is extremely focused, because he cannot miss anyone, his magic wand gives everyone a star of talent. Each person has his own special talent, you just need to find it. Each soul moves along with everyone else in the same direction of evolution, but everyone has different paths, so the picture shows balls of different colors, symbolizing the souls of people. All the birds in the picture are not accidental, some are the guides of infant souls or are the symbols of the connection between heaven and earth in the cultures of different peoples. Others are associated with legends or my personal stories. For example, the picture shows thirteen sparrows, twelve boys and one girl, these are portraits of sparrows that lived on the kitchen balcony at the time when I was painting The Master. It was a particularly cold winter, I fed and warmed them, with a kettle of boiling water covered with an old fur coat, the sparrows survived winter until spring and as well settled in the picture for eternity. The animals depicted in the picture emphasize the historical connection of all peoples, by cultural exchange through symbols. The hidden elephant is traditionally present in many of my paintings, symbolizing the hidden meaning and secret signs, communication in the language of signs and symbols. The heavenly master is, as it were, a mirror like reflection of the earthly master from Macondo nation, which symbolizes my idea of the interconnection of everything that exists in the Universe.
These two paintings are a celebration of African folklore, music, fairy tales and legends, because all my work began with African fairy tales, these are my own “roots of life”. In the legends and myths, customs and rituals of peoples, who have preserved their original ancient culture, we can find what can call the "roots of life" for all mankind. This is a common information and energy field of our living Earth, and the combined knowledge of mankind; grains of imperishable spiritual truths, hidden behind symbols in legends and fairy tales. Collecting them, we become conductors, transferring from the past to the future, and to eternity, the treasures of knowledge accumulated by many lives of different people.
