[Today’s featured artwork for Day 72 of the 365 Days Project is by Gabriella Boros.]
An invitation to a creative “game” where you can write your own story…
#72 – Creative stories can reveal deep insights and power great transformation.
The Artist Mind loves stories. Gabriella Boros combines painting with the power of intuitive storytelling to create a series that puts the narrative in the hands of the viewer.
Boros created a series of four narrative paintings titled, King Sad, where she allows the gallery curator to direct the narrative.
“It’s a comment on the modern professional person’s life which is inextricably bound to their work,” said Boros of the series. “By putting it in a vaguely medieval setting I try to add beauty to a stultifying existence. In the series I let the curator direct the narrative. Whichever the order and format the curator decides to place the panels will affect the reading of the narrative.”
Boros presents the paintings on her website in the following order. As you scrool through them, think about what story they might tell.
I rearranged the panels to explore an alternative narrative and came up with the following story:
King Sad has worked to finally achieve an enviable status, but he finds it lonely at the top. Something is missing.
So he decides to embark on a journey. He leaves his family, his friends, everything he knows, and sets forth on the seas of change. He brings his “baggage” with him, an unconscious act that proves he’s not yet ready to let everything go.
He’s been gone a long time, adrift for many days and nights. His friends and family become increasingly worried and try to contact him, encouraging his return. “Come back!” their missives say. “Your old life wasn’t all that bad! Come back to us and to the work and life you’ve always known.”
He considers it for a moment. Perhaps they are right. “This really isn’t any better, adrift on this vast ocean with no land in sight,” he says to himself. “I’m more lonely now than I’ve ever been and I’m getting old and tired.” He was just about to turn his boat around to go back, when he notices something out of the corner of his eye. Could it be? He points his boat in the direction of what looks like….Land!
Safely on firm ground, he celebrates a renewed sense of freedom. He notices a path and sets forth once again, leaving his briefcase behind as a gusty wind picks up around him…..
As I was writing this simple little narrative, I realized how much of this story is mine. Thanks to Gabriella Boros’ vision of allowing the viewer to rearrange the images, I was able to transpose my own story onto hers, creating my own personal insights.
I wonder what you might find?
Gabriella Boros’s artwork can be viewed at: Gabriella Boros
Description of the images included in this post:
King Sad, Throne
King Sad, Oceans
King Sad, Letters
King Sad, The Moors
Gabriella Boros, Illinois, USA
Acrylic on wood
All images courtesy ©Gabriella Boros.
The 365 Days Project
In 2012, Serena Kovalosky committed to writing an article a day for 365 days as an exploration into the lives of artists and the value of creative thinking in our society.
Experience the full evolution of the project! Click below to read the entire collection of articles.
Leave a Reply