Meanings and Associations

I have less than elementary skills in appreciating abstract drawings. A family friend recently introduced me to some principles in understanding abstract drawings. This helped me to  imagine the mystery of this symbol drawn by an artist at the occasion of an awareness week for healthy living. 

He used four colours to represent images. 

There is a close loop in green colour with its centre overlapping a fully coloured round ball, representative of an intimate relationship between two different persons. It is a secure ball and loop structure that conveys the inherent intimate and vibrant relationship between two married people. The two married ones are distinctly different, unique, and separate and yet there is a close and connected relationship. All well being can only begin if the society promotes and insists for this form of stability and continuity of relationship between married couples. The picture also provides space for the ball to expand and the loop to grow in both directions, a very noble proposal for every married couple to envision each other's growth.   

An incomplete loop is placed opposite to the loop and ball. It is large and looks like an arc with sharp ends on both sides but with a difference. One end is more tapering than the other, which suggests that the growth adds to the enlargement of a person as shown with a broad stroke at the other end. This arc is also overlapping another ball, which is different in colour and the two are related in an eccentric form giving a good portrayal of the way siblings relate to each other in a family setting. I wonder whether they represent a boy and girl nearing fullness of childhood! This takes place with proximity to parents, who are present showing forth love, intimacy and mutuality. It is also representation of  older children  reaching maturity and wholeness. The arc is close to the loop and ball and yet is sufficiently distant from it. A good communication about a balance in relationship between parents and children! I like the space the artist portrays to offer freedom and space for children and yet making it conditioned by the nearness and supervision of parents. 

The other comma like stroke is even more interesting because the colour it shares with the other two blue shades and yet different. This comma like stroke is one or two shades lower than the blue used to represent a child. This enhances the mystery of this creative art. I wonder whether it represents the heritage the family leaves behind for posterity. It is presented in the painting at the open end  and placed in a different direction as if it is growing into an open future space. The fact that it begins from the centre of the drawing where parents and children are portrayed  seems to suggest that it has its roots in the present and and direction into the future.

For me, this meditation on this mystical art work on inner wholeness and well being, which begins at the family and spills over to the society  brought some clarifications. One is gratefulness, that each family has a place and role in creating the future. God ordained the family that they may be 'fruitful'. Second is the primacy of relationship between husband and wife with all its paradoxes and yet bringing it into harmony and well being. I realise that it is this relationship between married couple which is in peril in many families, which is a wake up call to foster more marriage enrichment initiatives. Third is an appreciation of the nearness and distance with which the artist portrays the relationship parents are called to have with their children. The siblings have much in common and yet they too are different in form and in the choices they make. Fourth is the legacy each family leaves for the future- an open ended potential to bless humanity.

The whole painting exists in an open space, reminding me of a reality that, 'it is in God we live, move and have our being'.

I stay wondering at an abstract drawing and realise that some communicate in words, some through music, some through drama and theatre, some through dance or real pictures drawings, etc. But those who communicate in abstract forms are those who speak with their hearts, inviting us to feel their heart images. An invitation to participate in their inner journey of in sights and clarity. 

We need abstract forms, as what is fully revealed can lose its significance over a period of time. We are also called to 'see in part' and wait for it to be revealed fully later. 

M.C. Mathew(text and photo)