Monday, November 2, 2009

Wheat Field Bound


Mixed Media - Wheat, Barbed Wire, Fifty Coat
3' x 6'
August, 2009

9 Comments:

At November 2, 2009 at 9:36 PM , Blogger Valeria Girandola said...

Rob, I watched this grow. We discussed the barbed wire. The finished art piece glows with messages. I love the 3 dimensional aspect and the shine. I can see balance, movement, variety and rhythm. Love the colors.

 
At November 16, 2009 at 12:27 AM , Blogger Robert Girandola said...

Thank you :) I love using imagery from the fields where I grew up, using them to capture a range of emotional metaphors but also functioning visually :)

 
At December 24, 2009 at 8:49 AM , Blogger Ron de Weijze said...

Don't know if you knew about the impact of your work, but here's living proof: http://www.tormentedinhiding.blogspot.com/ (just making sure).

 
At January 2, 2010 at 10:10 AM , Blogger Luna said...

It is interesting to see the piece for the second time here, and feeling the differences it evokes from me. When Pamela showed it to me it brought me 'Life Hope and Nourishment being Supported'
Here I feel 'Harvest held secrets to be revealed.

 
At January 2, 2010 at 10:42 AM , Blogger Robert Girandola said...

Thank you Ron - I can tell you there's little more rewarding to me personally as an artist to have a piece I made resonate so strongly with another person to bring a tormented soul some sense of peace through my image, well, that rocks my soul.

Luna, Thank you for your kind comment. I can tell you that for many years now I have been searching for dual metaphors to present in my work. And it is drawn from all of my experiences as I think an artist can only truly do. The wheat is from my childhood - I grew up in it, played in it, it was where all was possible. The barbed wire is an echo from my adulthood, many times it is used to keep us from something. I remember vividly when I crossed the border from Poland into the once Soviet Union, barbed wire, machine guns and attack dogs at the ready. Together these images combined in an inspirational glimpse - I thought of it very much in terms of what you described, secrets yet to be revealed. The abundance that is open to us just beyond the artificial barriers of hate and fear. The barriers that are just within and the miracle that is just beyond. Thank you - I'm looking forward to Pamala's Part II.

 
At January 7, 2010 at 9:57 PM , Blogger Tom Howe said...

I've seen this piece, but never with the eyes I have now that I read Part II of Pamala's amazing blog post: http://www.tormentedinhiding.blogspot.com/

I have to quote a paragraph from her blog, as the most perfect example of the power of art I can imagine: to use your word, Robert, it is redemptive. -- The reason art must sometimes be deep, because it has to go deep.

"Robert Girandola was not sure why he created 'Wheat Field Bound.' I believe in fate. I believe Robert, as an artist whom is deeply inspired, was led to create this piece. Robert was the collector of the weeds. He bound them, but did not burn them. He did not burn them for reasons unknown. I know the reason. I was meant to cross the path of Robert; to see his masterful mixed media art. I did not know it would all tie together this way; that ultimately I would recognize the many ways in which this art paralleled with every thing that had occurred in my life to that point. Those tightly bound stalks of wheat, with the vicious barbs and the deep blue background were created for a higher purpose. If you read above you will see this: "In gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them." The weeds weren't ready to be gathered. It wasn't time to discover the golden harvest; the bountiful grain. God had a plan. Robert Girandola would gather the weeds and bind them tightly so that one day, a lost and tormented soul would see it, and realize it was representative of all the pain; all the horrors she had experienced. God wanted Robert to create 'Wheat Field Bound' so that I would someday grasp tightly to my faith again; that I would one day see it and be freed from those vicious bands and barbs. God had a plan. It would be only after I saw this work of art, that my faith would lead me to view Golden Fields of Wheat as the most beautiful part of my healing journey. I would see those fields as a glorious representation of what beauty and wonder God has in store for me. Today, I feel comforted, and I feel peaceful. Robert's art is still my desktop background. The image of the painting that hangs in my living room does not haunt me. It reminds me that even as far back as it was painted, there was a reason."
~ by http://twitter.com/TormentedOne

What a blessing, to have one's art hold redemtion, for even one person -- a blessing for that person, a blessing for the artist, and a blessing for all artists, that their work is never in vain. That somewhere, somehow, it could save or redeem a soul who truly sees it.

 
At January 7, 2010 at 10:25 PM , Blogger Robert Girandola said...

Thank you Tom - It is truly a blessing, and humbling as well. Her story moved me and made me feel grateful that I followed my heart and made that piece. Thank you for your kind comments.

 
At December 7, 2011 at 8:07 AM , Blogger Ron de Weijze said...

I think the power of your work lies in the dual metaphors you searched and found. In the philosophy I try to develop I also use dualism. I believe it is a hot topic in modern culture (postmodernism versus what we are to have instead). Very bad man DL was or still is a hippie postmodernist of the most extreme kind, replacing God, Truth, Self and Reality in a child's mind that is so vulnerable and wants to and must be so strong, as if it meant nothing. Hopefully he repents and will repent to her through his morally strong son or else cosmically (as you believe) and take away the barbed wire of hippie culture in general and his cult in particular to at last and at least set his victim, Pamala, emotionally free.

 
At December 7, 2011 at 8:23 AM , Blogger Robert Girandola said...

Thank you for spurring more thoughts Ron - I really appreciate your consideration.

 

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