Mandra
the artist
my artist need not be of any particular sex but for the moment we
shall say that she is female with the name Mandra, which is in fact an
affectation that she took on when she first decided that being an
artist required a name that is interesting, she has since lost this
impression realizing that the artists that do such things are
pretentious and awful but before this happened everyone had started to
call her by this name, probably, in her mind, thinking that she was in
fact pretentious and awful.
the art
She has tried many types of medium to
express her art in the past but most recently she has focussed upon
producing a series of abstract designs that are made in vibrant
colours and include many swoops and curves. I do not think that i
have ever seen any piece of art that would capture the type of image
that i am trying for here but each image would almost seem the same to
a person that was just glancing at a series of ten or twenty of them
even though they would be greatly different in terms of colours and
what makes them up. Upon closer reflection an interested viewer could
see that there are in fact large amounts of difference from piece to
piece. This is not, however the end to an entire piece of Mandra's
art, along with each series of the art is a story that she has written
to acompany the pieces of art. Each separate image that she has
produces is intented to represent a specific part of the story. The
stories tend to be fairly deep and high in emotional content without
dwelling in any particular genre, even though Mandra herself prefers
Science Fiction. The images are set up in a line that seems to focuss
in a very comfortable solitary seat that sits about 12 feet from the
wall upon which the images are portrayed. The images are placed in a
pattern that Mandra has decided are best for this story. The story is
typed in easy to read larger than normal letters in a deep version of
a particulary attractive colour that compliments the art, ie deep jade
green or deep blood red upon high quality white paper and sits upon a
solitary high stool in directly in front of the art. Upon a viewer
picking up the story a soft piece of music that will tend to be
classical but this is also chosen specifically by Mandra to fit the
story. The viewer will then sit down in the chair away from the
images and begin to read. The intention of the artist is that an
intelligent viewer will be able to understand the importance of the
art to the story and vice versa but this is not necessary because she
makes her art merely for herself. In the same way that a ballet
dancer hopes to interpret a piece of music and we as the audience will
take in the music and the dance all as the same piece of art her art
will be appreciated. Although she will be writing the stories and
making the images herself.
The images themselves can be done on a variety of media, streching
from expensive canvases to pieces of paper that may have to be taped
together depending upon what is at hand when she gains the desire to
produce. The colours can be derived from anything from oils to latex
house paints to pencil crayons, again depending upon what she can
scrounge as long as they produce images with deep vibrant
colours. (this does not outlaw things such as black and whites as long
as they are deep and pure).
the beret
Mandra has taken to wearing a grey fedora. Initially she first
started wearing it because it was a gift from the first woman that she
ever slept with and when this woman left Mandra because she determined
that she was not after all a lesbian, breaking Mandra's heart and
opening her up to whole new realms of self-doubt and pain. It was in
the throes of the emotions that arose from this turmoil that first
made Mandra write a story while also making designs that suited her
mood. Upon reading her story when it was complete she realized that
designs were a part of the story complimenting and interpreting it all
at the same time and that the story held the same function in reverse.
She usually wears the hat tilted back upon her head and it seems to
compliment her long dark brown hair. It also tends to hold notes in
the hat bands on the sides with doodles resembling her designs as well
as ideas for her stories. Although the hat is not essential in
producing her work and is often left on the hook by the door, it is
important by itslef as an artists hat because she will always wear it
when leaving her apartment because out in the world it is what reminds
her that the world's reality can not touch or harm her because she is
an ARTIST and by virtue of this produce her own reality that is better
or worse and that the constraints of our own world are merely ones
that we place ourselves.
Submitted by Michael P Hrycyk <3mph1@qlink.queensu.ca>, on Wednesday, April 19, 1995, from kingston ontario canada