• Thank you to Carol and Steve Bowman, the forum owners, for our new upgrade!

Art and past lives?

Karoliina

Karoliina

Moderator Emerita
I wanted to ask you all if you are fascinated by a specific era/branch in art/architecture or a certain painter for example - and if you believe this has to do with your past lives. Let's keep this thread on painting, sculpting, architecture etc. and leave out now for example literature.

I have personally been able to connect many "artsy fascinations" with places and eras I have lived in and during. On some I have no memories, but strong feelings lead me to believe there is a connection.

Btw my knowledge of arts is _very_ limited, so forgive any obvious mistakes and misinterpretations in this post. :o

Here are some art I like/dislike (some with huge genralisations):

- On older art I prefer Ancient Egyptian, Roman and Islamic art and architecture to Greek (in general).

- From "ethnic" categories I love African and Latin American art. There is also some Asian art I like, but also a lot of things that make me uneasy.

- I like Reneissance art in general (for example Botticelli and Raphael).

- I love Titian, Rubens and Vermeer.

- Baroque is cool in general, and I also love Rococo, but these two make me feel very differently from each other. Whatever that means. :rolleyes:

- I prefer Romanticism to Neo-Classical style.

- In general I don't like Impressionist art very much, but prefer Expressionism (I love for example Wassily Kandinsky and Edward Munch) and love Surrealism - especially Marc Chagall (!) and Joan Miró.

- Other painters I really like are for example Ilya Repin and Helene Schjerfbeck (and a modern-day artist Merja Niemeläinen aka Mowa who has been influenced by her - see my avatar). In general I LOVE paintings and sculptures of women - their faces and bodies.

- I adore (Russian) religious wooden icons that I have collected from different countries.

I realise I haven't listed even nearly everything I'd like to talk about, but as this list is quite long already, I'll leave it here and wait for other members' input! Btw you are more than welcome to link the PL memories in your post, too even if I haven't done it! :thumbsup:

Karoliina
 
Karoliina,

Art is a very strong force inside me. I've said many times, art is the souls' expression...a reflection if you will. I love everything from simple Americana folkart to the great John Waterhouse and Frederick Hart. I think if I were to pin point a specific quality of these two, that pretained to my own belief in reincarnation, I would tell you that the way they represented the human form was timeless, spiritual and alive.

I have a John William Waterhouse print hanging in my office entitled Soul of a Rose. It was Mertzies avatar which was kinda cool. "Smelling the roses," you can see the numinous intensity in her gentle, silent act. One can almost smell the rose with her.

The other is Frederick Hart. Wow what an artist. He created my avatar entitled The Kiss. Check out his sculpture above the doors of the National Cathedral. The one called Creation, to me, puts a physical form, to the word incarnation. What profound power and illustration of humankind.

Sorry I went on so...it is a passionate subject for me.

The Tinkerman
 
OOOO YES! Love this thread! I have *extreme* draws to the art/artists I love.

Tinkerman and I have some things in common. Beyond the greats (Renaissance artists) I absolutely *love* pre-raphaelite era art which includes Waterhouse. One of my all-time favs is a William Holman Hunt print of the Lady of Shallot. I've had it on the wall opposite my bed (so I can study it when I'm laying in bed) for about the past 20 years now. I've intended to get the Waterhouse print of the Lady of Shallot (the one in the boat) to go with it and just haven't yet. I also love Millais (Ophelia!!) and although I love Rosetti, too, I do tire of seeing the same model over and over.

I also love Alphonse Mucha! *LOVE* his style. I don't think there's a Mucha I don't absolutely love.

I also have an extreme attraction to many of Maxfield Parrish's pieces: Blue tree, Daybreak, New Moon, etc.

There - - that's a start! ;)
 
I've never been very knowledgeable about art for some reason. Beyond Peter Max and the Western artists like Remington, if I have his name right, I'm lost. While I can and do appreciate art, I have never been drawn to it like many people. I wonder if that could be due to my focus on the written word. Or maybe I'm simply an unsophisticated nincompoop.

John
 
Hi Karoliina,

Giotto and Goya are two of my favourites that come up.
I guess they were both sort of "proto-" of what was to come; the high renaissance/ a more personally expressive modern art.

They both seem to have this keen psychological eye, at the same time sharp, empathetically down to earth and visionary to a hallucinatory degree... plus they paint cool.;):thumbsup: Goya can be extremly dark but almost always with great imagination and compassion...

As far as any PL connections to when these two were living,
I don´t know but wouldn´t rule it out completely, especially the turn of the century, 18th-19th, Europe, which was when Goya was doing his thing in Spain and France.

Fun topic BTW!:D .
 
I am drawn to specific works of art for different reasons. Perhaps because of my education in the arts, but I think more so because of past life experiences. I am drawn to Egyptian Art for their narrative, the story they tell, the multilayered meanings behind the obvious. I look at Egyptian Art and remember the ceremonies, the rituals and the significance behind the images.

As a painter now - I am fascinated with different eras and techniques. For example, portraiture -- unless done in an interesting way -- is only awe inspiring to me as a technique and perceptual talent. Romantic portraits are cool to look at and bring the viewer into a dreamy space. But painters like Gustov Klimt really get me excited about paint and Goya, who was an activist in his day-- :) is a man after my own heart.

Russian Icons and small detailed portraits if Jesus and Mary -love to look at them, but I remember doing them before traveling to Spain and Italy to be trained further in painting in the early 1400's. What a pain to do, so small! The visual dialog says the same thing - over and over again. I look at them today and remember the hundreds in the studio, ready to be purchased and prayed over. I remember having so much to say with my painting and being stuck creating icons for a long time before traveling out of Russia. UGH.

I do remember painting later for the Church. The artists who were trained in specific techniques were also masters of the visual dialog - using symbols and visual tricks that fooled the masses and the clergy; hidden implications abound. ;)
 
In this lifetime, I've had rather pointed views on what I think is and isn't art. For me, if it looks like what it's supposed to represent, then it's art. This is why I like many of the same painters and periods as MoonDansyr-i.e. Renaissance, pre-Raphelite and Art Nouveau, and I won't even look at anything that's considered "modern" art.

I think it's ugly and meaningless, particularly the blandly inoffensive pieces done for commercial installations in office buildings and shopping malls.

I thought that was just me until my research to prove that I could not possibly have been a Nazi in my past life uncovered the information regarding the concept of degenerate art, and just who was heavily involved in that.

And now I'm left wondering...

Do I hate modern art because I hate it, or because Hitler did?

Phoenix
 
Phoenix~

I don't think you hate it because Hitler hated it. *L* Art is too individual for that.

Personally, I don't like what is referred to as modern art because, even taking college art courses (at one time I was going to major in art), I still didn't "get it." I feel it is missing depth and dimension and doesn't take the study, practice, patience and refinement (blood, sweat, and tears) that "the greats" gave to perfecting their art. Maybe at one time, I was a struggling artist and resented someone like Jackson Pollack coming along and flinging paint on a canvas and calling it a masterpiece. I dunno.

On the other hand, I can appreciate some Salvatore Dali and M. C. Escher. I can't remember if that's considered modern or not. I just can't get into Jackson Pollack or, as you stated, Phoenix, the "blandly inoffensive pieces done for commercial installations in office buildings and shopping malls" (another part of the 80's I detested - - I felt the same way about 80's pop music!)

As an aside ... I know Hitler's art was criticized, but I truly like many of his pieces. *winces* (hey, I'm baring my soul, here!)

I also forgot to mention Albrecht Dürer as one of my favs in my first post.
 
MoonDansyr said:

Phoenix~
I don't think you hate it because Hitler hated it. *L* Art is too individual for that.
Click to expand...

Except that Hitler was all about art not being individual, it was to be defined by the state and universally admired by all.

MoonDansyr said:
Maybe at one time, I was a struggling artist and resented someone like Jackson Pollack coming along and flinging paint on a canvas and calling it a masterpiece. I dunno.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of my favorite art story. A guy at work was putting his son through RISD (Rhode Island School of Design-a noted art school in new england) and his son was very frustrated. He'd pour his whole heart out in the works he was creating for his teachers and was getting terrible grades. He was feeling that he had no creativity, no talent and would never make it as an artist.

So, the son got mad. He took a big piece of canvas and laid it out in the driveway. He took some house paint that was sitting around in the garage and dumped a couple of different colors on the canvas. Then he took a couple of handfuls of leaves and dirt and threw them down on the canvas. Then he fired up the family truckster and drove it over the canvas a couple of times. He took the resulting mess and turned it in.

He got an A, and all sorts of praise for his creativity and talent. His father was furious. RISD ain't cheap.

MoonDansyr said:

As an aside ... I know Hitler's art was criticized, but I truly like many of his pieces. *winces* (hey, I'm baring my soul, here!)
Click to expand...

I do too. Perhaps they are not great art, but I like them.

Over and above the fact that people hate his art because they hate him, is that they analyze his paintings for clues to his personality. They look at how people are depicted, and say, "Yep, he was a megalomaniac, look at how tiny and rudimentary the people are, and how big the buildings are." But that's just reverse engineering.

However, to analyze his paintings, you need to look at more than just how the people are painted and look at the 'big picture'. Intentional pun.

Hitler was an architect at heart and therefore it should not surprise anyone that his paintings focus on the buildings, not the people. They are more like the artists concepts you see on display of a new building that is planned. Focus on the building and put some rudimentary people in for scale. And that's how he painted.

Phoenix
 
My favorite contemporary artists are Alex Kanevsky, Hung Liu, Shannon Richardson, Deborah Oropallo and Alex Powers. They are are living artists; Modernism was a time period in art history and a reflection of the times. : angel

Artists are myth makers, and we participate with everyone else in the social construction of reality. Collectively we seek meaning. The complex matrices of belief’s, symbols, and words provide us with individuality and collectively with identity. Beyond the gallery system, art has an integrative role with the larger community and our environment. Art that challenges current “positions” and belief structures, expands the context that gives value to social and environmental factors. Contemporary artists who create responsibly, are reaching beyond the limits of personal accomplishment.

Art is emerging as a tool that is deliberately and consciously used by certain artists who are interested in contributing toward a greater understanding between people. It may help in bringing about - at least in a small way - a greater understanding of the dynamics of cultural and social paradigms. Art is another means of helping people see and better understand the dynamics of our world and how human consciousness impacts it at every level.

All societies and cultures, have limits on what is acceptable behavior and what is allowable in the way of personal expression, yet the arts remain a relatively free space in which to create more complicated forms of public interaction.

The world is open to integration and interpretation more than ever before and the effect that art has on us as individuals and as a society is now reaching beyond the borders of any given culture. Mass communication -- via television, the Internet, and cinema, along with cultural syncretism and networking between nations and even continents, has enabled us as human beings to see beyond ourselves and our own boundaries.

I love researching the history of art, and the various cultural expressions; each is unique and diverse. I am personally inspired by contemporary artists who have reached deeply within themselves, combining mind and heart to express the current human condition. To see art not as a product but as a process of value finding, is a currently new evaluation of aesthetic effect.

Art fascinates me, and when viewing art - I cannot help but wonder about he hidden signs and symbols, the implications behind what seems obvious to us. I am always looking to see - beyond what appears to be real. ;)
 
Art? I had a PL flashback the other day when I read that David Geffin had sold Jackson Pollock's Number Five (1948) for 140 million bucks, the story triggered one of those 'happy familiarities'. At once I was there, part of the hip and trendy Americans into modern art, be-bop, modern architecture and furniture, hi-fidelity, cars and airplanes, part of the cutting edge of the avant-garde...

On Wikipedia there's a reference to an album called "Jackson Pollock: Jazz", the stuff he'd listen to as he painted. All familiar stuff found in my collection - Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and His Orchestra, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Fats Waller, Lionel Hampton and Coleman Hawkins.

And, I discover, Pollock died in a car crash in August 1956 - I feel my PL ended in a motorbike crash in late 1956/early 1957.

Michal
 
Karoliina said:
I wanted to ask you all if you are fascinated by a specific era/branch in art/architecture or a certain painter for example - and if you believe this has to do with your past lives.
Click to expand...
I love Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Victorian/Gothic Revival architecture. Especially Gothic - it just speaks to me on such a deep level. We have nothing like that here! I definitely believe old dwellings of the past have influenced my preferences now.


As for art - I love most historical periods for one reason or another. I think one must appreciate the time and effort it took to create a piece of artwork without having all of the materials so handy like we have in the present. In one of my pl's in Holland, my husband was a painter and he went through enormous difficulties making his paint from scratch...it was a long process. :)


William-Adolphe Bouguereau's work really draws me in. I have a print of his titled "Le Livre de Contes" in my bedroom, and it really reminds me of another time and place. ;) I have another of his prints in my living room - L'Amour et Psyché, enfants. It is well known (although often titled as The First Kiss, as is on my print!) and most people would recognize it.


Contemporary faves include Shawn Barber, Courtney Reid, Gottfried Helnwein, Deborah Oropallo, Hung Liu and of course our own Deborah here on the forum! :D
 
I never really got into art up until recently, and still don't know much about it.


However, because of my recent interest I have begun to check out various books on art history. I have found myself attracted to the early Christian artwork that stemmed from the Roman mythological art. These early Christian works used the symbols that we associate with Christianity, such as a naked woman or man next to a tree with a snake coiled around its trunk, but they are often actually representations of Greek or Roman myths (Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides and The Good Shepherd, both by unknown artists).


I believe that this attraction comes from my fascination with history itself, so I am not sure how applicable it is to past lives. My explorations of various paintings and artists has been confusing in that respect, especially since pieces of art generally provoke a strong emotional response, so I cannot be sure if my emotional responses to, for example, the work of Antonella da Messina, are because of the shockingly realistic qualities of his portraits, or because they remind me of past lives.


There was a painting that I definitely had a strong emotional response to and I immediately accepted it as simple familiarity. The Bodhisattva Padmapani, located in the Ajanta Cave 1 in Lenapur village, India gave me a surge of warmth and happiness, like an inner smile.


I've also been drawn to the artwork of Diego Rivera and Frita Khalo, a fascination that began in high school Spanish class, many years ago. I have since learned that I am attracted to much of the artwork from the Mexican Muralist movement.


I've also discovered that I really don't like traditional Japanese artwork. I don't know what it is about it, but I can't stand to look at it. It actually makes me kind of angry. That's a shame, because Japanese artwork is said to be very beautiful and unique. I, however, can't stand it.
 
Intriguing post!

MoonDansyr said:

As an aside ... I know Hitler's art was criticized, but I truly like many of his pieces. *winces* (hey, I'm baring my soul, here!)
Click to expand...
I have to admit... me too.


I am a big-time art snob and have always been.


I will enjoy "lesser" art and music, but refuse to believe it is as "good" as, say... Michaelangelo or Mozart.


I don't even have to particularly like the art or music! I don't really enjoy art or music from the Baroque, Rococo, and Classical periods! However, I do consider it "better" than most other. Why? I have no idea. But I have always carried around this snobbery of "high art". This encompasses art, music, dance, and literature.


My favorite art is actually from the Romantic and Impressionist eras. I've adored Monet since I was pretty young. I've been introduced to others that I've loved later on: Degas, JMW Turner, Waterhouse, etc.
 
I love art,and am an artist myself.


I love the surrealist painters Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington they were best friends and both were deeply into dreams,myth,symbolism,spiritual matters and science.


remediosvaro.jpg



varo.


leonora_carrington_90.jpg



carrington.


I love Gauguin.


loulou.jpg



I love most ethnic/folk art.Medieval miniature art from India,Persia and Europe


tumblr_kyu6a9jXIk1qaqfzyo1_500.jpg
 
I never got into most art, except landscapes (ones that were detailed and accurate), I guess I was longing for a more simpler and less complicated time, and the landscapes did that for me, such as old mill ponds, country life and so on.


As music can be considered an art form, when I was younger, I liked (and still do) Folk Music, but as I get older I'm turning more and more to Classical, especially the peaceful and soothing music (I can't handle Wagner for too long!)


With one disaster/calamity right after another nowadays with no end in sight, I wonder if I might be remembering a more peaceful PL?
 
Artists in history reincarnated - values of artworks


Will the day come when a proven Artist incarnation of Davinci will have artworks auctioned at record prices?
 
I would guess not. I don't think there will ever be any stronger objective evidence for reincarnation than exists now. It comes down to faith, and it probably always will. Either we trust our own memories, and instincts, or we don't. I can't see how anything will ever exist except anecdotal evidence. It's not like we can have soul DNA tests done. :)
 
I always had a fascination for Architecture, especially the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Bauhaus art movement.


I always admired Piet Mondrian and a specific painting of him... and curiously, my wife like him too, and the exact same painting... and why? i just can´t say.
 
I've always love the Illustrated medieval books. Also the ancient Egyptian art, its so comfortable me. I really love the works of Claude Monet and the impressionists as well as Vincent van Gogh and the post-impressionists.
 
Marc Ross said:
Will the day come when a proven Artist incarnation of Davinci will have artworks auctioned at record prices?
Click to expand...
Probably not as I am guessing that his soul might focus on technology, if he's in the current era. Art was easier back then, and technology is so open now.


But... Alexandra Nechita, who in her past life was Pablo Picasso, sells her art for over $100,000 now. Just check out her work then compare it to Picasso and you'll find its a no-brainer.
 
I've studied art, and artists. I painted for quite a few years, and my style was called "unique" because all of my paintings could have been done by different artists (which also renders them all to be un-provable as my work at some distant time should any become collectable.


There's only been one artist that "drew" me from the moment I first saw his work. That was Maxfield Parrish.
 
I'm very drawn to the work of Daniel Merriam, and it has a Maxfield Parrish-like quality. His work has a lot of detail, and a fantastical quality that I love.
 
I'm more auditory and drawn to music, and don't connect with visual art to a degree that others probably do.


However, painting-wise, I like Renoir, and Impressionist paintings (also Debussy-Impressionist music)


Love ancient Greek pottery style.


I love quilts and Navajo rugs.


Architecture styles...I love the Santorini blue and white houses/architecture. I like ancient Greek architecture.


Actually, there are few styles I dislike. Don't care for modernistic, boxy, buildings with small windows. Don't like anything too dark. I don't really care for Spanish-"Pirates of the Caribbean" type architecture either.
 
Ooh, BriarRose,


Looked up Daniel Merriam...the fantasy/otherworld style is cool. Somewhat busy for me, but I kind of connect to the concept.
 
I think I like his art because he is painting dream scenes, and I put so much faith in dreams. Unfortunately, even his prints and jig-saw puzzles are "up there" in price! :laugh:
 
Mozart, Beethoven...


Hello,


It's not out of the question that the incarnations of such musical greats as Mozart and Beethoven have been performing in symphony orchestras.


Marc
 
BriarRose, thanks for posting about Daniel Merriam. I was just looking up his art, and it's beautiful.


When I was a child and into my teens, I was obsessed with the Renaissance. The history, the art, everything. It made me feel happy to study that period. I think I lived then, and I think it was a very good lifetime for me. While I was mostly interested in the Italian Renaissance, I remember sitting and staring at Jan Van Eyck's painting "The Arnolfini Portrait," from the Northern Renaissance, in an encyclopedia. I absolutely loved that painting and felt some connection to it. I still get certain feelings when I see it. It's interesting to think, too, that I may have lived then, but I also may have had emotional attachments to that painting from a more recent lifetime when I admired it.


I got into Baroque, Rococo, and Romance art when I was in my late teens. I also loved Chinese art and went through a phase when I collected anything that looked Chinese (fans, bottles, vases, etc.). I don't feel much of a connection to China, but it's interesting since Chinese art was very popular at certain times in Europe. I think that may have been the source of my fascination with it.
 
seagreen said:
I got into Baroque, Rococo, and Romance art when I was in my late teens. I also loved Chinese art and went through a phase when I collected anything that looked Chinese (fans, bottles, vases, etc.). I don't feel much of a connection to China, but it's interesting since Chinese art was very popular at certain times in Europe. I think that may have been the source of my fascination with it.
Click to expand...
After Marco Polo returned from China the Europeans went nuts over all things Chinese.
 
I'm glad you liked Merriman, seagreen. His work is sometimes used on calendars, and I always look for them. The art elevates a mundane object like a calendar. "The Arnolfini Portrait does draw me in. It portrays a world that looks safe, and rich, and warm. I used to stare at reproductions of it as a teenager, and wish I was there. I have the same passion for objects of art from the Orient that you do. I haven't discovered a life in Asia yet, so I think it might be from the import of trade goods to Europe. I just started collecting Spode's Blue Room plates. They have that Wedgewood Asian feel. Buying those seems like a compulsion, because I don't need them, and don't even like the color blue. I think it goes back to a life I lived in England in that time period.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top