Time and The Self

This itty bitty picture doesn't do this oil painting justice...but this Picasso work called "La Salchichona" (Barcelona 1917) spoke to me above and beyond any other artwork/architecture I saw in 'Barce' over the past week. It surpassed even the Sagrada Familia's Passion Facade, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, AND Parque Guell...and that's saying something!

So what is it about this painting?! It was painted toward the end of Picasso's cubist period, supposedly when he began experimenting with different painting styles and bright colors after a period of Analytic Cubism which he had removed some of the brighter tones. I admit I am no art scholar, so in general, I tend to view art for the visceral reactions it brings to me, and for the insights into the human state. To me...La Salchichona is a snapshot in time of what we must all look like...to eachother, to God, and even to ourselves (if we're able to give ourselves a bit of compassionate self-reflection). Here is a woman unfinished. Some areas have been elaborately colored and shaded (parts of her dress and mantilla), while some are mere sketches. Future splendor is suggested, but hasn't been fully illuminated.

And what's more...there seems to be no predictable pattern for the progress of the painting. Picasso didn't, for example, start from her head and work his way down...nor did he start from her eyes and move outwards. Instead we see patches of color and completion rather than a united and coherent finished work.

I find this painting, then, articulately portraying the human condition. We all have super-shiny finished parts, and we all have lack-luster, sketched aspects; and they're all collected together like a bizzare patch-work quilt with pieces which don't fully interlock. Further, I find no logical explanation to which parts are completed first or last. I suppose that's all part of the grand mystery.

This entry is getting long, but I must add this. During my 20 hours of flight-time yesterday I read "The Time Travler's Wife" and found themes which intersect with Picasso's above work. Basic premise: Henry is a "chronologically impaired" time-traveler and his star-crossed lover is Clare. The story follows them through their life together, with the added element of seeing one another at different ages through Henry's time traveling. For example, Henry makes visits to Clare as a little girl, knowing they'll marry someday. Clare later meets the Henry of her own age, but knows him as a more-finished product and has to tolerate his immaturity as he slowly becomes the man she knows he will become. The story plays on the evolution of "who-we-are"with the passage of time; and Henry and Clare are lucky enough to see the whole picture of who their partner was, is, and will be. Maybe that's why they fall in love so fully and deeply?

Or maybe it's just a story.

At any rate, both the concepts of living as a Woman Under Construction (La Salchichona), as well as a person who is mutable by the passing of time (Time Traveler's Wife) are comforting to me as I attempt to transform into the person I want to become.

And hopefully that wasn't too abstract. (sorry about all that, yikes!) Happy New Year, and Happy Transformations...