7. Catrin Welz-Stein

Obrazy na granicy surrealistycznego kiczu, ich rozmyta wartość artystyczna może być zarówno zaletą, jak i wadą. Alicja w Krainie Czarów i opowieść o róży rodem z Thackeraya... w ilustracjach Catrin Welz-Stein możemy przejrzeć się w lustrach różnych baśni. Mnie najbardziej podobają się alegoryczne przedstawienia kobiet niby-bogiń, z różnych epok, światów i zaświatów oraz wykorzystanie starych zdjęć, które rzucają nas nagle na brzeg o wyrazistszych konturach.

Images on the verge of surrealistic kitsch, their blurred artistic value can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. The Alice in Wonderland and the story of a rose by Thackeray... in the illustrations of Catrin Welz-Stein we can look at the mirrors of various fairy tales. I love the allegorical representations of quasi-goddesses from different eras, worlds and underworlds, and the use of old photographs that suddenly throw us on the shores of clearer contours.

Theme: Benzaiten

Today I come to you not with an artist, but with a theme, with mythological character from Japanese and Hindu traditions. 

"Benzaiten is the goddess of everything that flows: water, words, speech, eloquence, music and knowledge. She became one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. She is also a goddess of beauty, mothers wishing attractive daughters fasted and prayed for seven days at the temple of Benzaiten.
She is depicted as a beautiful woman with eight arms with two hands depicted in prayer and others holding; sword, bow and arrow, wheel, key, axe, spear, mandolin or biwa. She is also depicted as riding a golden dragon. She carries a jewel that can grant wishes. She is the ruler of love, music, arts, inspiration, talent, wealth and romance. As a sea and water goddess she is a purifying force that protects people from the darkness of the material world. She is also a protector from earthquakes.Her festival is at the summer solstice and many of her shrines (benten-do or benten-sha) are still standing. She is sometimes called daughter of the dragon king and originally of Hindu origin (Goddess Saraswati). Her husband was a wicked dragon who she transformed."

http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/

by Nadja Turner

Toyohara Chikanobu

Holly Sierra