ORION

Orion
Oil on canvas, 30"x30", 2007

Like many people, I believe, I’m fascinated by the stars. When I was a young girl, I used to go to a little farm my parents owned in the interior of the state of São Paulo. There was no electricity in the house or nearby and so it was much easier for us to see the shining stars. I used to spend a long time looking at them, meditating, trying to solve the mystery they held for me. Later, when visiting Monção in northern Portugal, the same thing happened: no lights and the deep blue sky showing off the beauty of the Milky Way. Nowadays, my sky moments come to me very early when I walk, and many times I see what this painting shows. This is what came to my mind when I heard about the theme of the exhibition at my studio this year. At the same time, I remembered a poem by Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac which I show below in Portuguese and English. It contains its own madness, the special madness that artists need to create. And it’s mainly through this creative madness that we express emotions.


Via Lactea, Soneto XIII, de Olavo Bilac

"Ora (direis) ouvir estrelas! Certo
Perdeste o senso!" E eu vos direi, no entanto,
Que, para ouvi-las, muita vez desperto
E abro as janelas, pálido de espanto...

E conversamos toda a noite, enquanto
A via-láctea, como um pálio aberto,
Cintila. E, ao vir do sol, saudoso e em pranto,
Inda as procuro pelo céu deserto.

Direis agora: "Tresloucado amigo!
Que conversas com elas? Que sentido
Tem o que dizem, quando estão contigo?"

E eu vos direi: "Amai para entendê-las!
Pois só quem ama pode ter ouvido
Capaz de ouvir e de entender estrelas".


Milky Way, Sonet XIII, by Olavo Bilac

Come on, you listen to the stars? For sure
You’ve lost your mind! And I’ll tell you, however,
That, to listen to them, many times I wake up
And open the windows, pale, in awe…

And we talk all night, while
the Milky Way, like an open canopy,
shines. And as the sun rises, melancholic and in tears,
I still look for them in the empty sky.

You’ll say now, "Silly friend!
What do you talk about with them? What’s the meaning
of what they say when they are with you?"

And I’ll tell you, "Love, to understand them!
For only those who love can have an ear
Able to listen and to understand the stars."