Saint-Exupery, Shakespeare and an Armenian Artist on a Snowy Day in the Desert

Sometimes, reading poetry on a frigid and snowy day does not make me remember or project. On days like this, a comedy movie or a book of fiction feel like Glühwein and Vanillekipferl I more than once had next to the Stefan Dom in Vienna in Christmases past. The warm vapors of the mulled wine and the cinnamon aroma have stayed with me over many decades and have taken a surreal character!

Just like Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which I picked up and leafed through.

I have to admit that I have yet to read the entire book. It sits in my art studio among books of many languages, and when I feel like taking a break from a project, I pick up a book and leaf through it.

This time, I stopped at lines I had previously annotated. These are famous lines from Helena who remains my favorite character. She said:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

So, how does one avoid being distracted by abstract structural beauty and find the way to look inside another person?

This time, it was another classic book, also in the pile at the end of my workbench that I picked up. It is “Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery that has become a cult book for understanding relationships. It is said that he “saw” the young prince and the fox when in a daze from dehydration in the Algerian desert after his plane made an emergency landing. So, it may not be a “Night’s Dream” but it sure was a dream with some hallucination.

When the Petit Prince feels comfortable with the fox, he asks about his life and what is exciting.

Ma vie est monotone. Je chasse les poules, les hommes me chassent. Toutes les poules se ressemblent, et tous les hommes se ressemblent. Je m'ennuie donc un peu. Mais, si tu m'apprivoises, ma vie sera comme ensoleillée. Je connaîtrai un bruit de pas qui sera différent de tous les autres. Les autres pas me font rentrer sous terre. Le tien m'appellera hors du terrier, comme une musique.

(My life is monotonous. I hunt chickens, men hunt me. All hens are alike, and all men are alike. So I'm a little bored. But, if you tame me, my life will become bright. I will know a sound of footsteps that will be different from all the others. The other steps make me go underground. Yours will call me out of the burrow, like music.)

And then came the most recognized, powerful and deeply human passage:

Le renard se tut et regarda longtemps le petit prince:

- S'il te plaît... apprivoise-moi ! dit-il.

(- Please ... tame me! he said.)

Years ago, I took a photo of my son and my dog. It was a cold day, the river was frozen, and when I looked at the negative under the loupe, I saw Le Petit Prince and the renard! The “prince” and the renard have that exact posture of dialogue and request for one to tame the other.

And now regarding eyes.

So, Helena still hopes that Theseus would see her inner beauty and not desire the “outside” beauty of Hyppolita. But what kind of looks can penetrate so deep? How can we trust eyes to find the beauty in us, in others?

As a photographer and a painter I have a special attraction to eyes. And when eyes look candidly into another being, I think it makes for the best photo, the best painting and tells a universal story of love and trust.

For example, while my last dog looked like the fox in the previous photo, here a few years later he learned to look into a person’s soul! I blurred the young lady’s facial feature for privacy, but the tender moment between my dog’s “tamed” self and her remains.

As for the eyes I explore in my paintings, here are a couple of examples:

In this case, I was working on the concept of metamorphosis by using moth wings as her earrings and a butterfly atop the frame. In that transformation (from seeing external beauty to seeking the internal one) the looks I gave her are foxy, teasing but also confident. These are eyes that know where and how to search!

 In another painting, also inspired by the omnipresent mask of our new days, I felt at ease with softer, perhaps more passive looks. In both instance, the eyes are inquisitive – perhaps the second painting showing a woman who discovers who you are without you knowing that she was searching!

 

And finally, a photo I took in South Africa of a look that reminded me of looks I have seen around the Mediterranean where I grew in age and expectations. That is a look that gives you no choice for retreat. That is a look that even a blinded Cupid will see and tremble while holding his arrow!

… The snowflakes are still dancing a funny farandole outside my window. My dog, the one who succeeded Petit Prince’s renard, is sleeping on an old cheep skin rug outside my door.

And I am wondering what Helena will say next time I open the book….

 

March 16, 2021

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2021