Inspiration is my favorite food

Inspiration is that drive that makes you do something and go through the day without caring about anything else (in my case that anything would be food, for others might be cigarettes 🙃).

It is unlike any feeling I tried to explain before. It is so rewarding and motivating.

I started today by listening to poems by Maya Angelou. I found a recording where she was also explaining the poems. Before “Phenomenal woman” she said that she knows that men are equally phenomenal because nature does not abide imbalance, but that they would have to write their own poem, “this one is for women”. There’s nothing more to say after words like this and the tone of her voice so expressive and calm, like a caress for the spirit. I remained listening for a while longer, not even working on my art…

I continued my day with a visit at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest. I saw earlier this week that there was a retrospective of Ion Bitzan’s works and I felt this urgency that I have to go and see it. This is another rare feeling that I love, when I just do all I have to and do not second guess myself. Which was really good this time because the poster said the exhibition closed on 1st of April, but it was still open.

I did enter the exhibition on the wrong side (at the end instead of the beginning) and had this terrible shock of seeing all those grand communist paintings. Well, I knew he painted this too. He had to (the retrospective is called “Prisoner of the propaganda” after all, a situation with which Bitzan dealt admirably). I did see some of the paintings before and thought that they looked really modern comparing to what I thought communist art would look like, though I didn’t know at the time he painted them. But still…

I knew Bitzan tried a lot of different things and styles. It is one of the reasons I like him, but even the paintings seem so different from each other, like they are painted by different people.

My most favorite works of his since I first discovered Ion Bitzan, when I was a student, are the book-objects.

Unfortunately, they are too fragile to be shown open. Only two were shown and the visitors couldn’t browse through them. Almost all the charm of those works is gone. Is having the works longer, when they cannot be shown… really worth it? I guess some time in the future there will be a way to preserve the books and still allow the visitors a complete experience. (Don’t know how far away that future is in Romania, though – hopefully those works will last).

After this small disappointment, I found these two jewels that made me feel like dancing, which I did as I passed by them.

I also met a woman who likes Bitzan even more than I do, especially this painting below. She was examining it like I was examining Van Gogh’s paintings.

She said she couldn’t believe a Romanian painter did that. Well, someone left the place more hopeful.

I can’t say I left feeling hopeful, just inspired, with that feeling of fullness, not too full… but just right.

The exhibition had much more to show and the closeness of the communist and the contemporary art is even more overwhelming, especially since some works were done in the same years. It’s like he lived a double life.

I finished the day at the theatre. I saw a play written by Lia Bugnar. I have to say that the feelings the play left me with… I do not want to feel again. But it was so good. And yet… So sad. Too sad. Too real.

Thank goodness for audio books and listening to the history of Westeros is indeed a great way to divert your thoughts and numb your feelings.

I also got home to this view, which is always purrfect, though rarely inspiring…

The best part about the feeling that followed me most of today is that it is so rare and doesn’t last long, so when you have it you have to enjoy it. ❤️