The Happiness - Melancholy Exhibition
KALEIDOS
108
The gallery
HAPPINESS could be defined as a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.
Not long ago I had not stopped tothink about the meaning of happiness, I could not even have imagined that so many studies had been done around happiness, that so many philosophers from Ancient Greece would have dedicated time and effort in defining happiness and exploring how to obtain it.
In recent days I have had the opportunity to read the thoughts of Plato, Socrates and other philosophers and thinkers, about happiness.
What is more, I discovered that there are world-wide organizations dedicated to studying happiness, and that they give us the results of their studies, such as world happiness report.
Harvard University itself has developed studies and analyzes over the years that deal with happiness, concluding in summary that society in recent times has developed a greater tendency to obtain the mentioned happiness through the strengthening of closer relationships such as friends and family, as opposed to the happiness achieved by economic success or public relevance.
All this can be read in the studies referred to, however after this preamble, we can ask ourselves what happiness is for us, we get it or we live in a frantic search for it, we have the courage to enjoy it in the small details that the day to day offers or prefer to fantasize with perfect moments away from a tangible reality.
I stop at this point to comment on the other subject that is the subject of this essay.
MELANCHOLY, could be defined as one of the four temperaments in pre-modern medicine and proto-psychology, representing a state of low mood.
I will not stop to comment on the result of my simple search to define this concept, nevertheless I will indicate that no result obtained gave to this feeling we defined as melancholy, a definition or positive content.
However, the melancholy has been from ancient times the inspiration that has moved to different artistic currents.
In the Renaissance the figure of the genius is born, that of the artist who is disturbed because the interior does not stop the inspiration. An image that is widely debated in the aesthetic culture of the seventeenth century. The virtuoso Miguel Angel (1475-1564) represents the first modern artist, solitary, possessed and obsessed by his ideas". In short, the first artist, who feels deeply tied to his genius and who recognizes it as a superior power, imposed on his own will.
Making a jump in time, and arriving at such a day as today, the figure of the melancholy man, no longer have the relevance and connotations he had in his time. Maybe even in our subconscious, we associate artists with talent, people out of place, who works alone, and to some degree is melancholic. But I prefer to think, that the work of the artist, of any field, can develop in a more pleasant and joyful way, without being affected by sadness, and even get to work as a team, and do collective works.
Kaleidos Magazine, has recovered this spirit that has evolved over time and history of mankind, and in its first artistic show has brought together a team, to meet a challenge, unite in an image happiness and melancholy.
The result has been pleasantly satisfying, Kaleidos Art Gallery in October opened its doors with a sample of 9 images from the genius of its team, who in a waste of creativity have shown their vision of the fusion of concepts of joy and melancholy.
We are proud to present to you the result of this challenge, and before your eyes we show "The Happiness - Melancholy Exhibition".
Liv Xaris
Gallerist