THE STRUGGLE : SHINE SHOW SHARE

BREAK THROUGH & CLARIFICATION Written 22/2/22 

I've always found great solace in the art of writing. It is so much quicker and cleaner than painting and the art can be performed anywhere, anytime and on anything.  

In the past, when bogged down with tricky thoughts, I have managed to gain clarity by shifting the problems in my cluttered mind onto paper and then, when  visually confronted, rearranging them in such a way, that they make sense. The mountains of unused words are then discarded. The space created in my mind, acts as a magnet for the next season of abundance to commence.  

I also hoard ideas and meaningful words and write them down for "Future Reference". The vague concept of "Future" can drag into decades of being unproductive.

My art making process follows the same pattern, but in comparison to my stash of filled notebooks and journals, very few paintings see the light. My mind is occupied by the largest virtual art museum, filled with invisible paintings signed by me.

All of this virtual, creative activity, is the surest way of spinning oneself into an frenzied and intricate cocoon and immobilizing and entombing oneself in a seemingly inescapable chrysalis. 

In addition to all of this, I have extensive amounts of hard copy which consists of framed and unframed paintings, drawings and sketches and vast photographic archives with professional images of documented work, of which over the years, many have been sold.

In addition to all of the above mentioned, I have 1000's of printed photographs inserted into a few hundred albums. Many more 1000's of exquisite and historical, photographic memories, studies and experiments, that have only been saved on external hard drives. Painstaking documentation of the time-consuming process of important and lesser paintings are neatly stored in folders. 

Photographs of friends, VIP guests and collectors visiting, exhibition openings, random images in my studio and vaults filled with my inspirational reference material. This collection does not even take into consideration my family, friends and expanded personal and professional life.

The written and completed essays on observations, methods, descriptions, philosophies, feelings, theories, techniques and travel journals, are unknown and unread. These are virtual and hard copy.

In addition to all of this, I have storerooms filled with primed and prepared boards and canvasses of all sizes, just waiting for me to materialize my dreams onto them. Storage cabinets with drawing books and hand made papers, abundant Art material of all sorts, paint brushes of all kinds, wait patiently for me to utilize them. Shelves are stacked with tubes of oil paint. A cupboard is filled with water color sets, pencils and colored pencils of all sorts, pens, sharpeners, erasers, inks, palettes, brushes, cleansers, etc etc.

My collections started off as boxes filled with invisible objects and then mutated  as Curiosity cabinets filled with collections of all things weird and wonderful. However as an ongoing process, ledges and surfaces have evolved in receptacles for little altars, of which for lack of space, the edges have gradually blended into each other creating one diverse, flowing panorama of inspiration and fascination. Transparent and opaque boxes fill open areas. They are filled with strange collections and objects find their way on top of their lids. Sometimes boxes are stacked on top of another, whilst others are inserted one inside of the other.  The tiniest most invisible box could be the secret chamber of some treasured object such as a lion's tooth, a gold filling or a mummified frog. Tiny and subtle adjustments are made with each addition, feeding and stimulating my creative addiction.

I become so stimulated with all the possibilities and permutations racing through my head, that I wear myself out with all the mental activity and spin the Chrysalis even tighter and thicker. Will I ever escape? Will I become strong enough to split the chrysalis so that my wings my slowly unfold?  What will it take? 

The suffering is excruciating, I cannot breathe, I am suffocating myself with abundance and excess....blessings.... How strange that Covid also causes asphyxiation

?My good intentions are wearing me out.  However I know and realize that if things don't flow out, everything will stagnate and become putrid. Everything eventually has a 'sell-by-date'.

Good intentions are not actions and the engine must be forcefully kicked into activity/action.

Besides having my own most magnificent studio with Heavenly light, I also have a separate Private Gallery where I have shown and can show my work. 

The past 2 years especially and ever since my husband and I had Covid exactly a year ago, I have been feeling defeated and struggle to motivate myself.

12/5/2023

I have discovered this draft today. I may or may not add to it at some time in the future, but for now, just reading through it, has been a major 'kick-in-the-***'!

LOCK DOWN LABYRINTH 2020

 ‘Lock down Labyrinth 2020’ is rather modest in size, although that which prompted me and acted as the catalyst for its existence, was paradoxically the monumental and global, yet highly personal and traumatic ongoing event of the enforced Covid Lock down. Over time, the abundant detail that was generated (and which remained in-flux as it continuously transformed), accumulated to such an extent, that it developed into an intricate, self-contained micro-universe, in which I explored and created endless permutations that remained contained and eventually trapped, within its limited dimensions of 200mm x 250mm.

My choice of colors were calculated to forcibly enhance and lift my gloomy mood. My situation was by no means unique, as similar feelings were experienced by individuals on a global scale. I was deeply affected by the overlapping and ongoing trauma of insecurity, severe illness, death and loss. I started to feel as though I had ‘run out of color’ and I was trapped in my own despondency.

LOCK-DOWN LABYRINTH

 LABYRINTHIAN MAZE

The painting exudes energy, sinuous movement and vibrant color, that ceaselessly tries to exhaust all manner of permutation, yet it remains confined and restricted and cannot break free from the imposition of borders. It squirms and meanders tirelessly but fruitlessly seeks escape.

 I feel immense gratitude when a painting (on rare occasion) decides to reveal its DNA to me.

The only solution and way forward for me to escape the suffering of perpetual entrapment in the maze, and which forced me to crisscross and meander endlessly, with no exit in sight, was to seek logical answers and a clear way out, utilizing my vision, clarity and fearlessness, to solve the agony of illogical prohibitions and restrictions and enforced isolation and the imprisonment of ‘lock down.’

During a moment of inspired clarity, I took a surprising, bold and deliberate step to finally end the mental, emotional and physical impasse and agonizing anguish and frustration.  I ended my co-dependency and willingness to participate, by the simple, decisive act of signing the painting.

This epiphany occurred  via my bird’s-eye view, when I realized that detachment was my only escape route… rising above the maze and finally escaping into another dimension.

This demure little painting, encapsulates and has become the metaphor for my entire experience of the past 2 years.

The title was only conceptualized after I had signed the painting. 

– (Aleta Michaletos)

Secrets of Paris: Yeti the iceman

Secrets of Paris

Yeti the iceman

Extracted from one of my Parisian Diaries 18/1/08

I walk around the chilly alleys of Paris. Runny eyes blur my vision and a r(f)unny nose, my dignity! 

A heavily patina-ted back door, nestled in the equally heavily patina-ted ancient walls that protect the orifice, creaks open and I glimpse a smoky little kitchen, gleaming gold and alive with activity and steam. 

A half-naked kitchen (scully) boy, casually saunters out to deeply inhale his own brand of smoke and rubs his hairy body with satisfaction, perspiration gluing the sleeves of his vest to his chest… Aleta Michaletos

www.aletamichaletos.com

 

 

HUMANS = CHEMICALS

 I can hardly believe I wrote this 10 years ago: 24/12/2012

It's high time I start to seriously practice what I preach.

HUMANS=CHEMICALS

Humans equal chemicals.

There are pollutants, toxins, cleansers, refreshers, detergents, activators, abrasives, softeners, poisons…. Once you realize this, you should go down the list and see which of these types are polluting you and you have been forced to respond to, by continuously trying to avoid or heal the damage and harm they do, and constantly inflict on your body, your mind your environment and your Soul. 

You are consistently trying to survive the onslaught of negativity, chaos and disease, by tolerating and surrounding yourself with them. They mostly have no positive contribution to your life or society but actually keep you so busy applying and exercising damage control, by trying to neutralize, heal and repair all their negative, chaotic, toxic and destructive effects, that you don’t have time to take the necessary positive steps to create and develop all the beautiful facets of your total self. 

Perhaps 2013 will be the right time to step into a purer life of positive choice and action and invite and gravitate towards those who emanate and are surrounded with sweet-smelling, fresh, restorative, invigorating and pure aromas.

-Author- Aleta Michaletos

CARPE DIEM

I wrote this piece on the 12th September 2013 and it's clear that the anniversary of '9/11' the previous day, had made a lasting impression on me.

'CARPE DIEM'

Seize the Day

(knowing so much yet understanding so little)

 'I'VE JUST RETURNED FROM A BRISK LITTLE WALK IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD, WHERE I HAPPENED TO NOTICE TWO RATHER PLAIN, (BUT BRIGHT-EYED) GREY DOVES ON THE TARMAC, NODDING THEIR LITTLE HEADS, AS IF INDICATING TO EACH OTHER, THE UNEXPECTED PUDDLE OF WATER IN FRONT OF THEM..... I COULDN'T HELP BUT THINK HOW SHORT THEIR LIFE SPAN WAS, AND YET, HOW THEY HAD MANAGED TO REACH SUCH MATURITY AS FAR AS THEIR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WAS CONCERNED. THEY WERE PLANNING A MORNING DIP INTO A DELIGHTFUL LIQUID POOL THAT REFLECTED THE BLUE SKY AND A FEW DRIFTING CLOUDS.......

WHILST ELSEWHERE, IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE, ARROGANT, 'INTELLIGENT' HUMANS, ARE SCHEMING AND PLOTTING TO WIPE OUT OR MAIM THEIR OWN KIND, WITH-OUT THEM EVER HAVING HAD THE OPPORTUNITY, TO CELEBRATE OR SHARE, THE GIFTS OF NATURE WITH EACH OTHER. '