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| The Meeting, acrylic on panel, © Olivier Hijmans 2010 |
That time and that place
Harmonious and awkward
They happen to be
'The Meeting', which I painted in 2010, has always been personal favorite of mine. But why? I think it is precisely because in certain respects it playfully deviates from my 'regular' style, though only slightly so. It is one of those scenes that has what I call a 'slow fade-in of humor', meaning that the longer you examine it, the funnier it becomes. To me it represents a happy bunch, sort of awkwardly posing for the occasion, yet assuming a kind of natural and effortless harmony together. Sometimes there is this beautiful and unexpected rhythm or resonance within a group composed of seemingly random people, showing that indeed they would have been randomly composed, except for this occasion. Or something like that. I guess I am referring to what is explained in Buddhism as the distinction between the 'provisional' and the 'true' nature of a person or a situation. I will stop here, because this painting could make me go on for many pages..