Land of Dochia, Issue No. 8, July 2023

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Letter from the Editor

When is it the best time to take a look at your life and make it better?

NOW

One of the key factors is art, and that is the subject of this July's Culture piece

Neuroaesthetics is the fancy name for the scientific field that proved what we long suspected: that beauty and its artful representations are good for our souls

This month, we turned the lens on Vermeer and his musings that put an imprint on so many generations of painters and art collectors alike Despite the world-wide fame he achieved posthumously, he died relatively poor, due to stress over financial issues Unlike him, we now have many options, and do not have to let the stress bog us down

Don't just go out and pick a print; get something that matters, something that's meaningful to you That's how you make art work for your wellbeing Happy reading,

Ethereal, I lift from the ground up, my parts loosening up, floating away, like off a spaceship out in the universe, as I spread myself thin in the air of my home. I land on familiar surfaces that hold me gently. My fingers on the paint of the walls, my foot slightly touching, my mind, decomposed, recomposed skimmed out thin like jam on hardwood floors, for others to step onto, and as I learn their knowledge, my mind hardens and reshapes itself above, gulping down everything and spitting it out again. Making and remaking myself every day.

“The realities of the world seldom measure up to the sublime designs of human imagination ”

Bryant H McGill

Eli Ginzberg

FROMVERMEERTO SELECTINGYOUR ART,SLOWDOWN ANDTAKEA MOMENT

Selecting art for your home, your restaurant or even the transient hotel room is no measly matter That is if you want to benefit from it Exposing yourself to beauty is good for your brain as much as for your soul.

When we experience beauty, our body produces an increased amount of dopamine, and it does so independently of the type of sensorial impulse: visual, auditory or otherwise Semir Zeki, head of the Institute of Neuroesthetics at London's University College, measured the dopamine levels of subjects exposed to various stimuli and documented this through his research Although not yet a certitude accepted by all, the evidence does point to a cherished relationship between beauty and our minds

From the replica posters of the many furniture stores to museum-level originals, art selection should be a deliberate and immersive process, not unlike the way that the art itself is created Time to ponder and perfect is needed and invaluable in any art collection that you aspire to be enjoyable for many years to come

The Dutch painter Vermeer produced no less than thirty-four and, arguably, no more than thirty-seven paintings in his life - a common theme and setting threading them all They were all domestic interiors largely set in two of the rooms of his home and populated mostly with women.

"There is, strictly speaking, neither unselfish conduct, nor a wholly disinterested point of view. Both are simply sublimations in which the basic element seems almost evaporated and betrays its presence only to the keenest observation. […] must one not be almost inhuman in order to follow the opposite course?"

Nietzsche, Human, all to human

As if that were not focused enough, he was one of the few painters that understood, through Leonardo da Vinci's teachings, one of the most fundamental truths about how we perceive colour, and that is, in relationship to the colour adjacent to it. Leonardo sensed it, and recently, science demonstrated it But in the Baroque time of Vermeer, that was not evident.

In his famous painting The Milkmaid, he used one of the most expensive pigments, ultramarine, which derives from lapis lazuli. He not only used it as a visible paint but as the underlay of other colours Precisely because him knowing the perceptual link between colours, he opted to layer the ultramarine underneath to influence that relationship. Combined with his superb control of light, his paintings have an indescribable atmosphere, speaking directly to the admirer's soul.

Anything and everything can be a source of imagination In a contemporary interior, Vermeer's colour palette can be as appealing as the modern artists of the twentieth century As long as the art piece relates to the size of the room, it is placed in equilibrium with other elements and contributes to the overall ambiance, you have successfully started a meaningful art collection.

variation three

AI generated based on Vermeer's Milkmaid

REVAMPEDWEBSITE!

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