Ghpf Art Community

Art therapy has long been seen as a form of therapeutic process for emotional disorders and anxiety. Van Gogh kept some of his demons at bay through art. More recently, therapists have reported a high success rate with the use of creative and artistic expression to deal with anger, depression and pain.

Take for example Carla P., who was saved from her 15 year severe depression by art therapy. She claimed that taking the creative artwork sessions saved her life. Although medication provided some relief, it also brought on a 35 pound weight gain that made her feel old and dumpy. Then she started searching for alternate treatment avenues. On the advice of a friend, Carla signed up for an art therapy class, even though she did not believe initially that the session could help her.

She enjoyed the session so much she returned the second week. Within 6 weeks, Carla noticed significant improvement in her sleep. She did not toss and turn as much at night; she also noticed a more positive sense of well being. Little things did not bother her as much because her mind was absorbed by planning her next art project.

She reported feeling optimistic. In fact, she felt so good she started walking every morning before work and within three months, lost 10 lbs. Her doctor was so pleased with her progress he reduced the dosage of her medication.

Carla is now convinced that her painting sessions helped her cope with an immeasurable sense of anger that had haunted her for 20 years. Claiming that the sessions changed her pattern of negative thinking, she called art therapy a form of anger management class.
She is right.

In the book, “Art Therapy and Anger,” contributor Art Psychotherapist Leila Moules describes the success she had working with ODD children using art. She uses art to help these children “look within,” so they can gain some control over their behavior problems. Essentially, her therapeutic process is a tool kit to help them repair their anger.

A study published in the “Journal of Pain and Symptom Management” also shows that creative expression reduces symptoms related to fear and anxiety in cancer patients.

Researchers discovered that the creative process involved in making art is a transformational tool. Art can both heal and enhance life. Studies confirm that art therapy minimizes symptoms of anxiety and fear because creative play provides a form of distraction that takes children away from their anxiety.

Art projects get them to focus on something positive, unrelated to their emotional circumstances, yet somehow benefiting their emotional health in the long run. Art allows children to exercise some measure of control over what they do, which can help them restore control over their own impulsive behavior.

Whether it is clay or paint they are working on, the art project confirms children’s sense of control and engagement.

Art Therapy is another effective tool for anger management that can well supplement or replace the use of medication.

Nude, we all are! In our bathrooms, occasionally in our bedrooms, and when a celebrity is, everyone wants to shoot that precious moment by virtue of our hi-tech devices, we were not blessed with in ancient period when the only way to incarcerate those luxurious moments was either painting or sculpture. In the beginning, they were gods, goddesses and angles, shown naked in paintings as symbols of grace, beauty and innocence, but later on during and after renaissance, those were pretty women and handsome men painted undress under the strong wave of humanism, which ultimately supported freedom of expression. That work was simply called ‘Nude’ in art; the most popular as well as controversial it remained in all ages.

Nudes were hard to accept openly in society but always had a strong appeal for viewers to give them a glance in public while, a detailed look in solitude. Texture and glow of skin, masterly crafted muscles, bones under the tender or strong flesh, skilled the canvas a depth and atmosphere so close to our imagination.

Basically nudes are the concrete form of creator’s thoughts and emotions under a certain instinct of wearing nothing but skin. There was no dress in the beginning of human history and might be so towards the end of ‘human history’. But anatomical study has always been a challenge to be adept in, for painters and sculptors. Religiously nudes were subject to be free from any sensuality, on the contrary, they were taken as an expression of purity and had ‘nothing to do with’ attitude towards mortal life. Saints, goddesses and other sacred figures were above all social and ethical parameters but as soon as normal human beings were painted naked just to show them as humans, it was outlawed by righteous society. Manet’s ‘Lunch on the Grass’ is one example of this dichotomy.

When Raphael (1483-1520) painted ‘THE THREE GRACES’ and David (1460-1523) produced ‘TRIPTYCH OF JEAN DES TROMPES, they promoted the religious thoughts and concepts, while Delacroix’s famous ‘LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE’ was a symbol of pride and honor one could feel for one’s home land although the lady holding the flag was exposed at the top.

Then comes Manet’s (1832-1883) ‘LUNCHEON THE GRASS’ showing a naked women sitting with two gentlemen fully and formally dressed, looking directly into the eyes of the viewer. This painting was really hard to digest for the French society at that time, despite the fact that they were quite interactive with traditional ‘Nudes’, whereas ‘OLYMPIA’ by the same artist was bold enough to get appreciation for the impressionists.

Goya’s (1746-1828) ‘NUDE MAJA’ and Dega’s (1834-1880) key-hole nudes of bathing women got applause and popularity in their respective times that helped this art to get the status of serious art rather than scramble to sensuous feelings alone! Especially Dega’s crafty figures well-knit with softness of pastels became a byword of technique and thought. In the 20th century, Cubism, owing to its sharp and misty combination in shape and concept, struck art by means of pinching edges and overlapped images. Nude painting got more space to articulate itself, as the obscure and indistinct ambiance gave artists the opportunity to avoid meticulous anatomical details. This style helped modern artists to enlarge the conceptual and subjective aspect of their paintings rather than objective reality related to humanism. Pablo Picasso was one of those artists, who not only gave nudes a new touch, but also caused the whole expression an indirect approach in terms of technique for certain meandering subjects.

There was another stream of nude paintings that was neither sacred nor arty, but purely sensuous! That art was in demand for dance floors, casinos, brothel houses and strip clubs and other red- lit dark alleys. it could not get any place in serious art but these paintings did get different and innovative ideas applied on sensuously twitching figures. That painting also required perfection in skill as far as anatomical problems were concerned.

In Pakistan, where even normal art has been a taboo since its beginning, what one could think about nude art? Must it exist here! It does actually! Pakistan has got some good and adroit painters who could fashion human anatomy with their skill and imagination and could furnish the canvass up to the level of ‘a treat to watch’. Talism-e-Hoshruba by Ustad Alla Bakhsh has got tinges of semi exposed human bodies in a mystical atmosphere. Sadqain’s paintings give you an idea about bodies of active, working human beings that do reflect painter’s skill.

Shakir Ali, we could say, was the first one to paint abstract nudes as real art in Pakistan. His strong contours, dark bold colors and conceptual attitude, truly distinguish him from his contemporaries. Shakir experimented in showing women’s body in a hidden and abstract approach. Afterward, Saeed Akhter, with his realistic style, contributed valiantly in this prohibited art form while Jami Naqsh sharpened the edges of his ideas along with nude figures accompanied by pigeons. However, the mastery of this genre would always remain with Colin David, whose work is not only to look at, but it is to feel that reality which you listen only in whispers.

What and how a person thinks and perceive, is rendered in art! Therefore, the expression in art, has been close to nature where sometimes, norms and values could not be considered.
Bernard Berenson (1897) said, “Not what man knows but what man feels concerns art. All else is science.”

‘Art Deco’ was a mainstream international design movement, spreading over a span of fourteen years, from 1925 to 1939. It played a crucial role in the development and the progression of Modern Art. The Deco Movement embodied a blend of the different modern decorative art styles, largely from 1920s and 1930s. These styles were the derivatives of several state-of-the-art painting philosophies of the twentieth century, including ‘Neoclassical,’ ‘Constructivism,’ ‘Cubism,’ ‘Modernism,’ ‘Art Nouveau,’ and ‘Futurism.’ The Deco movement influenced various decorative arts, such as architecture, interior designing, industrial designing, and visual art forms like fashion, painting, graphic arts, and cinema.

The term ‘Art Deco’ was coined in an exhibition, ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes,’ held in Paris, in the year 1925. The exhibition was organized by some French artists to promote the creation of a new genre of art, adapted to the contemporary lifestyle, a distinct sense of individuality, and fine workmanship. The organizers of this exhibition were the members of the society, ‘La Societe des artistes decorateurs,’ including, Hector Guinmard, Eugene Grasset, Raoul Lachenal, Paul Follot, Maurice Dufrene, and Emily Decour. The term ‘Art Deco’ however, gained widespread recognition only in the year 1968, when art historian Bevis Hiller, came out with his popular book, ‘Art Deco of the 20s and 30s,’ and organized an exhibition, ‘Art Deco,’ at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

This movement was distinguished for its abstraction, manipulation, and simplification of defined geometric shapes, and a vivid use of colors. The bold color schemes and blending curves were the focal points of the true ‘Deco’ creations. The so-called ‘ancient arts’ of Africa, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico, prominently inspired this movement. In the age of machines and streamline technology, the use of materials, such as plastics, enamels, harden concrete, and an unusual type of glass, ‘vita-glass,’ greatly affected the movement. There is sufficient evidence to indicate the employment of materials, like aluminum, stainless steel, lacquer, inlaid wood, along with exotic materials, like zebra and sharkskin.

The Empire State Building, famous for its pyramid-like structure, and the Chrysler Building, known for its multi-arched dome, are the living examples of the ‘Deco’ style. The movement even outlined the fashion industry of Paris in the 1920s. The dresses sported large chromium buttons, head-hugging cloche hats worn with huge fur collars, dangling earrings, and so called ‘bobbed hairstyles,’ all amounting to completely new and revolutionary look. The BBC Building in Portland Place and the basement of the Strand Palace Hotel, London are the examples of the pure ‘Art Deco’ style. The popularity of this movement took a beating during late 30s and 40s, but regained its lost sheen with the surge in the following of ‘graphic designing’ in the 1980s.