Monday, January 17, 2011

Re-conceived notion

Joseph Cornell , Untitled (The Hotel Eden), c. 1945, Construction


Nothing thrills me more than a creative re-interpretation of something. M aybe it's just the greenie in me, but re-cycled, re-presented, re-purposed anything--done with intelligence and wit--makes me swoon. I love to see the mind at play, especially as manifested in an object. I never ceased to be amazed by what people will come up with, and how a creative person will rise to the challenge of making something brand new from stuff that already exists. Collages, mash-ups, assemblages, ready-mades...oh, be still my heart.
So I was really intrigued by a reference in last week's Home section in the NYTimes. A Berlin artist has turned an old factory into a living space/gallery (also an interesting re-use of a building), and often hosts art events at her home. Including--get this--an artist whose medium IS YOGA! I spent quite a lot of time searching for said artist to see what s/he had come up with...but without any luck (anyone know who this artist might be?).

An artist whose medium is yoga. Not an artist who uses yoga as subject matter, but whose form of expression is yoga itself. How does that come about? What do see when you look at this art? Surely it's more than just some sort of dance using poses, right? Maybe it's a piece that doesn't even reference asana. What could it be--I'm so curious.

And so energized. How exciting to use this thing that we've all come to see as a privileged practice, intended for good mental and spiritual health, as a source . Like I said, I love a good re-interpretation, and using yoga like a paintbrush or pencil or sculpting medium kind of blows my mind.

Something to incorporate into Yoga 2.0? Something that could inform our usual practice or teaching methods? I wish I knew what the piece or performance actually was--but it's an interesting exercise to try and imagine it...

8 comments:

Jen said...

Fascinating! Please update us if you find out more about the artist.

roseanne said...

interesting! if i was still blogging about yoga, i would do some investigative work and track down this artist. but i don't have time for that stuff anymore ;)

i love the idea of yoga being a medium for art... and i hope the artist isn't just some contortionist or former dancer. keep us posted!

Anna Guest-Jelley said...

So intriguing! Thanks for sharing!

Yogadawg said...

Joseph Cornell is pretty amazing. One of my favorites. As far as the yoga artist, always thought Edward Clark was about the only person using yoga as expression.

Brenda P. said...

This is Edward Clark (thanks YD):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3wyrwbHwp4

An impressive tangle of arms and legs, but I was hoping for something more inventive. I don't know if this is the artist in question--he doesn't seem so conceptual--so I will keep looking.

In a way, yoga (asana) could be really limiting, if you're just using it as is...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the Joseph Cornell!

TheVeganAsana said...

Oh, that is quite intriguing. I'll be checking back to see if you find more info on the artist, of if it was Edward Clark!

Christina said...

I can only imagine the types of poses that are being used by this artist. I wonder why it's so difficult to find her. I'm going to do a little research as well, because I'm very interested!


great post, thanks for sharing!