Description
A Sea Song
Contemporary naive Israeli art
Acrylic on canvas, 36cm x 36cm (14″ x 14″)
A Story
The boy is a minstrel prince. He is mute. He has never spoken. But he plays the flute and his music speaks to all, at his or her level of understanding. The prince’s music tells of all things: Tales of love, of sadness, of heroes and of misdeeds. Tales of wisdom and knowledge, of lightness and of dark, of a wide open life and of dark, closed blindnesses. Tales of instruction, tales of warning. Tales of tails and tails of hooves. Tales of swords and spears and tales of peace and calm. The prince tells his tales at the court of his father the Emir, and all along the shores of the sea, where passing merchants, bedouin and fishermen may hear, and learn.
One day, the prince was passing a small encampment. A merchant beckoned him into the main tent, and the prince saw that one of the merchants was ill. The head of the encampment asked if the prince knew a tale that could help, for his friend had been unwell for many days, and no-one knew what was ailing him. The prince played a sad and deep tune of longing on his flute, and all who heard sat in rapt contemplation. It was a tune that sent waves of healing to all who heard it, and the ill man slowly sat up, tears rolling down his cheeks. He smiled and began to speak. The prince’s tune had allowed him to mourn his daughter who had been lost to him many years before.
This piece of contemporary naive Israeli art shows a boy, who is a prince, a poet and a minstrel too, playing his simple wooden flute by the shores of a desert sea – the Red Sea. Behind him, his boat is floating above colourful fish in a turquoise-blue sea. A dolphin dives gently by, while in the background a crescent moon can be seen above the desert mountains. I made this painting shortly after a weekend in Eilat this summer, where we swam near dolphins, and I reread The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho.
Sealed with damar varnish. Unmounted. Delivered rolled in protective tube.