Thursday 26 April 2012

Esref Armagan - And my thoughts


I know this is a bit random, but I'm so intrigued
I stumbled on this information about this amazing guy called Esref Armagan. He is a Turkish painter who has been completely blind since birth, so has never experienced what it is to see colour or the environment.

He has never had an art lesson,has never had the opportunity to see detail, he has defied scientific belief and has managed to paint details in pictures using bright colours and 3-point perspective without assistance, how is that possible? 
He has become the subject of scientific brain studies in the U.S. 
Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLYYPnx9Cic





I cant start to imagine what it would be to have no sight, and this is something I hold dear, but I have often heard that blind people sometimes expresses that the other senses are enhanced when unable to see. 
We cant underestimate the imagination.
I think it would be an interesting exercise to explore this idea and attempt to paint blindfolded whilst having someone describe to you a scene or to use the sense of sound to guide your mind with what to put on paper. 
Or maybe just using the sense of touch to enhance how we translate our work.
Its very easy to just accept what we have without appreciating it.


Just a thought.......

Posted by at
Labels:

4 comments:

  1. Louise Cargill26 April 2012 at 10:56

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Louise Cargill26 April 2012 at 11:12

    You have to admire such spirit and determination, how easy it is for us to become dissatisfied with our work and we are "not yet disabled". His method of working is interesting to watch. I loved the end of the clip where he did the drawing, amazing. I have taught "blind" drawing exercises in the class room, everyone loved it and the drawings made were always fantastic! It would be fun to get some big paper and with a "guide" try out some coloured paintings. Maybe the colours could be stored in different shaped pots to enable the blindfolded artist to independently select colours. It made me think ( I don't know why?)of the Surrealist game of Exquisite Corpse, where several people paint on one canvas, altering or adding images and words.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Christina Hesford27 April 2012 at 04:59

    I love exquisite corpse, I think its so fascinating. We should play it sometime when we're waiting for a tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Louise Cargill27 April 2012 at 14:10

    Good idea it would be a good "brain gym" to get us ready to be articulate and creative or do I just mean me!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)