It's a simple concept: enter your demographics, behold your personalized art. One blogger even posted about how her art really "fit" her personality.
So, of course, I had to try it.
My pre-birthday Mondrian looked like this:
Just for fun, and considering I was about to change demographics, I did a post-birthday one, too.
It looked like this:
What struck me at the time, and what I keep coming back to in the months since, is the shift in balance. If I was red, and Mo was brown, then the first picture demonstrates the inequality found in our relationship prior to this summer. Without meaning to, or perhaps simply because I let him, Mo's wants and needs dominated our relationship. Somehow, in my codependent fog, I let him take the lead, and I began to shrink.
Not long after I did the Mondrians, and celebrated my birthday, I started to work on changing this imbalance. The second picture, I believe, reflects this. I've begun to stand up for myself, to defend my choices, and to demand a more equal partnership. In this process, I've begun to once again take up the same amount of space as he does in our relationship.
Is this a case of art imitating life? Or life imitating art? You can judge for yourself. For me, the creation of this piece has forever altered the way I view this particular year of my life. It's the year of ME, the year that I once again take charge of my own destiny and rediscover who "I" am.
And, because I can't leave well enough alone, I did a hypothetical Mondrian for my next birthday, too.
I'm going to try not to read too much into that one.
I like the change between the first and second. And, maybe the space between the two of you (in the third one) will be filled by a baby?
ReplyDeleteWow, Jo. This one really stunned me. For one, my Mondrian looked a bit similar - we have the exact same colors and I also compared myself to the red and Frank to the brown.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretations of your Mondrians were some of the most insightful that I've read. Like you, I'm also going to try not to read too much into the last one.
Next year you may have a completely different interpretation of the Mondrians...I think that we tend to see ourselves, our own experiences in art, all the more so with art that has been created for us.
ReplyDeletewhoa as others say, pretty damn insightful. Since you've written about co-dependency in the past, I chose to believe the last one shows you happy and strong and independent. With or without Mo.
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