Have You Ever Thought About Anchors?

A couple of weeks ago I visited my watercolour guru. He lives on the edge of the flatland in the city of constant winds. His house sits on the slope just below the hill top. We sit on the terrace overlooking the city which slowly disappears towards the horizon. My pink folder looks strange in his wrinkled hands. He gently lifts each of my watercolours from the folder, turning them around to view them from different perspectives. Every now and again he nods silently. I can say he likes what he sees. 

»You could include all of them in an exhibition.« He says. »Well, perhaps not this one.« He holds up the watercolour in question for me to see. It's too different; the others are abstract moths, that one isn't abstract enough, so it stands out. 

»Mhm …« I murmur. »I know.«

He nods. »Have you ever thought about anchors?« He asks. »You could try to paint something to enable the viewer to know what the top of the painting is … or the bottom. Like squares or circles or whatever, painted in the colours you used in your painting. You could turn these whichever way you like and it's OK, but it isn't the way you intended the viewer to see them.«

»You mean like printer's marks on a design?« 

»For example.« He packs the watercolours into their pink folder.

»Will I be seeing you in August?« I ask.

»Of course.« He says after a sip of coffee.

Good, I think to myself.

*

Pred nekaj tedni sem obiskala mojega akvarelnega guruja. Živi v mestu na robu ravnine, kjer nenehno piha. Njegova hiša čepi na pobočju, tik pod vrhom hriba, kjer rastejo trte in sadno drevje. Sedimo na terasi, ki gleda na mesto, ki počasi izginja proti obzorju. Rožnata mapa, ki se jo prinesla s seboj je v njegovih sedemdesetletnih rokah videti čudno. Vsak akvarel nežno dvigne iz mape in ga obrača, da bi ga videl iz različnih zornih kotov. Tu in tam tiho pokima. Vem, da je zadovoljen s tem, kar vidi. 

»Vse bi lahko razstavila,” reče. “No, morda ne te.” Sliko, o kateri govori dvigne, da jo lahko vidim. Drugačna je. Na ostalih so abstrahirane vešče, tale pa ni dovolj abstraktna, kot da ne bi sodila zraven.

“Mhm … vem,” rečem.

Pokima. “Si že kdaj razmišljala o sidrih?” Vpraša, “Lahko bi naslikala nekaj, kar bi gledalcu povedalo kako naj obrne sliko, da bo prav. Kar koli, pravzaprav … kvadratke, kroge, v barvah, ki jih uporabljaš v slikah. Te slike lahko obrneš na kateri koli način in delujejo. Zakaj ne bi gledalcu povedala kako želiš, da bi jih obrnil?”

“Misliš kot tisti kvadratki na dizajnih, ko jih pošljemo tiskarju?”

“Na primer, ja.” Počasi vrne akvarele nazaj v rožnato mapo. 

“Avgusta prideš?” vprašam.

“Seveda,” reče potem, ko odpije požirek kave.

Dobro, si mislim.