An African Folktale, Chapter IV
The Artist, the Saint, the Wiseman
An African Folktale by Toni Arola, Chapter IV
Art is ever-present within their structure of living and being, as if the walls function as canvases. The Gurunsi and the Dogons have no notion of what their art should look like, it simply spurs from each individual within the community, without the influences of anything other than their tribe and its story. In the Western world, art has become complex. Technique no longer matters; a machine is able to reproduce technical perfection. Art has become baroque, conceptual art is baroque.
The director of Tate Modern once told me that, for him, art has turned into idea. It is as if we can no longer understand contemporary work without an explanation. As if, without understanding, we can’t feel art. Here, things works differently. Every decision, every shape, has its story. I can look inside myself by looking at it; I don’t need lectures or explanations. To me, it comes from instinct. I can just understand, without knowing anything at all. Nothing about this art is elitist, and the purity of it makes it incredibly beautiful.
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A child's sketch of the triangle of the Gurunsis. -
Fish drawn by a child living in a remote zone of the Sahel, miles away from the sea. -
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How could something I knew nothing of move me so much? Over the years I learned I was looking for archetypical art; one that is able to touch anyone at any give time. Here, I found this universality. It was the essence of the tribe; a pure state concentrated in little microworlds, an archetypical human beauty. Art runs free here. A pattern melts being and architecture melts together into one. Things could not have been in any other form other than the one they are in.
What is the purpose of what I do? I understand now that it is mainly about beauty.
Art generates consciousness
To me, art is about belonging. It gives pleasure and awareness. This is also the essence of travel; I perceive, I enjoy and I interpret without the filter of reason. I impregnate myself with a world and I become conscious of that world. I digest what I see in my own way. I believe there are three ways of reaching illumination; the Artist, the Saint and the Wiseman. The Artist is the one who creates, materializes consciousness in a plastic manner. The Wiseman is the one who studies, and reflects, to reach consciousness. The Saint gets there through prayer.
I don’t need lectures, I want to see love. I want to belong. To give consciousness and light. This is why we look for art, culture, cinema. Our interest comes from that love. When art is conscious it brings you spirituality. I like to believe it is what makes us human. I didn’t get any aesthetic of formal inspiration. I later understood these trips were a search for knowledge about life, to wake up, to understand the world.
To me, art is about belonging. It gives pleasure and awareness. This is also the essence of travel.
Photography. Antoni Arola
Words. Vincenzo Angileri
Watercolors, drawings and sketches. Antoni Arola
Thanks to Valerie Steenhaut and Júlia Rossinyol
Traveller/s
Toni Arola
Designer & Artist
Toni Arola works in various fields, ranging from lighting projects to furniture perfume packaging, interior design and ephemeral installations. He combines his professional career with teaching, artistic experimentation and light research. His eternal pursuit of beauty, inspired by ancestral cultures and his particular vision of light, give him a unique versatility which radiates through every project.
@antoniarolaestudi
