Shop in my Suitcase (Chapter 4 - Foreign cultures)
“Every time I wander into the old city, I cannot stop taking photographs because there is something wonderful in the air there. One feels one becomes part of an ancient world where life was simple and where people mattered, because life seems somehow ‘paused’ in this milieu. It is as if a story book element opens up and people feel playful and inspired”.
“Jeddah allowed me many opportunities to hone my dormant art skills such as watercolour sketching, portraiture and drawing people in public as you will see. I trust you will enjoy reading this book and may you be stirred into artistic action too as a result. This is my tribute to Jeddah and its people”.
My Jeddah by Pieter Pienaar. The collection is a tribute to the city of Jeddah and its wonderful people; they awakened new vistas for the artist within me. I wanted to present these works as a unit because they visually contain a four-year period in my life. During this time, I discovered more avenues of artistic expressions prompted by the wonderful tableaus I beheld as I walked through the streets of Jeddah and enjoyed seeing beauty in many extravagant as well as mundane elements. As South Africans I think we understand elements of the Arabian reality such as the harsh quiet desert and the hospitality of the people, which come to mind first. I grew up just south of the Botswana border in a similar landscape, so the Jeddah landscape and the desert nearby always seem like a possible second home to me, with regards to its geographical elements …
We are living in a visual and virtual period with such great possibilities and opportunities, that it is almost impossible to stop dreaming and the invention of new devices and software applications are just multiplying our options by the day. The invention of the first camera in the middle of the nineteenth century sparked the Impressionism movement in art and now, almost 160 years later, the realities of the digital camera and digital printing have spoilt the artists for choice. Where does one start? Which avenue of printing does one choose when one wants to duplicate one’s work? As people and artists, I believe we are overwhelmed by the load of digital information we have at our fingertips. However, whether we are overwhelmed or not, we have the privilege of copying our work in so many ways: photographic reproduction and sublimation printing on virtually any surface we could possibly desire. Oh, I almost forgot: Then there is the World Wide Web where one’s work can be displayed and documented and where people may even copy it without one’s knowledge.
The point I want to make is that most artists (even part time ones like me and all people for that matter) are lured into the entrepreneurial domain, whether we like it or not, simply because the visual culture around us is speaking or “showing” a faster visual language nowadays and when anyone slips a photo of an artwork into the social media domain it immediately becomes tinged with an element of advertising. Our smart phones have turned all of us into some kind of salespeople whether we like it or not.
However, I do not want to sound negative about our wonderful opportunities so let us focus on the positive side, which is my intention with this book: It is a result of digital images which led to two-dimensional artistic expressions in various media, then photographed carefully by the artist, then exhibited and photographed by visitors and shared on the internet, a few were printed on coffee mugs, scarves and various other items, then later they travelled via the internet to a graphic designer who manipulated and cropped them and finally this self-published coffee table book is merely one possible digital version of them.
Just one last point about the entrepreneurial issue, I wish I could report that I enjoyed great financial success with my Jeddah by Pieter Pienaar products which I tried to sell, some of which you can see inside this book. However, the opposite is true, but the journey was exciting and I learned a lot and it was great fun. My good friend, Mr. Saleh Bogary, who wrote the Foreword, told me: ‘A person who sells his artwork on coffee mugs and scarves cannot really become rich; he or she does it for the love of the place or the love of the cause.’ My time in Jeddah is drawing to a close once more, so this is my tribute and may my love for the “cause” be evident and be something you can enjoy. (Text from my Journey with Jeddah coffee table book published in 2019.) Journey with Jeddah : Pieter Pienaar | Groep7 eShop
I spent eight years abroad. Six years in Saudi Arabia and two years in China. It was not an easy period for me as an art teacher, because of cultural differences and workplace harassment. However, for my personal artist career, for which I made time, even during very difficult seasons, it was like manna from heaven and I will always be grateful for the privileges I enjoyed. I have so many fond memories of meeting other artists in Saudi Arabia and in China.
I recall a wonderful afternoon I spent with a group of Chinese artists who had studios next to each other and it was clear they were an enclave of happy creatives. They had musical instruments in their studios, and they played Chinese music for me on their guitars and then I returned the favour by singing a few Afrikaans folk songs too. During that brief afternoon I felt as if I was transported to Paris. I experienced something the hegemony of Impressionist painters enjoyed when they met and inspired each other (where the Impressionist Museum is now).
When one travels, the world becomes a little bigger and the stimuli intensifies. It is not difficult to understand why famous artists made touring a priority; it is indeed necessary for inspirational purposes, and it feeds the hunger for new subject matter. There are so many beautiful paintings in the Art History textbooks which would never have been created, had it not been that the artist took his suitcase and art materials and travelled to exotic lands.
I can easily fill many pages with my enthusiasm regarding relocating to other vistas, but it may become too flowery and repetitive, so I think I need to compare the big visual differences between what impressed me in Saudi Arabia and what China offered me. I think I don’t have to say too much about Jeddah (in Saudi Arabia) because I have alluded to it above in the text I grabbed from my coffee table book. To be fair to China, the time I spent there was much shorter than my Saudi stay, but the “gift” it gave me, I am still untying and processing. (I even wrote a book about my year in Suzhou. The sequel is still on my bucket list. Mr. Palette relocates to the Empire (Part one) : Pieter Pienaar | Groep7 eShop)
China gave me insight into “global” matters. Such as how to build a brand, everything is possible, you can make things happen, don’t wait and now is the moment. The fact that China is the supplier of 90% of the world’s decorations and other items means that I experienced it (referring to the cities where I lived, namely Suzhou and Wuhan) as a large “Walt Disney screen”. The visual imprint it left on my mind was: animated life. Everywhere I looked I saw people wearing t-shirts with cartoon characters and Father Christmas adorned many a shop window. I know I am generalizing on a grand scale here, but I am trying to distill the impression as an artist. Obviously, I am referring to city-life. When you sojourn into the Chinese countryside life is slower and there is more quiet poetry.
Let me be brave and juxtapose these destinations to ascertain their impact on my development as an artist. Jeddah or Saudi Arabia befriended me with culture steeped in tradition and it evoked a classical approach in my art making decisions, while China, with its fast-paced, vibrant city life and e-bikes, put my senses on high alert (not because of danger), because there was so much happening and I had to respond with immediacy and novel art making approaches.
So, as you can imagine, exposure to the Middle East and Far East was indeed a feast for the eyes and my art practice enjoyed a heyday because of my 8-year international art teaching career. It filled my suitcase with many curio items, and my camera took wonderful photographs which I could still draw upon for inspiration – if only we had time that never faded. So, without further ado, put I will put my hand on my chest and say: Remember, there is art in your heart.
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