New Zealand is an outdoor country with many surprises. In the middle of nowhere (i.e. at Arthur’s Pass HW in a tiny inhabited spot named Ōtira) you can find John A Burns’ gallery.
I arrived there after a long day of driving through fabulous landscape, a little tired and soooo hungry, as it was Christmas Day and there was no place to eat, nowhere. Except in Ōtira – there was food. You can imagine that I was keen to get there and dig in.
I seem to have a masochistic side. When getting out of the car, I saw the little brightly painted house further down the path. And being torn between hunger and curiosity, I decided in favor of curiosity – and got a lovely surprise in return.
I entered the little house, cautiously, as I did not see anybody. Until I entered the gallery room – and there they were. My favourites.
The whalers.
Imagine little blue men, looking grimly, with skinny legs and long stakes and on a boat. There is blue, lot’s of pale blue, and then some red. John doesn’t like visitors to take photos, hence I must read my memory to describe why I fell in love with the blue grim men. They seemed to want to be strong, but feel vulnerable deep inside. They were a team, but each of them on his own, somehow. They made me want to watch them leave shore and come back with their nets full.
But wait, no whale, please.
But you know what? I think the little blue men would anyway never, never ever catch a fish (let alone a whale) and not release it back to the sea afterwards. I think they have a heart. Yes, for sure.
Have look at John’s online gallery an see yourself,
(Hey, I did not mention the letters. I love words, and John paints around and with words, statements, sentences. Yes, the words are my favorites, too.)
(Ah, and I forgot Rammstein. John told me that he loves Rammstein, a German band with somewhat heavy lyrics. A visitor introduced him to their music. I sent him a link to a translation page – let’s see what he thinks about it. Hope he’ll let me know.)
Check John’s website here: http://www.johnburnsartist.co.nz
See Rammstein’s lyrics here: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/rammstein-lyrics.html
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