GILIANE BADER

I believe life is not a series of accidents but a magic thread that one can choose to ignore.

ABSTRACT

In remembrance of a strange encounter while swimming in the Congo River. The water, a murky orange, flows and simmer around me. I cannot see through and panic rises when I see a water snake heading my way.
This memory came back on one of my daily walks by the Charles River, in Boston. Here the water is clear, although the river seems dark brown as it takes on the color of the river bed. On sunny days it is blue, and has pink highlights at sunset.
32 x 24 (or lower.)
Archival Pigment Prints

The quintessential stone of love, the soft pink and soothing energy of that stone doesn’t discount its power in bringing out compassionate harmony.
The inspiration came during a Jin Shin Jyutsu treatment after I had a minor surgery. Jin Shin Jyutsu is a rediscovered ancient Japanese healing art that helps rebalance one’s body energies. The feeling was quite similar to that associated with the rose quartz quality of releasing worry, fear and anxiety.
32 x 24 (or lower.)
Archival Pigment Prints

Cube Art Faor Impression

I had been thinking about doing a monochrome painting and more specifically in yellow. This drawing was started while exhibiting at the Cube Art Fair in Brussels. It evolved into an attempt to render all the impressions, works and energy I felt as I mingled among a variety of work of arts and amazing artists. I struggled a little to incorporate many of the artists’ work features into the whole. The last dinner event of the fair was held in the ancestral home of a count, no less. The garden was vast, and even in the night, the centenarian hemlocks stood-up majestically and entered my picture. At that point, everything came together. The giraffes were one of a wildlife artist's features. One of them has returned in another painting to indicate it was my personal impressions on that specific subject.
Archival Pigment Print or metal print 30' x 24' with a white margin

Bursting Spring Energies

When in Boston, my morning walks bring me to the Charles River Reservation. This piece was inspired by the unfolding of the 2017 spring season when the energies surrounding us are almost palpable if not obvious. Turtles are coming out to lay eggs, the trees are leafing in a tender green and changing almost daily, goslings appear and walk besides their parents. Movement is everywhere, the light is brighter, the air softer. The painting organized itself in three sections, water, air and earth. This became apparent to me as I was working on the water part. The turtles became squids and jellyfish, and eggs started floating around. The air filled with butterfly-like creatures. The earth exploded with leaves and flowers while some mechanical contraption maintained the earth's pressure under control. Then the spring heartbeat became a prominent feature.
Archival Pigment Print or metal print 30' x 24' with a white margin

Mind the Gap followed a recent visit to London at Christmas time (2015). Why the title? All the rides on the Tube were punctuated with a “mind the gap” warning at each and any stop. This was a funny leitmotiv of that visit – to me. There were many walks during the day and at night, by the Thames and in the city proper, where I discovered a whole new skyline with the Shard and the Gerkin. After a 40-year hiatus since my last visit, I was enthralled by the flourishing energy of the city. The last night in the city was magical with the multitude of Christmas lights and a huge blue moon hanging in the sky. The piece started with two driving elements, the Thames and the Gerkin that blended together, the permanent and the new. They were soon escorted by a large blossoming element. The piece didn’t come come together until the addition of the moon and the blue reflection that reached the river.
Archival Pigment Print or metal print 30' x 24' with a white margin

Spiraling Energy of the Universe

The importance of spirals to move energy through the body is a key component of my Tai Chi practice, and meditation. When I found a double helix pattern, I immediately wanted to use it and set a piece around it. How else could I express the incredible power of spiraling energy in a drawing? How to make this whole and harmonious at the same time? Other spirals came in, a giant squid or medusa, and a spider web-like spiral. Vines, fruits, eggs and aquatic vegetation spread around and within the spirals, but something was missing. The double helix then became more energetic when it connected to 2 other spaces through tubes, and the squid head grew a mirrored head and a third connecting point. A special universe started to come to life. The large spheric structure to the left finally brought all together – this is actually the image of a drain fixture I had encountered on a walk and photographed. The drain was the connecting point to a fourth space.
Archival Pigment Print or metal print 30' x 24' with a white margin

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