"On the Wings of the Wind"

Iris Gat inspired by Rabindranath Tagore

On the wings of the wind

A little about Tagore...

7 May 1861 - 7 August 1941, Born in Kolkata, India.
Poet, Educator, Thinker, Philosopher, Indian Patriot, Playwright, Painter Artist, Composer, and more.
At the age of 16th, he published his first poems.
In 1913 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature and was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize.
His travels around the world sharpened his understanding of national issues and his educational outlook, which led him to open a school. In 1901, the school became the university that is still active today.
He was a member of the Indian National Movement and was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister of India. Tagore gave him the name Mahatma, which means - The Great Soul.
In 1915 he received the British knighthood. After the Amritsar massacre, a non-violent demonstration, in which 379 innocent people were killed, he asked to return the title he had received from the British Empire.
Tagore passionately supported Zionism (he wanted to visit the Land of Israel, but his health did not allow him to do so).
Janusz Korczak chose to present a play by Tagore, called "The Mail Man", a few weeks before the horrific destruction of the orphanage in the Holocaust.
Tagore has been a great inspiration since then to this day all over the world.

How the exhibition was started

The painting exhibition "On the Wings of the Wind" was woven in me inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's poetry from the book "Migrating Birds" (translated by Pua Shalev-Toren).

Tagore wrote his poetry from faith and hope for the purity of the world from its beginning. We can find in his poems the touch of intricacies of the world and the point of light that resides in every person and thing. His gentle simplicity of the truths touches the heart. The concise and effective content of the book is rich in wonderful descriptions of God's nature and infinite love for His sons, as well as man's yearning and object of love for his God.

"In the summer, migratory birds come to my window, sing their song and fly away, And the autumn leaves fall there with a silent sigh. O convoy of small wanderers in the world, leave your footprints inside my words."

The poet chose the migratory birds that would take him with them on the wonderful wandering journey, on the wings of the wind, to absorb his impressions and to open up himself to the perfection of the one moment in its details and the entire universe together.

Tagore's sincere poetry left an impression on me that was expressed through me through painting. I went on a journey and began to fly on the wings of his poetry. At first, I saw everything from above, as a bird's eye view. The spirit of the book brought me a flow of joy. Little by little I began to land from my journey's flight and choose the verses for me to continue the act of creation. In a period of a few months, I started the creation of the drawings, inspired by the poetry verses.

I chose to combine materials in this exhibition, and drawings in different mediums. In each medium - I tried to soften its hard material, and bring out the best in it:

- Digital Illustration on the computer

- Acrylic illustration on canvas

- Illustration with iron wire.

Through one line of iron wire, you can feel the sincerity of a moment that was caught between a cumbersome wire and created a new expression form. When the painting is placed on the canvas, with a brush, you can feel the power of nature connected to humans through color's flow, and also through computer digital illustration, you can feel the richness of the details and the realistic drawing.

New worlds were revealed to me through the world of creation, I listened, felt, experienced, learned, and breathed the eternal pulse of the spirit.

This path led me to know more about the wisdom of calligraphy and Chinese & Japanese art. In this ancient wisdom, I discovered things that the heart teaches and it connected me, among other things, to Tagore's poetry. In many of my paintings from the current period, you can feel the difference and see the change.

"The poet's spirit went out to journey in the sea and the forest - ask for his voice"

When I look back, I see that the journey through Tagore's poetry led me on a wonderful path to inner learning, whose expression penetrates the depth of the heart's being. A way that brought me closer to hearing my inner voice on the wings of the poetry of the spirit.

"With our love for the world, we will live in Him"

"Gat carried the spirit of Tagore's poetry on a journey to the open landscape as her eye hunted the sights as if she had a bird's eye.

In the illustrations that were prepared with acrylic paints on canvas or those that were made with computer software, a naturalistic spring in the forest is depicted in harmonic style; trunks of trees and low bushes; Sun rays penetrating through the tops of trees; seagulls in the sea; Birds in flight or birds gathered in a nest.

The formats that Gat chooses for her illustrations - rectangular or round, will complement the compositions in the illustrations perfectly.

Along with the use of colors in the illustrations, the artist uses materials that she collects from her immediate environment such as twigs or thin branches, with which she builds circular spaces delimiting descriptions of birds that she illustrated with thin wire.

Gat's illustrations, in addition to the fact that they illuminate the verses of Tagore's poetry, constitute a personal praise song of her own - the beauty of nature's creation."

Orna Fichman - the exhibition curator of Ra'anana municipality