Thursday, October 22, 2009

Writing and Painting - Siblings or Strangers?



Calliope, the muse of writing and Clio, the muse of painting, were undeniably sisters. Greek mythology bears conclusive evidence of them being daughters of Zeus, the Thunder God and and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of memory. There have also been no evidence of them fighting bitterly with each other. These evidences are of course as conclusive as mythological evidences come. But do writing and painting, as two faculties of the fine arts bear such sisterly feelings to each other? Or don't they? Are they joined at the hip, yet resolutely facing away from each other like Siamese twins? Or are they like strangers halfway across the world who have two bodies but one soul? Expectedly and interestingly, there are no easy answers to these questions. So let's count the 'nay's as well as 'aye's'. Because, no matter how much writing or painting have in common, they are not about the blacks and the whites but about exploring the different shades of gray.