Saturday, January 27, 2007

See under: Maniera

maniera in Italian and manière in French: Manner, style.

When used as a term in art criticism: certain stylistic characteristics that are recurring in the artists work, sometimes up to a point that these characteristics consume the work and divert the attention from the work's main subject.

This criticism was directed at my work all trough my Art-School courses, at first I straggled with the critic and tried to get read of this unnecessary maniera thing. which made me miserable and unhappy with my work. I realized I don't want to give up all those little extra detail I like to dwell in. I came to accept the critic. Instead of scrunching every time I heard the word "Maniera" directed at my work I embraced it and took it to be a good critic from my point of view.

My maniera is like a big old luggage that I carry with me in to all my projects. Its filled with my childhood memories, my dreams and life experiences.
Have a look... I'll spot some of them in my work:


1. When I was little I used to pick a few long stem flowers from an open field near my home and bring them to my mom. She'd put them in a big fancy vase as if they were the most wonderful big bouquet. There's a bitter sweet and yet funny feeling to that image of a few stringy flowers in a big vase, I like it.

I've Lived in a lot of crummy apartments as a student and got a lot of inspiration from all of them...

2. At my first apartment I shared with my boyfriend (husband now) we had a storage space problem, so we adopted the solution of the former tenants. we went to Ikea and got ourselves a super slim cabinet that barely fitted in the non-working shower space (don't worry there was a working bathtub as well), at just the right height to fit under the shower head.

3. In almost every apartment I've lived in, there are evidence of plumbing repair. They (the repair guys) never seem to be able to find the exact tiles for replacing the ones they broke to make the fix. The funniest attempt I've seen was that they were able to find the exact pattern of the tiles but in different colors, hee hee.

4. In my husband's first student apartment, he and his roommate had a kitchen space problem. so they placed the microwave on top of the fridge, which unlike the one I made was a very big one. I needed a chair to use the microwave. In the kitchen I made I've decided to add the top kitchen cupboards that lean on the microwave that's on the fridge, which is starting to "crack" under the pressure.

5. Another feature of that apartment was an unbelievably narrow and long toilets: you opened the door and you had to walk more then a few steps to reach the toilet sit. There wasn't a lock on the door. In case someone tried to get in while you're there... stopping the opening door isn't within the reach of your hands or feet!

18 comments:

Shelley Noble said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting, Hila! I LOVE getting to see and hear and understand some more detail about your incredible work! I think it so charming that you put inside private jokes for yourself in your rooms.

You probably got a lot of benefit from art school (a good husband not the least!!) but I have to say I am glad you found a way to embrace the critique of your style being so forward in the piece. Paul and I are crazy over your particular style!!!

Darkmatters said...

Hi Hila!

I'm lovin' the blog! Hey, something I'm curious about. You live in Australia, but you said English isn't your first language. What's your country of origin?

Anonymous said...

Hee Hee, Great!

Ulysses said...

Hello Hila

I loved reading this! Your work has a very special style--a lot of depth and humor comes through. Above all, I feel so much joy when I view your work. It's a paradox. There is a tightness, and sometimes sadness, in the details of your work that makes the joy explode out of your work.

Please keep going you are really onto something.

Hila said...

Shel,
thank you for all your support, you're the best!

Mike,
I'm so happy you're lovin' my blog. It means a lot to me, especially cos I adore yours :)
as for my origin - Israel, more about that in one of my upcoming posts.

Off the shelf productions,
Thank you :)

Paul,
I'm so exited about your comment. the paradox you mention is something I try to achieve in my work. I often feel it isn't coming through. you seeing it, is amazing to me. thank you.

Darkmatters said...

Cool - it's good to be able to place you. For some reason I was thinking German!??!?

Harlequin said...

Hi all, just wanted to add some more info on the pictures here:
1) The toilet paper is actually made of a real one, which was sliced thinly by Hila.
2) The light above it seems very bright, but in fact isn't self illuminated. It was a pin-spot Hila aimed directly at it.
3) Both the microwave and refrigerator has tiny little electrical cables that connects nicely into matching sockets in the wall.
4) Hila's sets are a temple of serenity to my 5 year old niece. Whenever she is upset we find her staring at the sets, smiling again.
5) I'm still seeing new things I haven't noticed before, even after almost 3 years and thousands of pictures we took ever since.
More to come...

Shelley Noble said...

Gilad, Thank you so much for telling us those details!! The part about such a dear child finding wonder in Hila's worlds makes me want to cry. As does your rightful and obvious admiration for your wife's wonderful skill.

I hope you will tell more things like that that Hila might be to shy to say for herself.

Nice to meet you!

Anonymous said...

Hila! These are really wonderful insights into your amazing work! I love that you have culled secrets from your past to share with us now. What a temple for your niece, it works on us too!

Harlequin said...

Hi Shelly
Thank you, I'm happy to shed light on Hila's work.
I'll write more soon :)

Ulysses said...

Hello Gilad, I too look forward to more insights into Hila's work.

I was also very impressed with your reel. I love what you did with the umbrellas on Cluttered.

Harlequin said...

Hello Paul, thank you.
Yes, It was a great sequence to work on. It was shot In Hila's childhood room at her mother's house. We've hanged a blue cloth- "an excuse for a blue screen" (it wasn't blue enough and we didn't have a lot of lighting that day).
Also much of the work was to rotoscope the cat's hair from the set :)

jriggity said...

Hey Hila,

Just found your blog through
Herself. Excellent work here!

I will visit often.

jriggity

Anonymous said...

Hello Hila,

I saw your work in the Miniature Collector Magazine and so found your website.
I laughed out loud when I read about 'Maniera'. Many years ago I also went to art school and that is exactly what they kept telling us. "Don't let it become a 'maniertje' (Dutch for 'manner')!" So funny.
I love your use of colour and the photography.

Groeten, Josje

Anonymous said...

It agree, it is the amusing answer

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Anonymous said...

lo que yo queria, gracias

Anonymous said...

Questo è stato abbastanza a condizione che vi sono molti là fuori che aspettano solo di destra.