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"Sirius - the star of the dog" by NATALIE JACQUOUNAIN

Today, my inner gaze is directed at a work by Natalia Jacquounain in the online exhibition entitled "MYSTIC EXOTISM" accompanied by curator Luca Siniscalco.
The work is entitled "SYRIUS ETOILE DU CHIEN".

Of all the works exhibited by Natalia Jacquounain, I feel a kind of complaint that has its origin in nostalgia. Nostalgia for what? Nostalgia for humanity. The artist of Russian origin, conscious of the state of alienation in which the human being finds himself, expresses the desire to travel far away, hence the exoticism made of memory that inevitably leads to a search, an elevation, even a desire for mysticism, a kind of magic, returning to perceive its vitality.

In my forays, I try to create a small journey each time by transforming the foray into a small hike that each of us can take to discover something. I like that there is a process and at the same time that the proposed process can support people by encouraging an encounter with themselves and with the other, sometimes with an elsewhere, then coming back a little more "new" each day.

Well, we come to Sirius of which we remember being a star, in truth the brightest star in the whole celestial sphere, being part of the constellation of the Dog Major and 8.6 light years from our planet. The name comes from the ancient Greek and is translated by terms that I put especially in the following order: fiery, burning and brilliant. The Greeks feared that the star was so powerful in its burn that it could even damage fields and crops. Its colour seems to be between white and blue.

Now, I advise you to give a first careful reading to the following process and then to stand in front of the picture of the work to put it into practice. Also prepare the image of Sirius to observe in advance. (You will find it annexed to this text). A piece of advice I can give you is to admire it enlarged by saving it on your PC and connecting it to your TV anyway.
Well, first of all, choose if you want to associate a music to the observation of the painting. I observed it while listening to Enya, album "Paint the sky with stars". You can choose any music you want as well as observe it without any background. The volume of the music, in any case, should always be kept low and accompany, never dominate the work.

Natalia Jacquounain represents something more than the star of the dog through the representation of the dog, the only figure that goes beyond two-dimensionality and acquires three-dimensionality through sculpture. The human figure, a person sitting comfortably, seems not to see how much it revolves around her. We can appreciate the dog that is always graceful in painting and sculpture, together with his favourite game, a coloured ball that is represented with the colours attributable to the Sirius star.

The dog that we will now call Sirius is in a position known as "invitation to play" (for completeness, we stress that we know that in dog-logy language this position can also be taken to protect a resource, or can characterize the spring effect that precedes an attack). In the work, without a doubt, it is an invitation to play.

What I invite you to observe is the crunch between the playful attitude of the dog rising up in a dance inviting the human to take part in the game and the indifference of the human being who remains seated watching... Which of the two figures is vital in the work? The animal who is light and carefree would like to play with us so much. The dog is ardent, like Sirius, burning with the desire to play! The object of the game is colourful, inviting the dog to move and the dog's posture expresses joy.

When was the last time you responded to an invitation to play? (I'm talking of course about simple and legal games!). Whether it was your dog, your son, a friend or a family member. Maybe you are already a playful person and you find time to play despite all the commitments you have. We always appreciate the time you devote to people or animals to share small playful experiences. I'm not talking about video games, virtuality, but about making the interaction as real as possible. If it's not the case, that is, if you read, you realize, you almost don't remember when you found your lightness while playing with someone, try to create a space dedicated to someone to play.

Now pay attention to your breathing, feel the air coming in and going out quietly, pay attention to your breathing without ever forcing it. Then look at the picture of the Sirius work for two minutes in the light of what you've read. I ask you to close your eyes and make an imaginative effort. Imagine the work in your mind and identify yourself in the dog. Imagine that you are the dog who jumps and invites the figure represented to play by bringing the coloured ball with you and even try to put it in front of him and invite him to play again. Feel that you want to play. It's not good to be ignored when you invite to play, is it?

Well now keep imagining, think about who you want, who can play with you, be it your dog, your son, your partner, a family, a friend, let the imagination take you to visualize that figure that will be sitting right on the sphere as the person in the work.

Find a way to "stir" and show your desire to play, invite to play with you. Visualize that you are playing, feel the joy you feel by devoting "light" time to it. Now, if you want, you can even imagine the opposite, i.e. the other person inviting you to play, imagine the invitation as a dance, make it as joyful an invitation to play as possible. And imagine yourself welcoming the invitation to play. Imagine playing again.

It's time to open your eyes again and move around a little. I know, how good it felt to play with the imagination! Take with you the beautiful sensations you felt. Now all you have to do is put into practice what you've learned. If you have refused or ignored the invitation to play from your dog or your child or someone you love, find a way to apologize, but without too many speeches that will make you waste more time, play. Find a little game that we can play together.

Playing is like dancing. Playing is vitality. Have fun, laugh, be light when you play. You'll find new energy, beautiful because the fruit of sharing, even to do everything else better. Being human is always synonymous with being connected to someone. We are not enough on our own and art always reminds us of this!

Do you agree with George Bernard Shaw who said that "man doesn't stop playing because he gets older, but gets older because he stops playing"?

Finally, from today on, when you look up to see the stars think you might even come across the beautiful fiery Sirius, the dog's star (who loved to play).