Dolphin Dive

posted by VJ on Jan 14

I stumbled across an artist recently that I fell in love with. His name is Rob Gonsalves.

There is a 2 year waiting list of collectors around the world hoping to acquire one of his paintings. His work appears to be a cross between Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, and M.C. Escher.

Gonsalves’ bio states,

Gonsalves is a Canadian painter of Magic Realism. Both his parents were Romanian Gypsies who travelled from place to place in Romania. After 15 years they summoned up the money to travel to Canada. Then he was born in Toronto,Ontario in 1959.

Although Gonsalves’ work is often categorized as surrealistic, it differs due to the fact that the images are deliberately planned and result from conscious thought. Ideas are largely generated by the external world and involve recognizable human activities, using carefully planned illusionist devices. Gonsalves injects a sense of magic into realistic scenes. As a result, the term “Magic Realism” describes his work accurately. His work is an attempt to represent human beings desire to believe the impossible.

Rob’s work is primarily a celebration of the wonder of imagination, but his architectural experience has helped him employ spatial illusions and manipulations of perspective that make the magical or dreamlike occurrences in his work seem more concrete and real. For this reason, he uses the term “Magic Realism” to describe his work. He has found that people of all ages respond equally strongly to his work. “I don’t worry about who the audience for my work may be, I just try to express my own childlike sense of wonder.”

I love that term, “Magic Realism.”

In no way am I suggesting that Gonsalves’ has my preferences, but I do think the “magic realism” is a good way to characterize INFJs’ approach to life in general.

Now, there is something about certain types of imagery that really get me going. I have long loved the Impressionists — the style known as “Impressionism” seems to me very appealing to my type. Unlike the amazing detailed photo accuracy of some of the Masters, these painters daubed paint on canvas and then left it to the imagination of the beholder to discern the image. It’s a little bit like looking through mist or a fog to discern the image.

Truthfully, that’s how I feel like I view the world anyway. It seems like a natural extension of my particular kind of perception.

And my brain likes it! I don’t want to have it all spelled out. My iNtuition is hungering for the opportunity to “connect the dots” and read meaning into what seems to be there.

Some time ago I was surfing the ‘net, looking for something else, when I stumbled across this artist. I immediately reserved two of the children’s books he illustrated through the public library. They are:

AND

They were breathtaking, and I greatly enjoyed paging through them.

OOOH! I just found two more items I didn’t know about!

AND

Okay, okay, by now you are probably aching to know what his artwork looks like on its own since I’ve made such a big deal out of it. So here are some examples. I can’t figure out my favorite!

I came across this one for the first time while researching this article. I love how the river branches turn into trees in the background. Beautiful! The title is “Tributaries.”

This one is evocative, eerie, mysterious! It reminds me of trips we took to England. Glastonbury Abbey in particular comes to mind, where King Arthur and Guinevere were supposed to have been buried. It’s called (naturally enough) “Medieval Moonlight.”

This next image was used on the cover of a book titled “Masters of Deception.” Isn’t it fabulous? The title is “The Sun Sets Sail,” and apparently all the prints of it have been sold out. The website says, “Yes, we know you really want one and we wish we could get one for you, too. No, it will not be reprinted as each Gonsalves is in a limited edition.”

This one is romantic and mysterious. I want to dance in that room! It’s titled “The Dancing Wind.”

With this one, I get goosebumps at how the ice skaters blend with the stars in the heavens. The title is “Nocturnal Skating.”

I’m wild for the double entendre of this one (perhaps because I grew up in the Midwest, where the snow seemed like this a lot of the time). Its name is “White Blanket.”

This one made me do a double-take! It’s called “New Moon Eclipsed.”

And this one makes me scratch my head and puzzle. Please enjoy “Astral Projections.”

Is this what my brain looks like inside? It is titled (of course) “The Library.”

Here is the genius (Rob Gonsalves) himself:

There’s a nifty slideshow with even more of his work online. I recommend you view it at full-screen if you like what you’ve seen thus far.

A website featuring his artwork for sale is here, with even more of his marvelous artworks to view. Apparently all of his original paintings have been sold, including the ones that appear in his 3 children’s books.

I hope you have enjoyed this opportunity to explore this wonderful artist. If you have a son or daughter, or perhaps niece or nephew (particularly any that prefer introverted iNtuiting), you might share these books with them in order to stimulate their imagination. You’d be doing them a tremendous favor.

Don’t you wish people shared images like this with you when you were a child? I do!

Please let me know what “Mystical Realism” stimulates in you.