Mally Khorasantchi’s “Seasons of the Soul” at Walter Wickiser Gallery: Everything has a season, a reason, and a time

Naples, Florida-based artist Mally Khorasantchi has always been drawn to nature and its secret worlds: gently swaying seagrass, the unique structure of honeycombs, and the quiet communication between seemingly silent trees and plants. Her current series of paintings, “Seasons of the Soul” (on view at the Walter Wickiser Gallery through November 20), incorporates her favorite natural forms into a life-affirming, artistic vision that is a celebration of the seasons of one’s life.
Although Khorasantchi has lived in South Florida since the 1990s, she is a native of Dusseldorf, Germany, and remains strongly influenced by the philosophers and artists of her native land. The title of her new series, “Seasons of the Soul,” was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s collection of poems by the same name. The poems became a starting point for her paintings: “Time to Heal,” “Time for Joy,” “Time for Patience,” “Time to Inhale,” and “Time for Fun.” Both individually and as a whole, Khorasantchi’s images are very personal meditations on the phases of life as seen by an artist who, although growing older, remains vibrant, creative, and enthusiastic about the opportunities and experiences still to come. The show is a joyful, insightful, inspirational (and beautiful) exploration of life’s highs, lows, and possibilities.
I had the pleasure of viewing “Seasons of the Soul” with the artist as my guide, which greatly enriched my experience of the work. Following are some excerpts of our gallery conversation.
While viewing “Time to Inhale”:
SL: Why did you decide to explore the theme of “Seasons of the Soul”?
MK: I read the poems that Hermann Hesse wrote at the end of his life. He looked back at all of the stages he had been through. I had just turned 70 and I realized that you not only get older, but you’ve been through a lot more. You accumulate so much experience. There was the love that was full of passion. There was the love that was more calm. There was a time when you had to rethink things. And that is a “Time to Inhale.” This work shows a lot of blue, which is the color of thinking. Blue was always the most important color — that’s why lapis lazuli was made for the Mother of God. It’s also the color of the sky and for me, it gives a feeling of clear thinking.
SL: In your previous works, you would often cut out pieces of your older paintings and incorporate them as collages in your new works. In “Seasons of the Soul” you use pieces of photographs. Can you talk about your use of this collage technique and how it’s changed?
MK: Now that I’m an older person, I use a lot of sepia, which is rusty, not so vibrant. These are my own photographs that I use. They are printed on archival paper and I use them in a monochromatic way. Then I add the color to surround them.
While viewing “A Time for Fun”:
SL: Tell me why this work is “A Time for Fun”.
MK: Because it’s a different color than all of the others. I did this when I had a bad fall and I broke my tail bone. I was in a lot of pain, but I picked myself up and I thought, “This is not the end. You will come through this!” So that brought me a lot of happiness. It’s like what Hesse said in his poems — it’s not that you are ending when you are older. You have a lot of good stuff inside of you that you can share, and it is still fun. You’re not just sharing your old stories; you’re still having fun and have energy to make new stories.
SL: Every one of your paintings includes some kind of beehive imagery. What does that image mean to you?
MK: Very early on I studied Joseph Beuys, the German painter. He was very influenced by Rudolf Steiner, who talked about how everything in nature is organized. The bees are an example of this concept. They are very structured, with a reason behind everything. When you think about it, it’s the circle of life. It’s the seasons, it’s day and night, and so on. The hexagon of the honeycomb is a form that repeats itself everywhere — in the water bubble, under the microscope, in the blood inside of our bodies. For me, it’s the major sign of life. So I use it everywhere in my work.
While viewing “Time for Joy”:
SL: Looking at this brightly colored work I feel happy. What are your thoughts about “Time for Joy?”
MK: I wanted to do something really happy. There is so much negativity going on — about politics, climate change, etc. But nothing has actually changed. Maybe our approach has to change and we have to be more respectful of our environment. But that doesn’t mean we have to think only of the negative things and that we are dying. We have only a certain amount of time in this world and I am not going to kill that time with totally negative thinking!
SL: That makes me think back to one of your previous shows, “Fake News,” where you were very worried about the future. So I love that you’re now making “Time for Fun” and “Time for Joy.”
MK: Yes. It evolved out of the fake news. You suddenly think, “Yes, news can be fake, but it can also be good. Why not make the choice to also have some fun?”
SL: There is an additional work in the “Seasons of the Soul” series, “Time to Leave,” that doesn’t appear in the show. What’s the story behind it?
MK: “Time to Leave” is about the spawning of salmon. They go to Alaska to spawn and then they all die. That painting was sold immediately, so it doesn’t appear in the show. Everyone saw it as a rebirth, not as a death. We all go this way and eventually we come back as something else. We try not to see time anymore — we have the Christmas tree next to the Halloween decorations. We try to keep marching forward, but in reality we are not stopping to enjoy the moment. Everything in nature has a reason, a season, and a time.
“Seasons of the Soul” is at Walter Wickiser Gallery, 210 11th Avenue, New York, NY, through November 20, 2019. www.walterwickisergallery.com. For more information about the artist: www.mallykhorasantchi.com
