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In the beginning everything was clear, limpid and obvious. Lucid and harmonious. Therefore
beautiful. The world looked like a knightly chain mail made of steel rings connected with
one another in a perfectly simple way. It created an elaborate plait, where each element
was essential. Indispensable, appropriate and required. Everybody knew and fathomed out
its place, role and meaning.
The world was then similar to a dance or a chess game and its rules were esteemed with dignity. They were respected and comprehended without judging or even daring to judge so that they do not constrain individuality at anything. In order for them not to deprive life of charm and grace. Anyway, sixty four squares on the chessboard were not always black and white. They were foggy blue, pale violet, mistoriously green or warm brown. They could have also changed into a secluded city square, a marketplace, a courtyard or they could have found themselves "between the bailey and the garden" just like in old palaces. The Renaissance arcades, brattices, pediments of the street houses towered over the chess squares. It was a scenery worthy of the king's or the queen's moves. At the same time it was suitable for melancholic solitude of the pawn or helpless disparity of the knights. The world was wonderful and peaceful. Its incredible beauty was due to simplicity and perfect proportions. Inaccessible harmony gave a feeling of protection. Shadows were velvety soft, lights silky smooth. Royal crowns were firm and unyielding like machicolation of ramparts or tower tops. Nothing heralded changes. Catastrophy and banishment. And nobody knows what really occured. What disaster struck and when. Chroniclers, philosophers and poets wrote about it but as usual, each one of them knew, remembered and described completely different things. However one thing seems to be undoubtful - the king has been exiled. He has been banished cruelly and deviously, slyly and wickedly from the knightly bright centuries. Now he is to drift in an unpleasant world which does not respect the majesty nor does it know the rules. Any. He is wandering around soulless towns in isolation and gloom. He is powerlessly and solely heading for dark centuries of ugliness, of a crime and equality declared in shrieks. However the great and enormous chess game is still taking place here. "I wish I were one of the chesspieces. I could even be the Pawn if only I had the opportunity to join them.. of course I would most love to be the Queen, though." - could be said by some Alice, created at the time of a "seriuous play" and the very good sense of intelectual humour from the times of Queen Victoria - the real Queen, not the chess one. And I will say that Malgorzata Seweryn should depict Shakespeare's characters. King Lear, Jester, Titus Andrionikus and Lavine are awaiting.. About Malgorzata
Seweryn's graphic cycles tells t |
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