Love, Lust, Revenge, and Death: The Lament For Caring

A lament is a form of prayer that expresses pain, confusion, and anger in the midst of suffering or disheartening circumstances. The lament for caring is not only a great book by rock star Nick Cave, but also the topic of many emotionally-charged evergreen topics about caring for ourselves and each other.

A lament for caring is a way of seeking understanding and peace about a particular crisis, even when we don’t have all the answers yet. These crises are often about the people we love, situations at work or home, and feelings of helplessness or hopelessness.

And in much the same way that we – as non-artistic types – create a lament for caring with our words, the featured artists below have created their own lament through the visually striking art that desperately calls to us to understand, to find peace in the artwork being offered as a salve to our pain.

Perhaps ironically, August’s chart-topping post engagement on X (the brand formerly known as Twitter) tells us that people just like you and me all around the world have found comfort in the artwork that these artists poured their lament for caring into.

 

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Here’s some stats from August’s top 5 posts, as at the 31st:

• Revenge was posted to X on August 3, 2023. It was viewed 1.1 MILLION times and reposted 4,709 times. It was also liked by our audiences 39.8K times and bookmarked 2,530 times.

• Nymphs Dancing to Pan’s Flute was posted to X on August 5, 2023. It was viewed 984K times and reposted 5,313 times. It was also liked by our audiences 26.7K times and bookmarked 1,165 times.

• Starlight was posted to X on August 27, 2023. It was viewed 893.5K times and reposted 3,761 times. It was also liked by our audiences 30.2K times and bookmarked 1,078 times.

Join millions of other art connoisseurs just like yourself on our X account here: @AcademiaAesthe1.

 

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Starlight – Paul Émile Vernon – 1904 – France

Starlight depicts a young, beautiful woman in a sheer blouse with the starlight from above shining in her eyes, and shimmering in her blouse.

 

Lacrimosa – Nicola Samori – 2020 – Italy

Lacrimosa is a reflection on the death of a loved one. A Latin word meaning “tearful”, Lacrimosa is also the name of a Catholic Mass for the dead movement.

 

Revenge – Iness Rychlik – 2020 – USA

Revenge is a self-portrait, one of several in Iness Rychlik’s photography collection, available on her website. Polish by birth, Rychlik is also a filmmaker.

 

Nymphs Dancing to Pan’s Flute – Joseph Tomanek – 1920 – USA

Nymphs Dancing to Pan’s Flute shows a group of mythological nymphs dancing around a fire, displaying a colorful and sensual spirit of wildness and freedom.

 

Requiem – Ignacio Trelis – 2017⁣ – Spain

Requiem (Latin for “rest in peace”) is an oil painting by contemporary Spanish artist Ignacio Trelis. It also relates to the Catholic Prayer for the Dead.

 

 

Thank you for reading. ​

The Curator