Snail on the Slope

This painting is part of the ‘Story Tellers’ exhibition at Flinders Lane Gallery in Australia.

Story behind the painting.

Time...What we are for eternal time? Only snails on the slope...In a famous Kobayashi Issa's poem/haiku ‘O Snail’ are only three lines but everyone can find in this haiku their own sense and meaning:

O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly...

There is also a deeply philosophical book by famous Russian writers Strugatsky brothers titled 'Snail on the Slope' after the Kobayashi haiku poem, and it’s one of my favourite books for my whole life. And the title of my painting is my tribute to both, to the haiky poem and to the book. ‘Snail on the Slope (Silence, Opus 7)’ is the latest work from my ongoing series ‘Silence, Opus…’, where I continue to visually express my perception of silence as music of Universe that we have to learn listening to.

Listen to the silence,
Listen to your soul.
We learn.
But slowly, slowly...