Thursday 22 March 2012

Soaring in celestial auroras

Gustav "Jack" Kaltenbrun passed away Sunday morning (18 March 2012). He told me over a year ago that he was ill and not long for this world - but he lived life fully until the last, painting and exhibiting and viewing art. Last year he exhibited new work at Grahamstown festival and in October he toured the Prado in his wheel chair with his wife Pat, where he meditated on the work of Goya.

I spoke with Pat today. She was sad at the passing of a man whom she adored. But she also told me of Jacks enthusiasm for a new palette of colours he had discovered, and his plans for a new exhibition, inspired by his son Gus's seaside plot. She also told me of a painting he had made in his final days -  two figures walk along a seashore. I hope Pat will let her daughter Dirga show her how to use a computer so she can share some of Jack's latest work with us.

I imagined his spirit soaring free in the beauty of creation and was inspired to write a little poem. I hope you'll excuse my clumsy rhymes and allow me to share it with you. 

Poem for Jack
Early Sunday he left
This worn mortal frame
So he could soar: weightless, timeless, free
Ecstatic in eternity's aurora once again 

A gentle man determined
(In an age of greed and cruelty vast)
To live life creative and free of harm
He painted life til the last

Even after his final show was done,
He planned another for a seaside plot
Inspired by colours he'd not mixed til now -
He could not let his brushes stop.

His latest inspiration - in the final hours -
Shows two figures on the shore (where worlds meet)
Pat says she knows not who they are
Though it was to her he showed this final treat

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