Posted by Marian Vasilescu on July 18, 2022 in Literature
Excellent modern poets from Jean Arno? Born in Paris, raised in Bordeaux and Nice, South of France, Jean Arno’s poetry is influenced by French classicism and ancient Greek philosophy. Growing up in the house of renowned professors, since young age Jean was surrounded by the greatest figures in the world’s literature. Jean has studied philosophy and literature in Stanford University, which allowed him to develop his own style over a decade. With this new poetry book, Trophies, he is bringing back a sophisticated style and depth of the thought in form of short aphorisms. Jean is also producing digital art and philosophical pieces which complements his portfolio. See extra information on https://beyondvela.com/the-10-best-digital-artists/.
The human being is called towards these summits, which he feels called to create : “It is up to us to change into Destiny the forces of which our being is composed (…) so that in the unity of the work triumphs all the immensity of the worlds that we carry”. In each poem, a humanist faith emerges with this ideal of a being capable of overcoming himself—of creating beyond himself : “O, indefinable visions / Of a heart, heroic and pure ! / O, inexhaustible fountain / The source of all our future ! ».
This idea, dear to Jean Arno and already developed in the hidden preface of his poetic and cryptic work The Trophies, is taken up here in its artistic dimension. It is therefore not surprising to see the Astrée collective invade the Art & Above Meta-gallery with its futuristic, surrealist, and symbolic NFTs. It seems that artists are now masters of their works and of an art that has been able to put the latest technological tools at the service of the deepest artistic visions, not to satisfy an aesthetic fashion, but to metamorphose and overcome itself. For art lovers, from now on the illustrious Boring Ape could be replaced by Jean Arno’s Prometheus or The Liberated Man—the phenomenon of the exhibition.
Within the Metaverse—the digital universe in which our avatars will extend our physical lives—new perspectives are open to NTF artists whose work will find their place in digital art galleries like Art & Above. Everyone will be able to enrich the walls of their virtual home with living and unique paintings they buy or exchange. NFTs and Metaverse: the new world of art is on the move. After reading Trophies, many people discover a hidden message in its passages; however, Arno refers to it as an intellectual experience.
Your readers report a “secret.” You yourself speak of an “intellectual experience” on your website www.jeanarno.com/home. Is your collection an initiation? Over time I have developed a palimpsestic habit. I hide messages in my poems and art that need to be identified and deciphered. The reader is thus led to discover secret and hidden works. This tendency developed when I was younger and practiced techniques that were close to what is called “sfumato” but which corresponded to my soul’s natural inclination. My esoteric and philosophical readings probably influenced me — the Chaldean oracles, for example, or the writings of Proclus, Porphyry, or Jamblique. The final word? If your mind is rich with worlds and your thoughts wish to bloom with resplendent stars, let its bold flight rise to the blazing peaks of my Trophies. Discover additional information at Jean Arno.
The game is worth the candle: new fragments appear when one manages to elucidate the mystery: “Every soul that darkness stirs up digs the world with such a stubbornness that chasms blossom with stars of unknown splendor.” When it is not the pleasure of the “game” or the Orphic enigma which carries away the heart of the reader, it is the philosophical accuracy of the subject (“In our reasons murmur/Mysteriously/the eloquent speeches/of our obscure passions”) and the symbolic and Parnassian beauty of the tamed verse: “In her eyes of sapphire / Full of light and clarity / Desires lose themselves / In avid immensity).” When one loves great literature and philosophy, one can only be conquered by this monument of splendor.