saturnian

january 2023

by Natalie Toombs

Driss Ouadahi (Algerian, 1959), Grand Ensemble I, 2012. Oil on canvas, 200 x 300.4 cm.

An early morning walk along the lake on this date in 2019.

Driss Ouadahi (Algerian, 1959), Freshness, 2015. Oil on canvas, 45 × 35 cm.

Warm browns

Driss Ouadahi (Algerian, 1959), Gentle Breeze, 2016. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 86 5/8 x 70 7/8 in.

Solaris / Солярис (1972) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

It may seem that the nature scenes that introduce the film are too lengthy, but the layering of these scenes, which depict a certain farewell to nature on Earth, creates the emotional basis of the story after the main character is sent up to the space station, and tortures the viewer with an incredible nostalgia for Earth’s nature, a feeling akin to being homesick. Without this long introduction, you cannot make the audience experience the actual desperation felt by the people trapped on the Solaris station. 

I saw this film late one night at a screening room in Moscow, but while I was watching it, my heart was aching from an incredible longing to return to Earth. Just where is scientific progress leading mankind? This film manages to capture perfectly the sheer fearfulness. Without it, science fiction becomes mere fancy.

These thoughts were racing through my mind while I was a captive of the screen.

Tarkovsky was sitting in the corner of the screening room watching the film with me, but he got up as soon as the film was over, and looked at me with a shy smile. I said to him, “It’s very good. It’s a frightening movie.” He seemed embarrassed, but smiled happily. Then the two of us went to a film union restaurant and toasted with vodka.

Tarkovsky, who does not usually drink, got completely drunk and cut off the speakers at the restaurant, then began singing the theme of Seven Samurai at the top of his lungs. I joined in, eager to keep up.

At that moment, I was very happy to be on Earth. — Akira Kurosawa 

Driss Ouadahi (Algerian, 1959), Reconstruction, 2017. Oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm.

View through a parking lot booth

Rome, near Via Laurentina, Italy. Leica R4 with 35 mm Summicron on expired Solaris color print film.

Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris (Russian: Солярис, tr. Solyaris),1972

Based on Stanisław Lem’s novel of the same name published in 1961

Nathalie Gribinski (French/American, born Algeria 1963), Geese in the Cloud, 2018. Acrylics and oil markers on canvas, 36 x 36 in.

HERMÉS STORE | Tokyo, Japan (2001)

Linden Frederick, Attic, 2010, oil on linen, 40 x 40 in.

Fushimi Inari Shrine - Kyoto, Japan

Gray sunday