The use of proverbs in the schools in Franco Spain, was an astute choice precisely because proverbs have the appearance of irrefutable truths. They donīt invite doubt or speculation. The rhythmic coincidence, the sententiousness avails its truth. It's a gem of rationality and the shortest of cautionary tales.
Corporal punishment was standard procedure in the schools. The general principle was conveyed by the often repeated proverb: "La letra con sangre entra", blood is the cost of learning. It was easy for a child to develop skepticism for everything that was taught in proverbial format.
I wrote my own Spanish proverbs in 1982 following in part the surrealist methodology: automatically, without corrections or thought, I did about sixty drawings. Unaccompanied by a textual meaning, they were open to interpretation. Suplying a narrative inspired by the drawings reduced their originality into illustrations of sayings that were never said: an original proverb: an oxymoron.
Each of the drawings in the "Proverbs" series is oil stick on Bristol paper, 17 by 23 inches in size.
Gabriel Halevi
Copyright 2008
