Helene Lundbye Petersen

The Orange Book - Ode to Pleasure Helene Lundbye Petersen

The Orange Book - Ode to Pleasure, is the third book of artist and thinker Helene Lundbye Petersen's artwork, Colour Spectrum of 11 Spaces. Divided into eleven calligraphic manuscripts, the original handwritten pages explore the complexities of contemporary life. Each book represents a space of genuine questioning, seeking new perspectives on essential aspects of our existence. Five of the books within the Colour Spectrum form the series A Mythology on our Current Condition of Life. Through their dramatic narratives and use of visual language, myths have a unique ability to express the complexity of life. Working from the premise that we are existentially faced with a new human condition, these books form a contemporary mythology that explores five fundamental concepts of existence, each represented by a goddess: Wisdom (Blue), Pleasure (Orange), War (Red), Love (Green) and Balance (Yellow). The Orange Book - Ode to Pleasure represents our body and senses, which have always existed in a timeless now, embodied by a Goddess of Pleasure. The book follows Her as She is confronted by a question from the Goddess of Wisdom (The Blue Book - Ode to Wisdom) that forces her to understand the concept of time, and with it, relativity. A Goddess of Pleasure realises that as we are rushing through life, we are failing to enjoy the present, and losing precious moments by not truly understanding pleasure. She embraces the responsibility of time to teach us what pleasure genuinely means, acknowledging that we must live each moment fully and completely, and then let it go.