ABOUT ‘EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS THE BEST ARRANGEMENT’
关于《一切总是最好的安排》
 

作品《一切总是最好的安排》是卡弗拉斯受到一个关于国王和丞相的中国故事所启发创作的。

有一次，国王和丞相一起打猎。在打猎时，国王受伤了，失去了他的小指头。丞相说：『一切总是最好的安排。』国王非常生气，把丞相关进监狱，丞相回复说：『一切总是最好的安排。』国王说：『让我们看看！』国王把首相关进监狱后，一个人出去打猎。这一次，他被一群吃人族抓住了，他们要把国王献给他们的神。国王很害怕。当食人者试图杀死国王时，他们发现国王失去了一个小指头。食人族很生气，认为国王不是个『完美的』的祭品，於是让国王离开了。国王回到宫殿，立刻释放了丞相，告诉他发生了什么事，和自己有多么幸运。『一切总是最好的安排。如果我没有失去我的小手指，我已经被那些吃人族杀了！我很抱歉把你放进监狱。』首相笑着说：『没有什么需要道歉的。如果我不是在监狱里，而是和你一起去打猎。我将是那个被杀掉的『完美的』祭品。所以，一切总是最好的安排！』

读到这个故事，卡弗拉斯受到很大启发，于是他按照自己的理解和上海的生活，创造了这三张《一切总是最好的安排》。

第一幅画中的正方形代表架构，里面的脸代表对架构的质疑。画面中间有很多上海元素，你可以看到东方明珠塔，也可以看到许多抽象的图象。这些图象实际上意味着在中国在上海的每一个外国人，他们都觉得中国有很多的机会、很多的可能性、很多事情可以发生，但是总不是非常顺利。『XXX』是阿姆斯特丹的城徽，它代表了荷兰的带给艺术家的影响。门意可以通往一个像家一样的安全地方，也可以是开放的冒险机会，现在你还不知道。关键是你要找到打开门的钥匙。楼梯意味着你需要走上去好好了解。随着楼梯的移动，你到了第二封作品。中间的圆圈意味着完满的生活。圆圈里有一个大螺旋形的，这意味着你必须要走出去、成长，变得越来越强大。这些图象可以解读为动物或有机生命，对卡弗拉斯来说，他们代表着在一般的社会生活。在最后一幅画里，你可以看到底部的波浪。它让你跟它一起流动，让事情自然发生。不管发生什么事情，它总是最好的安排。上海的生活相当纸醉金迷，到处都是高楼大厦，於是卡弗拉斯使用不同货币标志拼成『上海』。小迷宫意味着你需要找到你自己的出路，在画面上拼写『集中』而这个词的重点是你需要专注于成长，继续前进，并且一直保持敏锐。



The work Everything is Always the Best Arrangement is inspired by a Chinese story about a King and his prime minister.

The King went hunting with his prime minister. During the hunting, the King was injured and lost his little finger. The prime minister said „Everything is always the best arrangement.‟ The king was really angry for what the prime minister said and put him in jail, the prime minister replied „Everything is always the best arrangement.‟ The King said, "Let‟s see!"

After putting his prime minister in jail, the King went hunting again, alone. This time he was caught by a group of man-eaters and they were going to make him the sacrificial offering to their god. The King was very scared. When the man-eaters tried to kill the King, they discovered the King has lost a small finger. The man-eaters were very angry and think the King is not „perfect‟ as a sacrificial offering and let the King go.

The King went back to the palace, released his prime minister at once, told him what happened and how lucky he was. „Everything is always the best arrangement. If I did not lose my little finger, I had already been eaten by those man eaters! I am very sorry to put you in jail.‟ The prime minister laughed and said, „There is nothing to feel sorry about. If I was not in jail and went hunting with you, I would be the “perfect” offering being eaten. Therefore, everything is always the best arrangement.‟

Kavelaars read about this story and feel very inspired, hence he created these three paintings with his own interpretation of „everything is always the best ar-rangement‟, and life in Shanghai.

The square in the first painting is something struc-tured. The faces inside are questioning the structures. There are a lot of elements from Shanghai inside the square. You can see the Pearl Tower for example, and you can also see many abstract figures. These figures actually mean every single foreigner in Shanghai, in China. There are a lot of opportunities, a lot of possibili-ties, a lot of things that could work, but not in a really fluent way. “XXX” means Amsterdam. It represents the influ-ences from Holland. The doors mean it can either be a safe place like home or it can be the opening for adven-turous opportunities that you do not know yet. They key is what you need to find to open the doors. The stairs mean you need to go up to understand.

The stairs move on in the second painting. The circle in the middle means things need to be rounded in life. There is a spiral to go in and out in the circle, it means you have to go out and grow, to get bigger and bigger. All the figures can be animals or organic forms, for Kavelaars, they mean life and society in general.

In the last painting, you can see wave at the bottom. It is more like you go with the flow and let things happen. It does not matter what happens, it is always the best that could happen. Life in Shanghai is quite money-based with big towers everywhere. Kavelaars use different currency signs to spell SHANGHAI. The little maze means you need to figure out your own way out, and the word FOCUS means you need to focus on grow, to move on, and to be sharp all the time here.