I had two abstract episodic dreams, the night before about writing and this one on painting. TI spent the day before reading Setphen King's On Writing and yesterday painting Alden's picture walking the dogs. The first was nearly impossible to describe. I was “painting” characters with the Wacom pen on the tabled, but words were coming out representing particular characters, some were better developed than others based on my skill and some elusive element -more on that later. The second dream took place in the same beige/raw umber background, but this time I was painting portraits with soft light as a medium. The characters I fussed over were obviously inferior to the ones that loaded with paint and brushstrokes.
I made the connection as soon as I woke up, both dreams were about painting with light, letting characters gradually emerge from the shadows with a gentle light, allowing round edges to fade into the darkness. For writing this means allowing some mystery to cloud a person's aspects, not showing too much as an illustrator would, but letting the reader fill in the rest with the gentle light of imagination.
I'm sure there is a greater spiritual meaning about painting and writing with light instead of paint and words. In crafting a world, the medium should fade away, not get in the way. If reality was poorly crafted with verbose sentences and sloppy brushstrokes we'd all be in nirvana and existence would collapse.
I've mentioned the word "letting" many times in this entry, that says a lot about my overbearing creativity, I'm a control freak. Skill can only bring me so far then I have to let it go and let art take a life of its own. Its the same as the pursuit of power through magick, the greater the attainment, the more you lose the ego. The ultimate attainment is Godhood, at that level the work of art is existence itself with infinite possibilities.
So the moral of the story is: Even God lets go and creation flourishes in the gentle light of the Sun, why should I be any different?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Artist Statement Expanded
I am a narrative figurative painter, my work is often mystically charged with symbolism that attempts to tap into the archetypes in humanity's collective unconscious. In doing so, my aim is to subtly evoke mass appeal in my work without compromising my individual artistic vision.
While this sounds as though there is one universal formula for aesthetic experience of my work, it's not so simple. This elusive aesthetic experience is highly subjective, based on individual life experience and cultural upbringing. Its the reason why something like listening to Mahler's 8th symphony may move one person to tears and another to be simply bored to tears. To make matters worse, the human mind likes to identify itself as the sole identity of the individual as reflected in the words “I think therefore I am” The mind is a metaphorical watch-dog by which it believes that all sensual experience should be measured and judged by. It triggers responses like “should I like this?” In a modern society where rationality is so prized, an emotional or intuitive response to art may be often road-blocked by reason, effectively trapping it's beauty within the confines of its high tower. This trend can become downright unhealthy if the mind also blocks the natural flow of the irrational unconscious upon our rational consciousness.
Suppose you were to cross this barrier of conscious thought, you'd be flooded by rich dream imagery filled with personal meaning to the individual's life experience. However, venture far enough in the underworld of the unconscious and you will eventually arrive at what Carl Jung termed collective unconscious, a dream-scape of inherited collective memories of our species. Its a place where ancient shamans and priests were expected to be initiated into, delve into madness, face our archetypes, then return to our world enlightened. Its where the average person unwittingly becomes trapped into in a state of psychosis, unequipped to swim back out of this terrifying place where our collective gods, angels and demons reside. It's common visual metaphors are documented in all cultures in the form of universal themes within the human mythos. This is the language that artists, poets and musicians must master – consciously or intuitively, in order for their work to transcend the abyss of meaninglessness and reach the eternal, communicating esoteric truths about the human spirit across generations of human evolution.
The question still remains, how does one transcend the barriers of rational discrimination? In ancient Greek myth, Hermes, on his descent to the underworld to rescue Persephone, was said to have had to distract the three-headed hound Cerberus with honey cakes in order to move on to deeper realms. The honey cake is a metaphor for the artist's display of technical mastery and virtuosity at his particular medium, the means to satisfy the intellectual demands of our ever evolving brains. Its as though the artist must play the role of a snake charmer in order to communicate the ineffable. Its my firm belief that the success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how much the art penetrates the conscious mind and resonates with the unconscious hidden truths about the Self. This is the place where the the seemingly opposites in the realm of rational thought converge harmoniously, transcending reason altogether, the house of Beauty.
Extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes is an important facet of my work, as such I've chosen the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects in a visual language that appears timeless. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black, where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arch within my own work. I began to tap into an allegory I had not yet fully understood, so I continued to paint on intuition while studying the actual symbolic language that was to be the defining mark of work. I extended the narrative into Dusk of the Dead where I found an opportunity to express the general mood of America in the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a metaphor. At the final stages of Dusk I worked on Black Rose Immortal, where I was better able to express esoteric principles in a veiled manner. I was drawing a corresponding line between musical counterpoint and the arabesque form seen in all organic life and accentuated in great works of art. This charcoal drawing was named after a song by Swedish metal band Opeth, the composition of the still life was a mirror image of the 13th guitar riff in the actual song. There is more within the drawing, but this covers it's surface meaning.
Music had become a major source of inspiration for my work, so I continued to channel its influence in my next pieces. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait and morphed into an invocation of the Greek god of the underworld – Hades. It depicts spring as Persephone leaves the underworld to bring life into our world leaving Hades to his own personal winter. The separation of masculine and feminine forms is obvious in the composition. The Apostle in Triumph is yet another painting named after a song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name, yet I gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to be a movement upwards. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. This was an intentional paradox so that the painting is open to interpretation based on the individual's point of view, the resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood only by individual experience. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how we can harness inner light to expose the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can we gain any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination, while still hinting at individual free-will. Using the more sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies, I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frida Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project currently under progress attempts to bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science in the language of figurative art. The aim of this titanic undertaking is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my own future deck, but more importantly, they are studies for future larger, life-size paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background, I've realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
---As edited by Chris----
I am a narrative figurative painter. My work is charged with mystic symbolism tapping into the archetypes of humanity's collective unconscious. My aim is to evoke mass appeal without compromising my artistic vision.
The human mind finds its identity utilizing Cartesean dualism with the maxim “Cogito ergo sum”. Each individual in the audience's aesthetics are defined by their culture and experiences forcing them to ask “Should I like this?” Emotion, not reason rules in the visual arts affecting the viewer on a visceral level which is kept in check by reason and the solar logos. I strive to connect with them on a subconscious level by summoning up rich dream imagery eliciting personal meaning colored by their soul and tapping into Jung's collective unconscious. A place of madness and magickal archetypes which give new perspective in the empirical world. The language of artists, musicians and poets are drawn from this resevoir. Using the same language with different syntax, i.e. their medium, the great work acquires significance which transcends the ages.
An artist must play the role of psychopomp (conductor of souls, delete this parenthetical thought) to capture attention. Rapt, they see form given to the formless with new venues and vistas laying open to their third eye which speaks directly to the heart. The success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how deeply the artist transcends the conscious mind and achieves beauty.
The importance of extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes helped me choose the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects with timeless visual language. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arc. Working from intuition I incorporated symbolic language which defined the piece. The story of Dusk of the Dead captures the general mood of America during the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a framework. During the final stages of Dusk I began Black Rose Immortal which best expressed subtle, esoteric principles drawing correspondences between musical counterpoint and arabesque forms found in life and honored in fine art.
Music is a major source of inspiration for my work. I continue to channel its influence in each successive piece. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait morphing into an invocation of Hades. Depicting the myth of Persephone as she leaves the underworld returning life to the mortal realm as her consort suffers his personal winter of the soul. The Apostle in Triumph's title reflects the title of a favorite song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name and I gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to ascendancy. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. An intentional paradox so the painting is open to interpretation that plays with the witnesses. The resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood with dream logic. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how to harness inner light exposing the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can one acquire any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination hinting at individual free-will. Using the sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frida Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project will bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science using the language of figurative art. My aim of this opus is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my future deck and will serve as studies for future paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background I have realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
-----------Tentative final draft-------
I am a narrative figurative painter. My work is charged with mystic symbolism tapping into the archetypes of humanity's collective unconscious. My aim is to evoke mass appeal without compromising my artistic vision.
The human mind finds its identity utilizing Cartesean dualism with the maxim “Cogito ergo sum”. Each individual in the audience's aesthetics are defined by their culture and experiences forcing them to ask “Should I like this?” Emotion, not reason rules in the visual arts affecting the viewer on a visceral level which is kept in check by reason and the solar logos. I strive to connect with them on a subconscious level by summoning up rich dream imagery eliciting personal meaning colored by their soul and tapping into Jung's collective unconscious. A place of madness and magickal archetypes which give new perspective in the empirical world. The language of artists, musicians and poets are drawn from this reservoir. Using the same language with different syntax, i.e. their medium, the great work acquires significance which transcends the ages.
An artist must play the role of psychopomp to capture attention. Rapt, they see form given to the formless with new venues and vistas laying open to their third eye which speaks directly to the heart. The success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how deeply the artist transcends the conscious mind and achieves beauty.
The importance of extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes helped me choose the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects with timeless visual language. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arc. Working from intuition I incorporated symbolic language which defined the piece. The story of Dusk of the Dead captures the general mood of America during the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a framework. During the final stages of Dusk I began Black Rose Immortal which best expressed subtle, esoteric principles drawing correspondences between musical counterpoint and arabesque forms found in life and honored in fine art.
Music is a major source of inspiration for my work. I continue to channel its influence in each successive piece. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait morphing into an invocation of Hades. Depicting the myth of Persephone as she leaves the underworld returning life to the mortal realm as her consort suffers his personal winter of the soul. The Apostle in Triumph's title reflects the title of a favorite song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name, but gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to ascendancy. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. It's an intentional paradox so the painting is open to interpretation that plays with the witnesses. The resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood through subjective experience and dream logic. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how to harness inner light exposing the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can one acquire any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination while hinting at individual free-will. Using the sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project will bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science using the language of figurative art. My aim for this opus is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my future deck and will serve as studies for future paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background I have realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
While this sounds as though there is one universal formula for aesthetic experience of my work, it's not so simple. This elusive aesthetic experience is highly subjective, based on individual life experience and cultural upbringing. Its the reason why something like listening to Mahler's 8th symphony may move one person to tears and another to be simply bored to tears. To make matters worse, the human mind likes to identify itself as the sole identity of the individual as reflected in the words “I think therefore I am” The mind is a metaphorical watch-dog by which it believes that all sensual experience should be measured and judged by. It triggers responses like “should I like this?” In a modern society where rationality is so prized, an emotional or intuitive response to art may be often road-blocked by reason, effectively trapping it's beauty within the confines of its high tower. This trend can become downright unhealthy if the mind also blocks the natural flow of the irrational unconscious upon our rational consciousness.
Suppose you were to cross this barrier of conscious thought, you'd be flooded by rich dream imagery filled with personal meaning to the individual's life experience. However, venture far enough in the underworld of the unconscious and you will eventually arrive at what Carl Jung termed collective unconscious, a dream-scape of inherited collective memories of our species. Its a place where ancient shamans and priests were expected to be initiated into, delve into madness, face our archetypes, then return to our world enlightened. Its where the average person unwittingly becomes trapped into in a state of psychosis, unequipped to swim back out of this terrifying place where our collective gods, angels and demons reside. It's common visual metaphors are documented in all cultures in the form of universal themes within the human mythos. This is the language that artists, poets and musicians must master – consciously or intuitively, in order for their work to transcend the abyss of meaninglessness and reach the eternal, communicating esoteric truths about the human spirit across generations of human evolution.
The question still remains, how does one transcend the barriers of rational discrimination? In ancient Greek myth, Hermes, on his descent to the underworld to rescue Persephone, was said to have had to distract the three-headed hound Cerberus with honey cakes in order to move on to deeper realms. The honey cake is a metaphor for the artist's display of technical mastery and virtuosity at his particular medium, the means to satisfy the intellectual demands of our ever evolving brains. Its as though the artist must play the role of a snake charmer in order to communicate the ineffable. Its my firm belief that the success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how much the art penetrates the conscious mind and resonates with the unconscious hidden truths about the Self. This is the place where the the seemingly opposites in the realm of rational thought converge harmoniously, transcending reason altogether, the house of Beauty.
Extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes is an important facet of my work, as such I've chosen the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects in a visual language that appears timeless. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black, where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arch within my own work. I began to tap into an allegory I had not yet fully understood, so I continued to paint on intuition while studying the actual symbolic language that was to be the defining mark of work. I extended the narrative into Dusk of the Dead where I found an opportunity to express the general mood of America in the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a metaphor. At the final stages of Dusk I worked on Black Rose Immortal, where I was better able to express esoteric principles in a veiled manner. I was drawing a corresponding line between musical counterpoint and the arabesque form seen in all organic life and accentuated in great works of art. This charcoal drawing was named after a song by Swedish metal band Opeth, the composition of the still life was a mirror image of the 13th guitar riff in the actual song. There is more within the drawing, but this covers it's surface meaning.
Music had become a major source of inspiration for my work, so I continued to channel its influence in my next pieces. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait and morphed into an invocation of the Greek god of the underworld – Hades. It depicts spring as Persephone leaves the underworld to bring life into our world leaving Hades to his own personal winter. The separation of masculine and feminine forms is obvious in the composition. The Apostle in Triumph is yet another painting named after a song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name, yet I gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to be a movement upwards. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. This was an intentional paradox so that the painting is open to interpretation based on the individual's point of view, the resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood only by individual experience. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how we can harness inner light to expose the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can we gain any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination, while still hinting at individual free-will. Using the more sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies, I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frida Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project currently under progress attempts to bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science in the language of figurative art. The aim of this titanic undertaking is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my own future deck, but more importantly, they are studies for future larger, life-size paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background, I've realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
---As edited by Chris----
I am a narrative figurative painter. My work is charged with mystic symbolism tapping into the archetypes of humanity's collective unconscious. My aim is to evoke mass appeal without compromising my artistic vision.
The human mind finds its identity utilizing Cartesean dualism with the maxim “Cogito ergo sum”. Each individual in the audience's aesthetics are defined by their culture and experiences forcing them to ask “Should I like this?” Emotion, not reason rules in the visual arts affecting the viewer on a visceral level which is kept in check by reason and the solar logos. I strive to connect with them on a subconscious level by summoning up rich dream imagery eliciting personal meaning colored by their soul and tapping into Jung's collective unconscious. A place of madness and magickal archetypes which give new perspective in the empirical world. The language of artists, musicians and poets are drawn from this resevoir. Using the same language with different syntax, i.e. their medium, the great work acquires significance which transcends the ages.
An artist must play the role of psychopomp (conductor of souls, delete this parenthetical thought) to capture attention. Rapt, they see form given to the formless with new venues and vistas laying open to their third eye which speaks directly to the heart. The success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how deeply the artist transcends the conscious mind and achieves beauty.
The importance of extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes helped me choose the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects with timeless visual language. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arc. Working from intuition I incorporated symbolic language which defined the piece. The story of Dusk of the Dead captures the general mood of America during the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a framework. During the final stages of Dusk I began Black Rose Immortal which best expressed subtle, esoteric principles drawing correspondences between musical counterpoint and arabesque forms found in life and honored in fine art.
Music is a major source of inspiration for my work. I continue to channel its influence in each successive piece. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait morphing into an invocation of Hades. Depicting the myth of Persephone as she leaves the underworld returning life to the mortal realm as her consort suffers his personal winter of the soul. The Apostle in Triumph's title reflects the title of a favorite song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name and I gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to ascendancy. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. An intentional paradox so the painting is open to interpretation that plays with the witnesses. The resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood with dream logic. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how to harness inner light exposing the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can one acquire any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination hinting at individual free-will. Using the sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frida Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project will bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science using the language of figurative art. My aim of this opus is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my future deck and will serve as studies for future paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background I have realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
-----------Tentative final draft-------
I am a narrative figurative painter. My work is charged with mystic symbolism tapping into the archetypes of humanity's collective unconscious. My aim is to evoke mass appeal without compromising my artistic vision.
The human mind finds its identity utilizing Cartesean dualism with the maxim “Cogito ergo sum”. Each individual in the audience's aesthetics are defined by their culture and experiences forcing them to ask “Should I like this?” Emotion, not reason rules in the visual arts affecting the viewer on a visceral level which is kept in check by reason and the solar logos. I strive to connect with them on a subconscious level by summoning up rich dream imagery eliciting personal meaning colored by their soul and tapping into Jung's collective unconscious. A place of madness and magickal archetypes which give new perspective in the empirical world. The language of artists, musicians and poets are drawn from this reservoir. Using the same language with different syntax, i.e. their medium, the great work acquires significance which transcends the ages.
An artist must play the role of psychopomp to capture attention. Rapt, they see form given to the formless with new venues and vistas laying open to their third eye which speaks directly to the heart. The success of visual stimuli upon the viewer depends on how deeply the artist transcends the conscious mind and achieves beauty.
The importance of extending the dialogue of human experience across lifetimes helped me choose the traditional medium of oil paint on linen. The academic foundation to my technique allows me to depict contemporary subjects with timeless visual language. The journey into this cycle of paintings began with Nativity in Black where I used an archetypal Stephen King antagonist as a starting point to a narrative arc. Working from intuition I incorporated symbolic language which defined the piece. The story of Dusk of the Dead captures the general mood of America during the 2008 economic collapse using the modern zombie myth as a framework. During the final stages of Dusk I began Black Rose Immortal which best expressed subtle, esoteric principles drawing correspondences between musical counterpoint and arabesque forms found in life and honored in fine art.
Music is a major source of inspiration for my work. I continue to channel its influence in each successive piece. Paint it Black was borne out of an anguished self-portrait morphing into an invocation of Hades. Depicting the myth of Persephone as she leaves the underworld returning life to the mortal realm as her consort suffers his personal winter of the soul. The Apostle in Triumph's title reflects the title of a favorite song. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called this archetype Magus of the Voice of Light. I like that name, but gave it a name that implies one's attainment to enlightenment to ascendancy. The Hermit is in fact descending into our world from above, therefore its a veiled invocation of supreme consciousness -Veni Creator Spiritus. It's an intentional paradox so the painting is open to interpretation that plays with the witnesses. The resolution between “aboveness” and “belowness” is a mystery to be understood through subjective experience and dream logic. On a psychoanalytical level this painting shows how to harness inner light exposing the chaotic hidden forces in the enchanted forest of our unconscious. Only then can one acquire any level of self-actualization.
In The Truth I turned my attention back to my own past and expressed the pain of the soul crushed by organized indoctrination while hinting at individual free-will. Using the sophisticated occult symbolism harvested from my studies I've embarked on a project inspired by Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris' Thoth Tarot. This project will bring together mysticism, Jungian psychology and modern science using the language of figurative art. My aim for this opus is to depict Truth veiled in Beauty beyond duality. The paintings included are the first in my future deck and will serve as studies for future paintings.
After years of personal turmoil, solitude and a spiritual transition from a repressive background I have realized this thesis. My ultimate motivation for painting is to offer humanity something I've not yet seen, a point of view that needs to exist, Art's own unified field theory.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Outside Now
It is important to me that people believe in my work. Its not out of the realm of possibility that I'm delusional and that my work only means anything at all to me alone. It occurs to me that my heaven and hell is my own, and perhaps it'll always be alien to the world. Worse yet, maybe my real fear is that its all kitschy like the 50's illustrations of political propaganda and that it'll never be seen by the general public as "high art" This could very well be true, and I should be ready to accept this possibility and settle for my art's significance to my own inner self at the exclusion of the outside world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOB6m8c8WI
These executives have plooked the fuck out of me
And there's still a long time to go
Before i've
Paid my debt to society.
And all I ever really wanted to do was
Play the guitar
'n bend the string like:
'reent-toont-teent-toont-teenooneenoonee'
I've got it!
I'll be sullen and withdrawn --
I'll dwindle off into the twilight realm
Of my own secret thoughts!
I'll lay on my back here 'til dawn,
In a semi-catatonic state
And dream of guitar notes
That would irritate
An executive kinda guy...
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/outside-now-lyrics-frank-zappa.html ]
Well, I guess that one did the trick!
If they only coulda heard it,
Half-a-dozen of 'em woulda strangled
While they was suckin' on each others' dick!
But that was just a bunch of
Imaginary notes I played --
Just a little extra somethin'
To keep me goin' from day to day
But that's okay --
I'll be gettin' outta here pretty soon --
Then I won't have to live
In this ugly fuckin' room
I can't wait to see what it's like
On the outside now...
-Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage - Outside Now.
Zappa's first band, the Mothers, was said to have "no commercial potential"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOB6m8c8WI
These executives have plooked the fuck out of me
And there's still a long time to go
Before i've
Paid my debt to society.
And all I ever really wanted to do was
Play the guitar
'n bend the string like:
'reent-toont-teent-toont-teenooneenoonee'
I've got it!
I'll be sullen and withdrawn --
I'll dwindle off into the twilight realm
Of my own secret thoughts!
I'll lay on my back here 'til dawn,
In a semi-catatonic state
And dream of guitar notes
That would irritate
An executive kinda guy...
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/outside-now-lyrics-frank-zappa.html ]
Well, I guess that one did the trick!
If they only coulda heard it,
Half-a-dozen of 'em woulda strangled
While they was suckin' on each others' dick!
But that was just a bunch of
Imaginary notes I played --
Just a little extra somethin'
To keep me goin' from day to day
But that's okay --
I'll be gettin' outta here pretty soon --
Then I won't have to live
In this ugly fuckin' room
I can't wait to see what it's like
On the outside now...
-Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage - Outside Now.
Zappa's first band, the Mothers, was said to have "no commercial potential"
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Requiem for Osiris
How does one communicate on the canvas the sense of dread our ancestors felt when the sun died? This miserable illusion, that a king must die a sacrificial death in order to bring the Sun and save his people. So powerful is this illusion, that even today, in the face of modern astronomy, there are still people who believe that it is the sun who is setting rather than us, earthbound, turning away from it's light.
This is one of those paintings I've been born to paint, call it karmic duty or whatever, it is painting itself. In the aeons of human existence, no other human being could've expressed precisely what I am capable of saying in this piece. Its definitely a unique point of view for the Deity. This is the ultimate expression of IAO, which is now replaced by VIAOV. A Requiem for all Requiems. Osiris, in the mind of the Pilgrim, is no longer a spiritual reality and is replaced by a lifeless inhuman form hanging on the cross. The womb of earth, and all the nightmarish ghouls trapped within are but a necessary night of the Pilgrim's own soul in his initiation into the next phase in humanity's spiritual development. I'm painting my own fucking nightmare, years of my life spent in suicidal depression, carrying a rotting corpse that was supposed to be my spiritual reality. Yet I'm not overtaken by this dread when painting it, because I know the freedom soon to overtake to the Pilgrim's consciousness in the form of the Falcon, Horus of the Two Horizons, and the Silver Star. This Requiem is the terrible gestation period for the Crowned and Conquering Child within my own self, Death here being the key to change, to Life. Here lies a great mystery not yet understood by the masses.
This is one of those paintings I've been born to paint, call it karmic duty or whatever, it is painting itself. In the aeons of human existence, no other human being could've expressed precisely what I am capable of saying in this piece. Its definitely a unique point of view for the Deity. This is the ultimate expression of IAO, which is now replaced by VIAOV. A Requiem for all Requiems. Osiris, in the mind of the Pilgrim, is no longer a spiritual reality and is replaced by a lifeless inhuman form hanging on the cross. The womb of earth, and all the nightmarish ghouls trapped within are but a necessary night of the Pilgrim's own soul in his initiation into the next phase in humanity's spiritual development. I'm painting my own fucking nightmare, years of my life spent in suicidal depression, carrying a rotting corpse that was supposed to be my spiritual reality. Yet I'm not overtaken by this dread when painting it, because I know the freedom soon to overtake to the Pilgrim's consciousness in the form of the Falcon, Horus of the Two Horizons, and the Silver Star. This Requiem is the terrible gestation period for the Crowned and Conquering Child within my own self, Death here being the key to change, to Life. Here lies a great mystery not yet understood by the masses.
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