Paintings | ||
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 | About a year and a half ago I returned to drawing and painting as a creative end in itself, after more than ten years of concentrating nearly all of my ceative energies and skills on applied arts and design. These oil paintings (three on this page and three on the following page) began as a series of quick charcoal drawings, and were initially a visual response to music: the works of Richard Wagner, and in particular the Ring of the Nibelung. In the process of execution, however, these images evolved into something more personal. As I set about "rendering" the music, I realized that the music, which I have have spent a lot of time studying in the last couple of years, reflected and magnifiied some very intense emotions I was going through at the time. In this way, the images really became a chronicle of my own emotional journey. I think many who are familiar with Wagner's music would agree that it has an unusual power to transport us to places deep within ourselves and outside of ourselves. Taken as part of the dramatic whole of the works for which they were written, or on their own as independent works of music, these powerful scores speak to the mind and the soul simultaneously, opening us wide and bringing us to a closer understanding of many aspects of ourselves and our lives: what we are and what we are capable of, both good and evil; the challenges we must face; what to do with our gifts; our strengths and our limitations; how to regard our triumphs and our failures; and how to learn from them. The music of the Ring has helped me to examine my inner conflicts and to reveal and confront both the great light and the great darkness within me. The Ring is a musical, dramatic and philosophical journey which reflects our own individual journeys as well as the larger collective journey we are all on. I have always been something of a lone wanderer, and these images are, in a way, a confession of my own sense of vulnerability. The ideas are quite abstract, though many of the images are representational. Some recurring visual themes in this series (not yet complete) include dark spaces penetrated by a strong light source, which seems to beckon the viewer to move toward it; atmosphere ranging from serene to turbulent; the elements of fire, water, and air; a palette of strong color and intense, sometimes "straight" or unmixed pigments; and a gridded reflective surface, set at various angles and distances from the viewer. This last device reflects the environment in which it moves, and, turned another direction, might reflect ourselves and our individual situations. It might also be the plane on which we find ourselves at various points in our journey. These works do not necessarily follow a pre-determined sequence. I like to consider them universal in their meanings, and they can be viewed in any order which is appropriate to the viewer's journey. I am happy to be painting again, and I consider these to be studies for larger, more complex compositions to come. With the exception of the first one, they are for sale. They are all 22" x 28". Please feel free to contact me for pricing. | ||||||||||||
Origins | |||||||||||||
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Awakening | |||||||||||||
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Challenge | |||||||||||||
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