13 Aug Artist’s Statement
Artist’s Statement
“I am the beauty of the beautiful”
Baghvad Gita 7:10
vortices
vortices gathering unseen energy from the distant cosmos
collecting stars to form our spinning milky way
spiralling inward earthward
downward connecting frond and snail
to where a labyrinthine path illuminates
the one within the whole
centring on consciousness
and creation through
expansion
equilibrium
and
surrender
in a penumbra of consciousness
flame thrown shadows danced in front of my eyes
in a circle silhouetted ghostlike in pale
blueblack and red upon black and blue
on rock strata
my mind itself the rock
i spoke but she would not reply
she only looked
and moved to music i could not hear
and they could not hear mine
i mouthed long forgotten tunes whose words i never understood
yet these are my stars
my seven sisters
my swan
my polaris
but maybe these shadows are not what they seem
for the shaping of rock is
perhaps formless
no muse
no path
no
end
a voyage
expanding like a white flower opening
unfurling in marble
a pure shape
how simple can it be
yet still be a spiral?
how far can i go
stripping away the superfluous
keeping the essence?
shadows caress mass
creeping smoothly
over frosted-satin-glass-stone
as matt and clear as cool skin
no flashing shine
a soft oneness
shadows like those upon the cheek of a raphael madonna
these are my colours
to paint with light
it is me
yet you
my concept
yet your interpretation
organic
yet abstract
human
yet spirit
ancestors of the american indians
elephant gods
pharaoh cats
the world of unseen energies permeates the seen
the omnipresence of spirit is sensed in the beauty of things
in breeze blown boughs
in the birds of the air
in the beasts on the earth
in human beings
in the blue of the oceans
in the stars and the blackness
in the sun through the dust
in the rock of the hills
but
as “the word is not the thing”
the material is not spirit
i cannot possibly
convey spirit
yet i can
try
Explanation:
The first verse covers inspiration for my current theme listing some of the symbolism of the spiral, which dates back millennia and covers cultures as diverse as the ancient Celts, Egypt and India.
The second verse suggests that creativity has subconscious origins and is linked with the Platonic belief of “The Forms”, where it is claimed that reality (truth) cannot normally be directly experienced but that our subjective senses are only usually able to perceive a sort of projected shadow of it.
The third verse relates this Platonic perspective to my experience as a sculptor, the artist’s search for truth and the uncertainty sometimes inherent in creating.
The fourth verse describes how I often come to my final designs through simplification.
The fifth verse describes the refining or ‘fining up’ process in sculpture and how it makes me feel.
The sixth verse states the binary nature of abstract art, and my belief in the value of sculpture as an important means of communicating without words; which is in turn, embedded in the motif of the spiral, namely it symbolising ‘unseen energies.’