DREAMTIME

A deep delve, cradled in waters, 

Cloud silt; slick and viscous. 

Our flowing body lies abed,

The muddied birth caul of all creation. 

Like a Tibetan Thangka Mandala or meditation painting, this work is best contemplated in dim half light with a subdued background. 

There have been many stories and mythologies sprung from this original landscape, titled ‘Extasis’, rendered in gold wires and crystal beads. Whilst the stories are illuminating and of great value for myself as an artist, they need not colour the imagination of the viewer, who is free to draw their own impression from the work. What is important to share at this beginning point, is the state of mind in which it was created; relaxed and mentally prepared, not having over thought any images or concepts, somewhere on the way to the practice of automatic drawing, where the subconscious guides the hand across the paper uninhibited by intention. There are many analogous thoughts, feelings, philosophies and teachings I’ve experienced since rendering the drawing into being. They connect like a web, informing and deepening the personal meaning of this object, it having become entirely loaded or charged.

 However this process of imbuing, of reason and interpretation giving way to creativity, could not have happened without the initial stimulus, which came entirely from elsewhere. I’m reminded of the Greek word Nous; the spiritual eye through which we experience theoria; communion with the god form, or the experience of universal wisdom. It’s what connects us to the absolute, our glimpses becoming the seed with which we sow our creative endeavours. 

  To further elaborate on the nature of the object and of my psychic work space, I’ll briefly mention the Artist and Occultist Austin Osman Spare. One belief he had in particular was that the established thought complexes and various obsessions of his mind were actually alive, rather like spirit entities. And so within his imagination, they became objectified. He gave them their forms and characters, which he illustrated in great detail in the self portraits of him at his desk, surrounded by the artefacts of his living mind. 

  In giving thought complexes a form of embodiment; their own tangible image, we contract and solidify them, allowing us to contact them with greater ease. They also become a vessel in which to expand and develop themselves, in much the same way a living human being is a vessel. Despite an individual’s exposure to the very wide world, they will only retain certain information and collect certain behaviours and slanted memories pertaining to their character. Were we to embody too much in contradiction to our individual cosmologies, the consequence would be dissolution and the fracturing of the vessel. 

  Since the creation of this initial artwork, I have allowed my thought forms to pour into it, this happened quite naturally, partly perhaps because it is crafted in metal threads and wires. It has dimensionality, a shimmering ephemeral quality that can only be full appreciated with an in person viewing. It’s no coincidence these materials were traditionally used for the working of sacred art, pondered for their intricacy and beauty, helping achieve a worshipful state of mind. 

I consider ‘Exstasis’ a tool for the recall of the mind, the physical work compounded for the mental work to unfold. As for the viewer, perhaps it is a portal to the spark that initiated it.

To begin the story; We follow the emergence and evolving journey of seemingly extraterrestrial life forms. They are alike to cellular structures, marine life and planetary bodies. Their story loosely based on events in ancient Mesopotamia, (now modern day Iraq) where the earliest recognised human civilisation evolved into the culture we know as the Sumerian empire. 

 The illustrated journey and subsequent transformation of these embroidered life forms serve as a metaphor for the paradigm shift in which humans moved from the hunter gatherer life style, to static agricultural practices, leading to organised societies and mass dwellings of humans. 

The topography of these landscapes are an important element in imagining the themes for creating the illustrations. The expanse of flat plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers were flood controlled and irrigated by the superior technology of the Sumerians around 6000 BCE. This provided the perfect conditions for growing food, and abundant human flourishing. It serves as a fertile beginning for our cantos, in which depictions of aquatic life forms are revealed from under the water. Accompanied by crafted human objects, primitive technologies entwined with the fate of our traveller, on the path of a journey without end.