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 work; whilst illuminating and of great value for myself as an artist, they need not colour the imagination of the viewer, who has a right to draw their own impression from the work. What is important, is to share the state of mind in which it was created; entirely relaxed 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 thoughts, feelings, philosophies and teachings I’ve experienced since rendering the drawing into being. They connect like a web, informing and deepening the meaning of this object, to the point where it has become entirely loaded or charged.
This process however, 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 the 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 within the imagination they became objectified, given their forms and characters which he illustrated in great detail in the self portraits of him at this desk, surrounded by the artefacts of his 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. Much like a living human being, who despite their exposure to the very wide world, will only retain certain information and collect certain behaviours and slanted memories. Were they to embody too much in contradiction to their own particular cosmology, the outcome would be dissolution.
To conclude, I’d describe the artwork in question as an artefact of my mind and perhaps for the viewer, it is a portal to the spark that initiated it.