The paintings in this exhibition are merely paint, oxide, egg yolk, canvas, and wood. I could take a knife to the images, slash and burn them, so that all that remains are the ashes. No material image.
However, the physical materials when put together have the potential to go beyond the physical image. Images, like musical notes, when placed in certain patterns will create something lasting. I believe that this happens when the artist, as master and servant to the craft, accepts his/her duty to search for beauty and truth. I do not mean this statement to sound inflated or like some romantic idealism. For me, it has become a hard, irreducible fact.
Maturity as an artist means I am more vulnerable. I no longer approach the blank canvas with preconceived ideas of the completed image. I approach with a sense that I am about to interpret beauty and truth and how that plays out within my limited understanding of the world and the nature of God.
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Five of the six paintings in “the Alchemy of Life” follow a symbolic interpretation of alchemy. The ancient alchemist in observing the flight of birds recognized in them the symbolic nature of the human soul undergoing spiritual development. The bird as symbol represents both the physical and spiritual world as they reflect certain archetypal experiences encountered by the soul as it goes through transformation. In alchemy, the process moves from Nigredo/Black Raven , Albedo/White Swan, Citrinatus/Yellow Pelican or Peacock, to Rubedo/Red Pheonix. The rooster, also an ancient spiritual symbol, coupled with the familiarity of chickens that roam my yard, completes the sixth painting in this exhibition.
Gyclee Prints 18" x 33" $200
Originals $5000 each
- The paintings in this exhibition are merely paint, oxide, egg yolk, canvas, and wood. I could take a knife to the images, slash and burn them, so that all that remains are the ashes. No material imag
- Margruite Krahn