The 12th House

"Emotional Landscape 1", oil on Canvas, 120/134cm, 2013

Periodically the moment arrives when it is necessary to step back from external action, to isolate ourselves and examine what is happening in our own internal universe. The distancing experienced in such a moment may not be a conscious choice, but rather a forced confinement that we may consciously find frustrating.  In either case, the period may serve a very real and meaningful purpose in understanding ourselves; where we have been, where we are, and where we would like to go. As a preponderance of silence may make an incidental ambient sound seem like a thunder-clap, this period of isolation may be highlighted with increased awareness of psychological under-currents, an increasing understanding of hidden problems or latent talents; these hidden elements of the psyche may reveal themselves by means of symbolic manifestation. A mundane object, normally over-looked, may suddenly become extremely fascinating as it strikes a chord in the observer, so much so that it seems impossible that the importance of the object was ever over-looked in the first place. This fascination is a derivative of deep intuitive calculations pushing up through the strata of personality, coming into contact with the conscious mind. The fascination lasts until the hidden symbolism represented by the object is brought into clarity and its significance unified with the conscious personality. There is much in this process that may be viewed as painful or inopportune, everything from the isolation to the actual confrontation between the conscious mind with the subterranean mysteries revealing themselves through “psychological tricks” such as self sabotage or the perception of misfortune as an active agent in one’s life. The Crisis becomes a spiritual crucible for a much more evolved, self-integrated human being; problems confronted and resolved, hidden abilities un-covered and harnessed.

Such an occurrence is a deeply personal event for an individual, but may also be said to occur on the level of a society itself. It is possible then to provide as a metaphor the case of an individual in the attempt to illuminate the same process on the level of society. If such a metaphor is given, then the relevance may transcend the immediacy of empathy for the individual and be used as a stimulant for the extrapolation of the concept to the level of society; from a drop of water an ocean may be inferred.

Directly, this exhibition presents a cross-section of such a period, rendered in materials which are familiar to the arts: oil on canvas, music and video. There is no greater explanation to offer than that what is presented comes directly from such a period just described each element with its own particular personal significance, painful and ultimately liberating. The force of movement here is from dark to light, from ignorance to understanding, from intuition to rational comprehension. The images presented are not intended to literally describe this phenomenon to underline the concept; rather they are the actual mementos which are left in the wake of such a process.