Body of Mysteries
This body of work is compised of visionary depictions of cosmic bodies, or "Purushas", as well as multi-form composites. This approach to figuration, very prevalent in many religious traditions, is really quite remarkable and under explored as a visual idiom of figuration. A classic example of a Purusha is the vision described in Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita, where the god Krishna displays his true form to Arjuno. He reveals his actual face and body as the entire universe and all of manifest form and existence. There are many depictions showing Lord Krishna with multiple heads and arms, etc. to convey the totality of this vastness and multiplicity of form. In western art, with its roots in the greek tradition, the figure tends to be approached more anatomically, with an emphasis on visual reality and the heroic, divine nature of the human form.
In this body of work, entitled "Body of Mysteries", the figure is understood as both sacred domain and its form, the display of potent and divine energies. These paintings explore the body and embodiment as a geography and intricate terrain of magical elements and energies. This mythopoetic view, which is not entirely literal, is more open... to imagination, to poetry, and symbolism, and the pure mystery of the illusionistic display of reality as it is.
