1990 Graphite and gouache on paper, 56cm x 77 cm
Literally embedded in these figures is the idea that the religious imprint is
part of the physical structure in the body rather than the concept of spirit as
something outside and above the lowly human body.The figures sport
the horns that remind me of my Africa and echo the cow and ram of so
much pre-Christian art and mythology.The cross that became a central icon
in Christian art is used here in its pagan sense as a symbol of balance and
integration between the above and below it underlies the basic structure of
these figures.
History and writing and the writing of history often obliterate any notion of
the rich and complex un-written world of rite, ritual, myth, and lore that
predates cuneiform at Sumer. Languages long ago gone silent incanted words
and songs that would unite a tribe or a clan in its ideas and worship of the
sacred.These figures would end an eleven-year romance with the seated,
horned, robed, time-worn male figure.
The woodcuts based on Figures of Origin and poems for two limited
edition artist’s books, Time's Sentinels and Song of the Spinners, developed
simultaneously, the one echoing the essence that remains after ritual and song
wore away in the long course of ancient time, while the other explored female
energy and the creation of goddess.