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2 DECADES +

FIGURES OF ORIGIN


'FIGURES OF ORIGIN'
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.






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