The Challenge of Creation, 72′ x 48″, edition of 5, 2016 Residence in La Quinta, California
The 1663 illustration, Metamorphosis Planetarum, by the alchemist J. de Monte-Snyders served as an inspiration and starting point for my piece, The Challenge of Creation (2016).
In pondering this creation illustration from the 1600s, I tried to envision what a modern day version might look like. The question turned into what would a modern day creator look like?
Instead of going with a mythical God-like creator, as J. de Monte-Snyders did, I chose to represent each of us as creator. We all participate in the creation of our personal “world” with every decision and action. These decisions have a significant impact on the circumstances we find ourselves in and the “worlds” we live in, at work and at home.
Like the 1663 illustration, the figure in my piece has one hand on the sun and the other on the moon. In the original illustration, the sun and moon represented the creator’s power to make or destroy the world. We, like this mythical figure, have the ability to create and destroy our “worlds.” In my piece, the sun and moon also represent the dark/shadow and the light within us all.
As a contemporary person, the creator in my piece is sitting behind a computer at a desk. He has one foot on time and the other on transition. His book titles reflect the tension we feel between our attempt to control the world and to “go with the flow.”
Overall I see this piece as reflective and hopeful, hinting at our ability to choose, and the possibility of achieving balance in the world at large and our worlds at home and work.
Footnotes. Book titles include: How to Manage in a Changing World; The Dow and The Tao; How to Juggle and Balance While Walking a Tightrope; Tea with Mara and Other Stories; This is What the Living Do; and Contemporary Art and How it Relates to My Business Strategy.