B22: wiregrass biennial
Wiregrass museum of Art — Dothan, AL
July 22 - September 24, 2022
Geheimnisse
2022
watercolor & 23 karat gold leaf on cotton paper
22 x 30 inches
photograph courtesy of Yoon Kim
a juried group show
Geheimnisse, German for “secrets” or “mysteries,” marks an overt and conscious return to the alchemical process in my work. Geheimnisse was a rare piece created with no target deadline or gallery presentation in mind, and in many senses it was a piece that I had no goal of ever becoming a work available for public consumption. More so than anything I had created up to this point, Geheimnisse comes from the most introspective and unconscious parts of my soul I had been able to bear into material existence. It came from a period of intense isolation in my life, and became a meditative catharsis of the secret paradise within my soul.
Geheimnisse features two European hares (Lepus europaeus), three house sparrows (Passer domesticus), and four specimens of broadleaf plantain (Plantago major) in various states of maturity within a bryophytus field and Alpine backdrop. These three species, which have now been steadfast symbols within my personal mythology, are grounded together for the first time in this painting.
Installation view of Geheimnisse, Dothan, AL, B22: Wiregrass Biennial
“The real mystery does not behave mysteriously or secretively; it speaks a secret language, it adumbrates itself by a variety of images which all indicate its true nature. I am not speaking of a secret personally guarded by someone, with a content known to its possessor, but of a mystery, a matter or circumstance which is ‘secret,’ i.e., known only through vague hints but essentially unknown.”
— C. G. Jung
Installation view of B22: Wiregrass Biennial, Dothan, Wiregrass Museum of Art, July 22 - September 24, 2022