Screamer Mountain ~ Mystical Meditations ~ 1973 ~ 1978
SCREAMER MOUNTAIN
Clayton, Georgia
1973 - 1978
"Mountains Are Symbolic Meeting Places Between the Mundane and the Spiritual World."
Alan Hovhaness
It was in this environment on Screamer Mountain that the work passed through another metamorphoses. From eclectic spontaneity to mystical meditations, there was a pronounced presence of balance, order and light in the new work. The mystical substance, an illusion, being the unknown source of light within the painting.
It was in this environment on Screamer Mountain that the work passed through a metamorphosis. From eclectic spontaneity to mystical meditations, there was a pronounced presence of balance, order and light in the new work. The mystical substance, an illusion, being the unknown source of light within the painting.
I say they were mystical. This all began at MacDowell with that one work, the deep dark space with an unidentified light source illuminating primal gases rising up from a distant horizon.
Years before I had been exposed to the writings of Carl Jung. I was intrigued by the concept of the archetype. We know that all human life carries with it specific genetic inheritances, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, etcetera. All living organisms evolved carried forth inherited genetic codes. What Jung declared is we also in inherit cumulative knowledge, the collective unconscious, archetypes, passed down from the beginning of time. For instance, and applicable here, the color black has almost universally a bias attached to it. Black is representative of death, mystery, the unknown and fear to name a few influences this color delivers in many cultures. This bias was inherited the same as and along with our genetics, not culturally learned.
My speculation about the color black goes back to that beginning, the dawn of man. Since that point all humankind has experienced night. Early man was the most vulnerable at night. He could not see or understand why he was frightened of the dark. Death came with the dark. He could not see to defend himself from predatory beasts. With each new generation this bias continued to perpetuate. There are still primitive tribes whose culture and religions are not too far removed from our common ancestry. I am certain today among these primitives there would be an immediate acknowledgment of fear or a mystical presence associated with the color black or anyone wearing black. My friends we are not too far removed from that inclination. We rationalize away for children their innate fear of the dark.
According to Jung, these archetypes stay very close to conscious thinking. However, the more educated or sophisticated a culture the more repressed this cumulative knowledge becomes. Yet, it is still intact and present in the psyche.
Oddly enough, black is not a color at all, but the absence of color, drawing in all light, reflecting nothing. On the other hand, white is all color reflected. When working on these paintings, I began with a solid black background, actually Indigo blue. It was in this dark milieu that the light sensitive (using white) images were painted suspended. The illusion created is based on the fundamental laws of the physics of color and light. However, I don’t believe a technical explanation is really necessary only the resulting illusion.
Clayton, Georgia
1973 - 1978
"Mountains Are Symbolic Meeting Places Between the Mundane and the Spiritual World."
Alan Hovhaness
It was in this environment on Screamer Mountain that the work passed through another metamorphoses. From eclectic spontaneity to mystical meditations, there was a pronounced presence of balance, order and light in the new work. The mystical substance, an illusion, being the unknown source of light within the painting.
It was in this environment on Screamer Mountain that the work passed through a metamorphosis. From eclectic spontaneity to mystical meditations, there was a pronounced presence of balance, order and light in the new work. The mystical substance, an illusion, being the unknown source of light within the painting.
I say they were mystical. This all began at MacDowell with that one work, the deep dark space with an unidentified light source illuminating primal gases rising up from a distant horizon.
Years before I had been exposed to the writings of Carl Jung. I was intrigued by the concept of the archetype. We know that all human life carries with it specific genetic inheritances, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, etcetera. All living organisms evolved carried forth inherited genetic codes. What Jung declared is we also in inherit cumulative knowledge, the collective unconscious, archetypes, passed down from the beginning of time. For instance, and applicable here, the color black has almost universally a bias attached to it. Black is representative of death, mystery, the unknown and fear to name a few influences this color delivers in many cultures. This bias was inherited the same as and along with our genetics, not culturally learned.
My speculation about the color black goes back to that beginning, the dawn of man. Since that point all humankind has experienced night. Early man was the most vulnerable at night. He could not see or understand why he was frightened of the dark. Death came with the dark. He could not see to defend himself from predatory beasts. With each new generation this bias continued to perpetuate. There are still primitive tribes whose culture and religions are not too far removed from our common ancestry. I am certain today among these primitives there would be an immediate acknowledgment of fear or a mystical presence associated with the color black or anyone wearing black. My friends we are not too far removed from that inclination. We rationalize away for children their innate fear of the dark.
According to Jung, these archetypes stay very close to conscious thinking. However, the more educated or sophisticated a culture the more repressed this cumulative knowledge becomes. Yet, it is still intact and present in the psyche.
Oddly enough, black is not a color at all, but the absence of color, drawing in all light, reflecting nothing. On the other hand, white is all color reflected. When working on these paintings, I began with a solid black background, actually Indigo blue. It was in this dark milieu that the light sensitive (using white) images were painted suspended. The illusion created is based on the fundamental laws of the physics of color and light. However, I don’t believe a technical explanation is really necessary only the resulting illusion.
