Expression Through Silhouettes, inspired by Alex Grey's "Sacred Mirrors"
AIP1 Session 6
This work is inspired by Alex Grey's "Sacred Mirrors" collection, a series of 21 paintings meant to depict the transition from the material world to the spiritual. What I find most interesting is how he depicts deities in the same position as the humans, as if saying "YOU are God" (incorporating deities like Christ and Sophia). In a way it is very true because once you have mastered your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual beings, then you truly are a god of yourself, or your own god.
In this session, I was asked to create a similar concept, self-expression through silhouettes and its surroundings.
I started by asking someone to lie down on a 300 x 200 cm paper and traced his outlines. Then I cut the silhouette out and temporarily attached it to another, similar piece of paper, also 300 x 200 cm (we wouldn't want to spill paint all over him, would we?)
The tendrils are created by applying a little bit of ink (thinned with water) and then blowing it with a hair dryer. This is what creates the unpredictable tendrils "spilling" out of the silhouette. This took me many hours of lying on the floor with a hair dryer, but the result is pretty stellar.
The same process goes for the halo or "crown" on the head, only with red acrylic (also thinned with a little bit of water). After all is done and the ink and paint are dry, I then detached the silhouette cutout and painted on the symbols: the Third Eye Chakra and the Heart Chakra. (Apologies for the bad image quality, I had to use a compressed version of it)
This work is an abstract manifestation of auric cleansing and reconnecting with the spiritual universe. I chose to keep the silhouette white/blank, as to symbolise purifying oneself, and all the dark energy/thoughts are just spilling away from you. Through the depiction may be a bit gruesome, it symbolises a positive moment in life.
The figure has wings and a sort of halo around his head. When one has purified oneself, one is closer to becoming a divine being---or a mortal version of it anyway. This is the purpose of "Sacred Mirrors"---evolution from the wordly to the universal. I chose to only depict two chakras here---the Ajna (third eye chakra) and the Anahata (heart chakra), because these are the "linking" chakras---the Anahata makes us realise we are interconnected within an intricate web of relationships extending through life and the universe. Meanwhile, the Ajna acts as a bridge that allows mental communication between two individuals, usually a teacher/mentor and a student. The work itself depicts an angel---commonly associated as links between us mortals and a higher being. Therefore, this work was made to be taken as a linking phase.