Transpersonal Art

Transpersonal Art is "art beyond the five senses, back to pure mind and spirit." It is, as writer/philosopher Ken Wilber has stated, "the next evolution in art." It is the unification of the linear and metaphorical into a cohesive visual and literal statement depicting the heart or soul, i.e. essence.

Everything in this picture comprising the background--chrysalis, spores, cells--speaks of growth, generation and change. The magnificent Monarch butterfly is a beautiful symbol of this transformation. The lifeline--oxygen to the astronauts, nutrients to the fetus--depicts the fragile cord connecting these two extremes of outer and inner space.

“i am eve and i am standing with my dying son abel. if you should see my oldest son, cain, please tell him i still love him.”

A mother’s love. A love unwavering in its devotion to her two children. One: a victim. The other: the perpetrator. A love born of grief, and, ultimately, transcendence.

Butterflies as a Metaphor
Quite often, in the various concentration camps, the prisoners would scratch into the walls or into the wood of their beds, crude representations of butterflies as a symbol of their own impending transformation from the physical to the spiritual.

To an infant the world is without boundaries. Their reality is as expansive as their imaginations. Their beliefs have not, as yet, been constricted by fears or social norms. They are in a state of bliss where miracles come undifferentiated. It is no more astounding to, say, talk to an invisible friend than it is to see an angel fish suddenly appear before their curious eyes. In this state ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. There are no limitations.

“The essence of Zen can be found in a child’s heart.” -Takuan

“I tell you the truth, anyone will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter in.” -Jesus

Life as a metaphor. How circumstances and situations have a way of repeating themselves over and over again. Unfortunately, what presented itself as yesterday’s trauma will not be learned from, but rather be something merely to wrap fish in, line the bottom of a bird cage with, or protect the kitchen’s linoleum while feeding the family cats.

“Everything turns into something else and slips away.” -e.e. cummings

Stained glass denotes a religious atmosphere surrounding the picture inset of an old windup key on an altar, itself surrounded by vases of flowers and lit candles. Above this inset are the Latin words, “Sanctum Sanctorum” (Holy of Holies); below are the words, “Quem Deus Vult Perdere Prius Dementat” (Whom God would destroy, He first drives mad).

A representation of this phenomenon can be found in the center of the picture: lost souls, like so many windup automatons, walking trance-like, without a sense of purpose, off a steep precipice.

Memories, here represented in photographs, emanate as spiritual recollections (heightened by the other symbols of spirit, e.g. water and fish). Above, two circles encompassing the transformative qualities of butterflies acting as guardians to the central photo of Earth from outer space – giving the picture an overall dimension of being beyond time and space.

Repeated portraits of a handsome president nearly lull us into a certain linear complacency; then: BLAM!! Everything is disrupted … chaos! Death. Ultimately, a child salutes his fallen father, as memories of a pastoral time fade like scenes outside an opened window.

It is said that we have four levels of sleep. The deepest level, level four, is said to be similar in essence to being suspended in your mother’s womb, weightlessly drifting in a sea of amniotic fluid.

As this fluid begins to drip down it changes, as dreams often do, into a velour gown, which the woman is putting on. She is literally putting on her own dream. The flowers and felines are simple affectations of the feminine psyche or subconscious.