Transition-Pulling Back the Veil (2004)
12" x 16"
Acrylic on Panel
"Transition-pulling back the veil", explored the notion of transient fourth walls that exist in society,between this life and the next-that existence is merely a construct, a set piece of performance art.From the deaths head Harlequin calling the shots, to the fallen, battle scarred muse, the hybrid fish man who longs to return to the azure sea, to the boy staring between the torn curtain and his monochromatic life, it revealed an undercurrent sense of being immobilized in a no mans land filled with lies and artifice.It's still one of my favorite things I've ever done, and is a pivotal work, because I'd found my feet as well as a set of symbols and subtexts that would inform my work indefinitely from that point.
Completed in the fall of 2004, Gods and Monsters was very much informed by more than a dabble with dark magiks and having read too many Dennis Wheatley novels as a teenager. Still living in the UK at the time, and having dallied briefly with a coven in places called Thornton Hough, I was immersed in the Crowley Tarot, John Fowles the Magus, Colin Wilson,The Mysteries, Eastern mysticism, occasional headonistic weekends in Amsterdam and a late night tryst that led me down a very solipsistic, self destructive path indeed.
In all manner of ways, Gods and Monsters was trying to make sense of it all, examining if their were pre-ordained forces and wisdoms at play, such as astrological motifs, religious rites and the Arcana, or if it was merely arcane, and influenced by ones own psychosis,the dirge and the vampires, we surround ourself with during the unravelling of daily existence.
Elicited as part of my 'Dream Orphans' series, and like most of my works of the period-sold on Ebay for a song-the piece has since become notable for its inclusion on the cover of Peter J Carrols 'The Apophenian' as well as being the theme and title for my retrospective book.
Painted in a week with Acrylics, I'm still very proud of it, its an important work, and continues to be one of my most sought after pieces at shows.
Signed reproduction prints of Gods and Monsters are available from my website HERE.
