"L'Esprit du Bayou"
24" x 30" (61.0cm x 76.2cm)
Oil on Linen
"My inspiration in art comes from trying to understand how humans relate to nature. It seems like everything we do is somehow a reaction to our experience with nature; whether it be inspiration to replicate or competition to dominate. Somewhere in between the inspiration and competition lies our inherent need to interpret; for me this is the birth place of art. I draw from our rich history of metaphor continually. I love mythology, Shakespeare, poetry and film - I love storytellers. For "L'Esprit du Bayou" I pulled from a bit further back in our history. This painting alludes to shamanism, reaching as far back as the Paleolithic cave art in France. The shamanistic religions teach of worlds layered upon one another, and the interaction of these worlds with one another explain the events that we witness in our environment. Some individuals, shaman, have at will a direct controlled relationship with the other worlds. The shaman can be inhabited by spirit friends from the other worlds, and vice-versa. Often, these spirit helpers are in animal form. French historian Dr. Jean Clottes explains to us that we know as a fact that the upper paleolithic people "kept going into the deep caves for twenty thousand years at the very least in order to draw on the walls, not to live or take shelter there... Going into the subterranean world was thus defying ancestral fears, deliberately venturing into the kingdom of the supernatural powers in order to meet them." Today we are so disconnected from nature that a walk through the park can be a deeply spiritual experience. For me, it happens every time I enter the nature walk not ten miles from my house. There is a presence in that bayou. "L'Esprit du Bayou" is my story telling of that presence." 
|
