the reflection works 2022-.
ongoing series
In this series, I mirror oil paintings into perpendicular, glossy, ceramic tiles in order to invite the viewer to compare the material and gestural variations of my translations, to determine what is similar and what is different, and to move around the pieces for different viewing angles and image comprehension. Essentially, I invite the viewer to add actual parts together for one whole viewing of the work. The viewer is asked to do some of the same activities that I perform in order to make it. This gesture was meant to engage in principles of Gestalt Psychology, a theory of how perception works.
This series also has a more esoteric reading as a part of its namesake. I originally associated the phrase “As Above So Below” with the image because of the symmetry that makes its up and its down feel interchangeable. As I understand it, the ancient Hermetic phrase describes a direct relationship between the inner world and the outer world. This phrase and the other Hermetic principles are about individual alchemical transformation in relation to and with a communal whole system. Interestingly this Hermetic idea of “one whole system” aligns with the principles of Gestalt based on holism.
This series also has a more esoteric reading as a part of its namesake. I originally associated the phrase “As Above So Below” with the image because of the symmetry that makes its up and its down feel interchangeable. As I understand it, the ancient Hermetic phrase describes a direct relationship between the inner world and the outer world. This phrase and the other Hermetic principles are about individual alchemical transformation in relation to and with a communal whole system. Interestingly this Hermetic idea of “one whole system” aligns with the principles of Gestalt based on holism.
