Answering my own questions - some...

I realized at least one archetype is dominant in each figure.

Some figures can be construed to reveal more than one archetype...
The spiral in the central configuration is an archetypal symbol...

The shapes that each figure is composed of are abstracted primal symbols – triangular, circular and square.

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Some hieroglyphics, pictograms, marks representing sacred iconography are in the lines of the figures.

“Archetypes provide the deep structure for human motivation and meaning. When we encounter them in art, literature, sacred texts, advertising—or in individuals or groups—they evoke deep feeling within us.
These imprints, which are hardwired in our psyches, were projected outward by the ancients onto images of gods and goddesses.
Plato disconnected these from religion, seeing them in philosophical terms as "elemental forms."
Twentieth-century psychiatrist C.G. Jung called them archetypes.”

'The Fan Blade is often an archetype reflecting rotating, spinning movement through consciousness, time and dimension. "

Afterthoughts - 'Congregation'

In my opinion, artists create self portraits, no matter what the original intention – the outcome of the work reveals self. Try as we might, we reveal our identity, our uniqueness, a signature of our soul. This is how I view one aspect of my recent installation. I did not consciously set out to do this. Once the work was presented, I was struck by several levels of interpretation the work may be subject to or clarification the sculpture would explain, and especially, how it revealed who I am and how I think of myself.

First I realized at least one archetype was dominant in each figure. Some figures could be construed to reveal more than one archetype – or if I think about it some more, maybe more than two... Even the spiral in the central configuration was an archetypal symbol... And further, the shapes that each figure was composed of were abstracted primal symbols – triangular, circular and square. I even began to see some hieroglyphics, pictograms, marks representing sacred iconography in the lines of the figures.

After digesting that revelation, I realized I was describing life stages. Simplification of life stages - but surely they were there. And more, the stages were equal to the next, none more prominent, as if there was a balance. Each was interconnected with the other, and each was blatantly important as the next. –Interestingly, I did not order them sequentially. What did that mean?

Now my questions for myself...

1. So what does this say about me, how does it portray my character, my personality?



2. Why did I call the work Congregation, when none of the figures actually meet? Why do the figures only connect by the spiral, the whirling...?
   
   

Then I need to understand and explain the shrouding, the emptiness within the figures, the broken fragility of the sculpture, the facelessness.

So what does this say about me, how does it portray my character, my personality?

1. Why did I call the work Congregation, when none of the figures actually meet? Why do the figures only connect by the spiral, the whirling...?
   
   
2. Then I need to understand and explain the shrouding, the emptiness within the figures, the broken fragility of the sculpture, the facelessness.



3. And finally, the cluster of apple branches placed in the middle of the spiral centre must be clarified, which can be described as the only congregated gathering of any kind in this show.
   
   
   
   
   

Kazakhstan Exhibition

Please check out my Flickr account for more photos...

Here is the installation of "Congregation".

ARTIST STATEMENT

30 October – 1 December 2008

National Museum of Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Title: Congregation

This exhibition will be comprised of 5 over life sized abstracted human forms depicting the monumentality of human alliance and our large capacity for responsiveness to each other. This work will be displayed on the 2nd floor, Gallery 11, A. Kasteev State Museum of Arts on 30 October – 1 December 2006. Congregation is inspired by the momentous Kazakhstan historical works displayed in the gallery. More, as the work depicts people convening, the sculpture is about gathering – an assembly of people, a collection of perspectives, exchange.

Canadians are known as travellers. We explore our own nation and love to visit other countries. Kazakhstan has a history of nomadic existence, and some citizens describe themselves as part of a nomadic culture. Whether on a customary journey or because of a particular adventure, meeting new, companionable people is a wonderful opportunity to impart stories, commune, and interconnect. This work will show how amity and fellowship is universal, and how the act of congregating with each other enlarges each person, our communities, and our dimensionality.