Interconnectedness

Spiritualism and art are interconnected. In art as in love, what the soul feels becomes inspiration. Inspiration can be called a multitude of things including, spirituality, God(s), intuition, empathy, humanism–all various forms of interpreting the world. Hilma of Klimt was not alone in her admiration of the divine, in her work I saw large parts of myself. Klimt defied patriarchal spirituality in many ways and this is a major influence in her work (even though she might’ve not perceived this.)

Belief systems outside of theosophy were heavily patriarchal and kept women from becoming vessels for primordial divinity (outside of Mary or diluted deities who were still beneath male counterparts.) As a part of The Five she used her intuition and reflection of what the divine was to create works that were unbound of the boundaries that defined acceptable art for her sex. Autonomic drawings, abstract expressionist paintings, geometric paintings and drawings created languages to humanize the otherworldly. I see a lot of her work in myself.

While a lot of my work is heavily political I also live inside of abstracts. I live philosophizing about quantum physics, multidimensionality, a diversity of existences in which parallels occur. This creates a butterfly effect of sorts, Everything is oneness and I am one with everything.

 Is this a theosoph-esque way of looking at existence?

 As mentioned in the book Theosophy, existence as existence (in the philosophic realm) appears as “thinking in a higher experience within an experience...” (Steiner, 25.) My Art is precisely that. In general, inspiration comes to me as dimensional experience that is transcendental in nature. I travel to the feelings I am creating, I live in the paradigms in which I am making. This is all possible because time is a construct. This connects to Klimt as she herself knew her art could not exist in her own time. Her own notion of parallels and intersects told her she would be accepted at a later time when people would be more receptive to her spirituality and portrayal of divinity.

 Spirituality plays a role in my work in regards to the divinity of the emotions I harness. My work at large is an emotional experience whether it is visual, written, filmed, etc. In using my own vulnerability and spirituality to touch that which cannot be seen but lives inside of us–our emotions, I realize the beauty of the universe that is one. I create inside of you.

 Creating emotional and internal experiences is something I find spirituality in. My belief is that we are all connected as energy and that energy is non-gendered, non form-specific consciousness which we can call God, Spirit, Love, Energy, etc,. My belief in interconnection creates a system where all I do creates a synergy in who I share with. The self portrait project became especially significant to me as I realized I would be able to do what Klimt did to everyone who comes in contact with her works: everyone develops a different interpretation of the work within them. I will create a self portrait that does the exact same conceptually. Art and spirituality converge in creation. I can’t wait to have the entire class create with me.