Have You Heard the Tongues of the Sacred Flame?, 2022
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper, 18 in x 13 in
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper, 18 in x 13 in
In this Bleeding Heart I Have Seen More Life Than I've Never Known, 2022
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
The Great Gift of the Garden is a Divine Mortality, 2022,
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper, 18 in x 13 in
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper, 18 in x 13 in
In What We Make Ourselves Each Day, We Become Ordinary Gods, 2022
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
In the Dream There is a World Above and a World Below and We are Their Creations, 2022, Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
Upon the Sounding of The Trumpet, The Prophet Revealed The Trinity, 2022
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
The Philosopher Learned the Secrets of the Universe and They Became the Magician, 2022, Ink, gouache, and metallic watercolor on paper,18 in x 13 in
In both Eastern and Western ancient civilizations, the trinity of science, mysticism, and philosophy developed into various forms of alchemy. Though later deemed heretical by the church, alchemy became a significant thread weaving all spiritual traditions together, specifically in its iconography. An exploration of the synchronicities between western alchemical, mystical, and Catholic imagery, Half Sinner, All Saint follows the seven stages of alchemical transformation, the symbolic chemical creation of the philosopher’s stone as a direction to spiritual actualization. In the steps of Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, and Coagulation, the Prima Materia, one’s spirit-ego, is broken, remade, tested, and ultimately reborn.
Through overlapping symbols including serpents, divine fire, blood, and the cosmos, the common narrative of spiritual development found in alchemy, tarot, and natural philosophies to find spiritual harmony and awareness, becomes parallel with Jesus Christ in Christianity. In this series, I use the principles of alchemy to separate and conjoin visual elements of these iconographies, a final narrative emerging which is half sinner, but all saint.
