The Salamander

Title: The Salamander
LC Subject: Icons Gouache painting Salamanders mixed media painting (image-making) paintings (visual works) gouache (paint)
Creator: Nez, David
Description: A man with wings interacts with different lifeforms contained in what appear to be beakers over the top of what appear to be collaged shreds of hand-written documents. The written text reads, "The philosopher's compare their secret stone to the salamander. It is fed by fire, lives in fire and is perfected by fire as the salamander is." Salamander; mixed media; 1998 My recent works on paper are inspired by alchemical manuscripts. The alchemists documented their labors in enigmatic texts in which chemical procedures, cosmology and myths are woven together into fantastic allegories. Similarly in my paintings I use imagery of birds, beasts, plants and minerals as symbols of the process of transformation, As an artist I view alchemy as a metaphor for the creative process in which there is progressive transformation and refinement of materials, imagery and ultimately consciousness. In alchemy and art alike the creative imagination is the vital agent of change. The alchemists described their labors as an "art". Like the alchemist I attempt to use physical processes as a mirror of inner experience. The materials become "transmuted" from their initially inert state through creative and chaotic struggle into a new synthesis. In my painting I use physical processes of dissolution, evaporation, heat and gravity which remind me of the alchemist's use of the elements of water, air, fire and earth. Humor is an important element of my work. Likewise humor and paradox were not unknown to the alchemist. The texts abound with cryptic riddles meant to befuddle the literal-minded and catalyze intuitive insight. Hermes, the Greek god of wisdom, was the patron of alchemists and also the trickster who could lead his followers on a search to find "fools gold". Anyone who embarks on a potentially quixotic search to find the elixir of immortality should have plenty of humor and humility to sustain themselves! The homunculus, a human-like creature nurtured in a glass vessel was reputed to have been created in the alchemical laboratory. In the novel "Frankenstein" the renegade doctor studies the writings of Paracelsus, the swiss alchemist, before creating his monster. I see the homunculus as a metaphor for modem technology with all its wonders and potential horrors. The series of "Homunculus" sculptures which utilize remnants of household appliances and found objects explores this theme in a whimsical fashion. The alchemist searched for the "gold of the philosophers"-philosophical wisdom. In their pursuit of nature's secrets they combined scientific experimentation with a mystical quest for illumination. Their holistic view of the universe viewed matter and consciousness as a continuum, anticipating recent developments in physics. Alchemy is the ancestor of modem science; perhaps there is something that can be learned from its legacy? I am inspired artistically by the beauty of the texts and their insights into the mysteries of creation. Hopefully my own fanciful creations convey something of the spirit of that tradition. (Nez, 1998) The Oregon Arts Commission has ten Regional Arts Councils that provide delivery of art services and information. The Council for this location is Lane Arts. You may view their website at http://www.lanearts.org
Location: William W. Knight Law Center >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
Street Address: 1515 Agate Street, Eugene Oregon
Award Date: 1998
Identifier: 1998_uo_knight-law_10_d01
Accession Number: 1998_uo_knight-law_10_d01
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: Nez, David
Type: Image
Format: image/tiff
Measurements: 16 x 15.5 inches
Material: Mixed media; Painting; paper; ink; glue; gouache
Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Primary Set: Oregon Percent for Art
Relation: 1998-1999 University of Oregon Knight Law Center moveable and integrated artwork 1998_uo_knight-law
Has Version: slide; color
Institution: Oregon Arts Commission University of Oregon
Note: An interactive campus map of the University of Oregon may be viewed at: http://map.uoregon.edu/ first floor, adjacent to Wayne Morse Commons area
Color Space: RGB