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Nez, David
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- Description
- 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)
