amarilli (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} _amarilli_) wrote,@ 2007-08-17 03:45:00 |
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Dawn of the New Cosmic Day - Symbology
This is my last painting.....it's actually a DYPTICH.
The original title is :
"AURORA DEL NUOVO GIORNO COSMICO"
The technique is Mixed Media on Canvas, 140 + 50 cm x 100 cm, date July-August 2007.
Credits !!!
- http://hanratty-stock.deviantart.com is the sweet and wonderful model of the photo I used as a reference.
- Aliens are to be credited for crop circle symbols.
Additional notes : this painting is made for the following contest in San Gimignano (Italy):
http://www.premioceleste.it
Here are some close-ups :
- FACE & HAND : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail1
- COW'S FACE + HAIR : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail2
- HAND & LOTUS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail3
- DRESS + CROP CIRCLE : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail4
- SKIRT OF THE DRESS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail5
- OCTOPUS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail6
- FEET : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail7
I wish to share some of the symbology of this painting, but first I'd like to specify that it was not in my intention to communicate anything special when I begun it, and asked my muses to assist me in the process of making this work.
So I just followed some "inner" directions I received very clearly and step-by-step (not all at once) and AFTER this I've tried to do some research and to interpret the meaning of the painting.
In the meanwhile, many synchronicities happened, but I will share them in my next post. I think I have an idea now of what this image means ^__^
1- the first thing that appeared on the painting was the white, milk-giving, horned cow : she's a very ancient symbol, and apparently one of the most common representations of the Great Mother. This symbol can be found in India with Kali's sacred cows, and in Egypt she was Hathor, who produced the Milky Way. In some myth,her milk was said to turn into lotus flowers when it hit the ground.
Besides, it seems that the name of Italy meant "calf-land" and as Barbara Walker states, "This country too was the gift of the Milk-Giver, whom Etruscans called Lat, arabs called Al-Lat, Greeks called Latona, Lada, Leto or Leda. She ruled Latium [the name of Rome's province, now called Lazio] and gave her milk to the world.
All Europe was named after the Goddess as a white Moon-cow, whom the Greeks mated to the white bull incarnation of Zeus. Her alternative name was IO, "Moon". Under this name she was presented in classic mythology as a rival of Hera, but patriarchal writers were always setting different manifestations of the same Goddess at odds with one another, possibly on the principle of divide and conquer.
Hera herself was named IO, ancestress of Ionians. In her temple on the site of Byzantium she appeared as the same lunar cow, the Horned One, wearing the same crescent headdress as the Egyptian Cow-Goddess."
It seems a constant of all myths that the cow was there with the first creatures, giving them sustentment through her milk.
2- the painting is divided in 2 canvases. They are quite disproportionned. In one there are only the woman's feet, and the cow's back & feet, plus some other symbols which appeared at a later stage, so it's difficult to consider those two pieces as independent from each other. In fact, because of the composition, the two paintings HAVE TO stay together (they're as if they were one) otherwise it would be very wrong visually (especially for the large one).
After some research I have come up to the idea that the two canvases might refer to the current Iron Age and the upcoming Golden Age, since from traditional myths, the Iron Age is much shorter (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga --> it's interesting to see the link to a bull --may that have been a cow?-- in the article).
I think the two canvases might then refer, as many traditional profecies do, to our era (shorter, and confused) and the upcoming of the next golden age.
3- the girl : I think she represents the whole of humanity, the fact that the character is a girl is probably, apart from an aesthetic choice, to balance the fact that while speaking of the "human race" one might just say "man".
Maybe also because women being capable of birthing bear better the symbol of "whole humanity" ;) I think of the connection with the life-giving cow=Great Mother.
It seems to me that the Golden Age is matriarchal in essence, or, in any case, that a new matriarchy is what could balance the damages the human race has inflicted upon the planet and its own children in an era of strict patriarchy and materialism.
4- the octopus clinging to the earth : I wouldn't have liked to represent a disturbance in a ...hum....disturbed way. I don't like this kind of depiction in my works.
I am so grateful that this image came to me...it incarnates perfectly the idea of a monster spirit possessing everything with greed, with his tentacles which can represent its many distortions, deformities and neuroses, and its tentative to escape its own ugliness through alternative uglinesses.
A quote from "The Feminine Universe" by Miss Alice Lucy Trent is eloquent on this subject :
"The things sane societies loved, it hated. The things sane societies hated, it loved; the things sane societies tried to do, it tried to avoid; the things sane societies tried to avoid, it did with relish. It pursued chaos and hated order, it worshipped ugliness and loathed beauty. If sane people wished to dress as neatly and well as they could, these people were persuaded to dress as hideously and grotesquely as possible; if sane people wanted music to be melodious, these people (whether we are speaking of their "popular" or their "serious" music) were cozened into believing they liked raucous and tuneless noise. If women had been feminine, if home life had been secure, if children had been innocent, if men had been gallant, if art had been beautiful, if love had been romantic, then all these things must be stood on their heads. Of course, life was not always like that. Of course things had often fallen short of their ideals, or even of their minimal norms; but at least most people tried to do things properly and at least the surrounding civilisation encouraged them to try. Never before had the deliberate aim been an inverted parody of all that should be. Everywhere, in every area of life, a single principle reigned: inversion; the worship of chaos; the creed of the madhouse. "
This symbol also reminds us how much what we feel is our our "rebellion" or uniqueness, is wanted and carefully encouraged by the system, and is part of our submission to it.
This said, I apologize towards octopusses, which are delightful creatures in my opinion, for borrowing their image to transmit such a negative meaning. I know they have very positive aspects too ^__^
5- the crop circles : I haven't understood yet why they wanted to appear in this painting, and how they relate to the rest, but I have noticed something amazing (which gave me goosebumps) after I decided which circle to put in, and where : one of them looks like the geometrical representation of the milk turning into a lotus, another one looks like a tentacle, and then the other two look like objects of our galaxy (a sun-system, and a star) maybe intending to bring the meaning to a more cosmic level.
Thus the title....which was NOT inspired by the muses, but for which I had to study a lot until I felt it was "the right one" (I had a looong list of possible titles but this seemed at last to describe best what I perceived was the idea behind the image).
If there are other meanings or connections in this painting, please let me know ! I am sure there is something to learn from them and I don't want to be oblivious of them ^__^
I'll tell the story of the synchronicities another day ^__^
This is my last painting.....it's actually a DYPTICH.
The original title is :
"AURORA DEL NUOVO GIORNO COSMICO"
The technique is Mixed Media on Canvas, 140 + 50 cm x 100 cm, date July-August 2007.
Credits !!!
- http://hanratty-stock.deviantart.com is the sweet and wonderful model of the photo I used as a reference.
- Aliens are to be credited for crop circle symbols.
Additional notes : this painting is made for the following contest in San Gimignano (Italy):
http://www.premioceleste.it
Here are some close-ups :
- FACE & HAND : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail1
- COW'S FACE + HAIR : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail2
- HAND & LOTUS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail3
- DRESS + CROP CIRCLE : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail4
- SKIRT OF THE DRESS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail5
- OCTOPUS : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail6
- FEET : http://www.nuitdivine.com/images/detail7
I wish to share some of the symbology of this painting, but first I'd like to specify that it was not in my intention to communicate anything special when I begun it, and asked my muses to assist me in the process of making this work.
So I just followed some "inner" directions I received very clearly and step-by-step (not all at once) and AFTER this I've tried to do some research and to interpret the meaning of the painting.
In the meanwhile, many synchronicities happened, but I will share them in my next post. I think I have an idea now of what this image means ^__^
1- the first thing that appeared on the painting was the white, milk-giving, horned cow : she's a very ancient symbol, and apparently one of the most common representations of the Great Mother. This symbol can be found in India with Kali's sacred cows, and in Egypt she was Hathor, who produced the Milky Way. In some myth,her milk was said to turn into lotus flowers when it hit the ground.
Besides, it seems that the name of Italy meant "calf-land" and as Barbara Walker states, "This country too was the gift of the Milk-Giver, whom Etruscans called Lat, arabs called Al-Lat, Greeks called Latona, Lada, Leto or Leda. She ruled Latium [the name of Rome's province, now called Lazio] and gave her milk to the world.
All Europe was named after the Goddess as a white Moon-cow, whom the Greeks mated to the white bull incarnation of Zeus. Her alternative name was IO, "Moon". Under this name she was presented in classic mythology as a rival of Hera, but patriarchal writers were always setting different manifestations of the same Goddess at odds with one another, possibly on the principle of divide and conquer.
Hera herself was named IO, ancestress of Ionians. In her temple on the site of Byzantium she appeared as the same lunar cow, the Horned One, wearing the same crescent headdress as the Egyptian Cow-Goddess."
It seems a constant of all myths that the cow was there with the first creatures, giving them sustentment through her milk.
2- the painting is divided in 2 canvases. They are quite disproportionned. In one there are only the woman's feet, and the cow's back & feet, plus some other symbols which appeared at a later stage, so it's difficult to consider those two pieces as independent from each other. In fact, because of the composition, the two paintings HAVE TO stay together (they're as if they were one) otherwise it would be very wrong visually (especially for the large one).
After some research I have come up to the idea that the two canvases might refer to the current Iron Age and the upcoming Golden Age, since from traditional myths, the Iron Age is much shorter (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Yuga --> it's interesting to see the link to a bull --may that have been a cow?-- in the article).
I think the two canvases might then refer, as many traditional profecies do, to our era (shorter, and confused) and the upcoming of the next golden age.
3- the girl : I think she represents the whole of humanity, the fact that the character is a girl is probably, apart from an aesthetic choice, to balance the fact that while speaking of the "human race" one might just say "man".
Maybe also because women being capable of birthing bear better the symbol of "whole humanity" ;) I think of the connection with the life-giving cow=Great Mother.
It seems to me that the Golden Age is matriarchal in essence, or, in any case, that a new matriarchy is what could balance the damages the human race has inflicted upon the planet and its own children in an era of strict patriarchy and materialism.
4- the octopus clinging to the earth : I wouldn't have liked to represent a disturbance in a ...hum....disturbed way. I don't like this kind of depiction in my works.
I am so grateful that this image came to me...it incarnates perfectly the idea of a monster spirit possessing everything with greed, with his tentacles which can represent its many distortions, deformities and neuroses, and its tentative to escape its own ugliness through alternative uglinesses.
A quote from "The Feminine Universe" by Miss Alice Lucy Trent is eloquent on this subject :
"The things sane societies loved, it hated. The things sane societies hated, it loved; the things sane societies tried to do, it tried to avoid; the things sane societies tried to avoid, it did with relish. It pursued chaos and hated order, it worshipped ugliness and loathed beauty. If sane people wished to dress as neatly and well as they could, these people were persuaded to dress as hideously and grotesquely as possible; if sane people wanted music to be melodious, these people (whether we are speaking of their "popular" or their "serious" music) were cozened into believing they liked raucous and tuneless noise. If women had been feminine, if home life had been secure, if children had been innocent, if men had been gallant, if art had been beautiful, if love had been romantic, then all these things must be stood on their heads. Of course, life was not always like that. Of course things had often fallen short of their ideals, or even of their minimal norms; but at least most people tried to do things properly and at least the surrounding civilisation encouraged them to try. Never before had the deliberate aim been an inverted parody of all that should be. Everywhere, in every area of life, a single principle reigned: inversion; the worship of chaos; the creed of the madhouse. "
This symbol also reminds us how much what we feel is our our "rebellion" or uniqueness, is wanted and carefully encouraged by the system, and is part of our submission to it.
This said, I apologize towards octopusses, which are delightful creatures in my opinion, for borrowing their image to transmit such a negative meaning. I know they have very positive aspects too ^__^
5- the crop circles : I haven't understood yet why they wanted to appear in this painting, and how they relate to the rest, but I have noticed something amazing (which gave me goosebumps) after I decided which circle to put in, and where : one of them looks like the geometrical representation of the milk turning into a lotus, another one looks like a tentacle, and then the other two look like objects of our galaxy (a sun-system, and a star) maybe intending to bring the meaning to a more cosmic level.
Thus the title....which was NOT inspired by the muses, but for which I had to study a lot until I felt it was "the right one" (I had a looong list of possible titles but this seemed at last to describe best what I perceived was the idea behind the image).
If there are other meanings or connections in this painting, please let me know ! I am sure there is something to learn from them and I don't want to be oblivious of them ^__^
I'll tell the story of the synchronicities another day ^__^
