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Showing posts with label potentiality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potentiality. Show all posts

30 September 2009

Zero




Painting Title: Zero
Size: 34" wide x 55" tall
Medium: Acrylic on Board

This painting is on a board that has Golden Section Dimensions.
The Space is broken up into the Golden Section Proportions.

No longer available
Zero has two uses…both important, but distinctly different from each other.

One use is as an empty place indicator in our place-value number system. For instance, in the number 102, the zero is used simply to put the 1 and 2 in the correct "place". When the place-value use of zero was introduced, a simple dot was used…note the diamond-shaped dot…the ancient Hindu form called the ‘bindu’.

Secondly, the zero is used as a number itself, meaning "none", "empty" or "nothing". Indians used the Glyph "0" as early as 640 BC. Fibonacci, the Italian mathematician who introduced the Hindu-Arabic number system to Europe around 1200, called it a "sign" rather than a number. His name for zero was "Zefiro"---from the Semitic sifr, which meant "empty".

In this painting, the most prominent figure is of the Glyph (symbol) we westerners use for the number zero. The glyphs in the upper right and left corners are ancient Sanskrit. Other words which mean zero are in the painting: nul, null, nol, nula, cipher, etc. Meden agan ……Greek for "nothing in excess"…the wise words of the Greek oracle at Delphi.

At the bottom right, the Greek Gnothi Seauton, means Know Thyself…it is the motto over the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Bottom left: In Quantum Physics, everything is in flux, a world of constant movement, a world of endless possibilities, so I have Zero’s in all sizes and shapes moving through that space…vibrating, swimming in the Akashic Field…ready to spring forth and become…what? A quantity…zero for now, but prepared to manifest. The Zero was, conceptually, the most difficult of all these paintings because as soon as a single mark was made, there was one, a mark…the only real Zero painting would have to be blank. Pulling Zero out of that blankness, manifesting it into solid form, through focus and intention tells a story of Quantum Physics.

28 December 2006

Four


2006
42" Wide x 26" Tall Quadriptych
(each piece is 21" wide x 13" tall)

Acrylic on Board

No Longer Available

Four panels make up the Number 4 painting. In the center is a square (4 sides) with one of the Arabic Glyphs for "4". There are 4 Noble Truths in Buddhism: in this piece, I see these 4 truths in the panels:
Upper Left: Suffering Exists (I see all the words and glyphs for the # 4 as being the constant chatter in our heads…the absence of quiet space)
Upper Right: Suffering Arises from Attachment to Desires (the 4-sided pyramid is an "object" and so represents materialism)
Lower Left: Suffering Ceases when Attachment to Desire Ceases (more quiet space, holy Readings/ teachings, and the allowing-in of the "bubbles" from the 4th panel…)
Lower Right: Freedom from Suffering is Possible (I see the "bubbles" as the sheer potentiality of Quantum Physics, where the space is filled with and surrounded by the # 4, but they move freely, even moving up into the material-based panel above)
None of the panels is just one thing…each has the elements of the others:
*In the upper left panel is a large Indian Glyph for "4", with Arabic, Ancient Greek and Mayan
*In the upper right panel, an Ancient Greek Glyph, the 4-sided pyramid, and the Babylonian "4" Glyph
*The lower right panel has a square with a hill shape in it, the Chinese Glyph for "4". The writing: The number 4 is a quantity. It represents "the first born thing" because it is the "…product of the procreative process" multiplication. 2 x 2=4. A four-leaf clover. There are 4 directions in the geographical coordinate system. Four beasts of the Apocalypse, Connect 4, 4 Wheel Drive, The Final 4, Mah Jong: Chinese game of 4 winds, Square Dancing: Hands 4, 4 Star Generals, Hotels and Restaurants, Degas’ 4 Dancers, As a form, 4 is a square and represents materialization. F. D. Roosevelt’s 4 Freedoms: speech, worship, want, and fear. Dogs are our 4-legged friends . The 4 preferences: Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/ Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, Judging/Perceiving. 4-year College Degree Program, 4 Dimensions: Breadth, Width, Length, Time In the square in the lower left panel, the writing: The four elements> air, water, fire, earth At Seder> 4 cups of wine, ask 4 questions, read about 4 sons The 4th utterance of redemption Aristotle’s 4 causes: Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final 4 – a Rational Number The 4 Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 4 Letter Words are Bad Words for "Four" in different languages used in this painting: Sanskrit: catvaras, catasras, catvari, catur Avestan: cathwaro Tokharian A: stwar Tokharian B: stwer Armenian: corkh Ancient Greek: tettares, tessares, tetores t Oscan: pettier, petora Latin: quattwor Italian: Quattro Spanish: cuatro French: quatre Romanian: patru Old Erse: cethir, cethoir Breton: pevar Welsh: pedwar Scots Gaelic: peswar Gothic: fidwor Old Icelandic: fjorer Swedish: fyra Old Saxon: fiuwar Anglo Saxon: foewer English: four Old High German: vier German: vier Church Slavonic: cetyre Russian: cetyre Czech: ctyri Polish: cztery Lithuanian: keturi