There’s No China Shop

Who are you?

who are you really?

We describe ourselves through what we do (our job, our hobbies) or by things we are (husband, wife, sibling, friend) or by what we aren’t…

But that is not who you are. That is not your essence.
If you are a Bull in a China shop, but there is no longer a China shop, are you still a bull?

Thats what inspired this painting. Who are you when your ego dies? Is a house still a home if it’s in disarray? Is a tea cup still a tea cup if it’s broken?

who are you? Who are you really?

Gate to the Underworld (Bull): Part III

The Pomegranate

The pomegranate is a symbol that spans many different cultures, but is most commonly associated with the Greek goddess Persephone - symbolizing the reason behind her time/imprisonment in the Underworld with Hades.
As the Queen of the Dead, Persephone brought about winter and lack of fertility while she was in the Underworld, only to be the opposite along side her mother, Demeter, when back above ground.

The pomegranate as a symbol, is that of royalty, death, life, love, blood, fertility, etc…it’s a fruit of dichotomies. Split down the middle, the seeds are in two distinct pockets.

Like everything else in the painting, it’s about life and death and the cycles, the inner confluence of the stages of life, the power that love can hold, what may spring forth from the blood of a dead demi-god.

It’s an interesting thing that the majority of death gods also look over the realm of fertility. Death is the best form of fertilizer, life always leads to death, and the Underworld always has passage back to the living.

Gate to the Underworld (Bull): Part II

The Minotaur.

The old story of the Minotaur, half beast half man, hidden away at the center of the labyrinth.

The bull skull is the symbol of the labyrinth: symmetrical with horns, reminiscent of the double-bladed ax (which is the old symbol for the labyrinth) - a stand in for duality, the shadow-self, the other, you get the picture.

The labyrinth is a journey inwards - spiraling down and around until you are confronted by (or confronting) the “beast within” and ultimate return to the beginning. A journey that mirrors that of the Hero’s descent through the underworld and out again (i.e. Orpheus, Jesus, Odin, Theseus…)
The labyrinth allows one to look inside, to discover and conquer fears, irrationalities, anxieties, to travel to Hell, beat it, and return better and stronger.

That is, ultimately, the story behind the story of the trip to the underworld, of the daring journey into the labyrinth - to improve, to make better, to face fear in the face, to understand who you are at the center and how to bring that to the surface in a societally acceptable way.

Gate to the Underworld (Bull): Part I

It all started as a simple dichotomy between life and death, hard and soft, light and heavy.

Quickly, themes developed by themselves.

Certain imagery began to form around a simple skull. Specific flowers, specific animals. A story unfolded and all I had to do was sit back and read it aloud through paint.

it was simple life and death, but became much more. It became a gateway to the underworld. Snakes, shrikes, ribbons, pomegranates. Metaphors happened, symbols made themselves known.