On the recommendation of C, aka THE BIG SEE, I went to Colmar in May, Musée Unterlinden, to see Matthias Grünewald’s altar, which Alan Vega (Suicide/Band) told me how much it had touched him. And Fabienne Verdier’s „Le chant des étoiles“, Song of the Stars“, voilà
„Painting this reality
like a very ancient primitive dance, an ancestral rhythm that crosses space. The void is the mother of the universe, it lies at the origin of everything.“
„and the earth was formless and void….“
„I Have always been Particulary interested in the circle drawn in a single movement by the great Chan masters. They meditated on this figure as the ultimate trace of self-realisation. The most metaphysical form there is, with no beginning or end.“ Fabienne Verdier
The void?
Was the primordial water before the Genesis was written according to Prof. Dr. Dr. Jan Assmann, Heidelberg, who published about the Egyptian creation myth „…the world came into being with the „first time“ of sunrise, when the „self-originated“ sun god Atum emerged from the primordial waters and sent his rays out into a still spaceless world.“
Primitive dance?
I assume it`s a sophisticated dance that requires the finest membranes for reception, painting this reality. I assume it`s with the hand of the cosmos. In doing so, I follow the German dramatist, narrator, lyricist and publicist Heinrich von Kleist * 1777 † 1811 In his essayistic story „On the Marionette Theatre“ from 1810, he discuss the question of what influence reflection and self-awareness have on natural grace. Kleist concludes that natural grace manifests itself in the complete absence of consciousness. That would be, I assume, prerequisite to be able to be
the hand of the Cosmos.
The Annunciation of Mary, archangel Gabriel with Red wings. Red as a liturgical colour stands for fire, love, blood and the Holy Spirit. In the Yoruba culture, red stands for the „supreme presence of colour, signal for the spiritual command.“ Robert F. Thompson, Yale, „Flash of the Spirit“,1983. Basquiat mentioned that Mister Thompson alone had written meaningful things about his art. That the white dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, hardly belongs to the peace-loving birds, is to be learned from Konrad Lorenz. The empty sacrophagus of the Isenheim Altar by Matthias Grünewald. Sacrophagus: ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος sarkophágos „carnivorous“, somehow quite a pretty adjective.
From a Basquiat drawing indicating to the Kings chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The only object inside was the sarcophagus, which consists of a single hollowed-out block of granite. When the chamber was discovered in the early Middle Ages, the SACROPHAGUS was found broken open and completely emptied. The Coffer is in front of the ANTECHAMBER, so outside. The Coffer, der Koffer in German. From old French coffre, from Latin cophinus “wicker basket“, from ancient Greek κόφινος kóphinos. The Great Pyramid of Giza is recognisable by Al Mammun’s Forced Entrance, the Descending Passage, the Pivioted Door, called hidden door and the Granite Plug.
Whether Alan Vega was thinking of the Isenheim Altar, whose colours are so vivid, when he made his neon tube crosses, should be known by Mr Jeffrey Deitch in NYC, he exhibited Alan’s art in 2017.
in the inner courtyard of Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, May 2023.
