Title: You Will Reap What You Sow
Camphor burl; turned, carved and painted. ca 5 7/8 X 5 3/8 inches.
For the "Beyond Containment" exhibit. 2012 AAW symposium.
Throughout human history, ideas and objects have been represented as symbols, often sacred and kept by holy men or shamans. Symbols and representative art from many cultures are found in caves, rock overhangs, or on surfaces of rocks. Ideas are spread as cultural memes - as cave art in prehistory, and via multimedia of contemporary times. The influence of family, tribe, religion, education, national identity determines the outlook and behavior of the individual.
This sculpture has several layers of meaning via the shape (a biomorphic ideation of fertility), and the symbols painted on the interior surfaces of each chamber. The symbols are from as many cultures as I could find, ancient and contemporary, and represent the following concepts: love/hate, light/dark, peace/war, happy/sad, life/death. These paired concepts are opposite each other on the vessel.
