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| January 13-February 26, 2012 Opening Reception: Friday, January 13, 6-8pm One of my recurrent themes is a portrayal of The Garden of Eden. I resisted my initial impulse to include this in my work, but the theme persistently presented itself and so I eventually relented. It has become a frequent subject, and I hope I have at least succeeded in presenting the story in a re-imagined form, informed by the influences referred to below. I have been greatly inspired by various African traditions and the various African-inspired, syncretic religious-cultural practices of North, Central and South America, particularly those of Cuba and Haiti. Within the Afro-Cuban cosmological view specifically, the concept of “El Monte,” which in this context roughly translates as “The Wild,” has complex and deep significance. |
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| In a nutshell, the natural world is seen to be both the source of spiritual power and the home of various personified embodiments of this power. In a seemingly contradictory fashion, for a metropolitan follower of these beliefs, any planted space may symbolically represent El Monte, even the most modest domestic garden or vacant lot. This is another application of the idea of The Garden, as representational stand-in for the natural world at large. Opening concurrently in the National Gallery: Untamed |
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GRAND CENTER: 501 N Grand Blvd, STL, MO 63103 |
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