- DEPTH ART -

A Man

of  Zen

The Stallions of Apollo

​          "How often, poor, mad Phaetons, are we cast
          by our own rampant thoughts upon the ground...

          ...We would be sun-gods, full of light and grace..."

          ​- Hannah Parker Kimball

          
          This is what is written in code on the sides of the painting.

          I can’t remember what inspired me to make this painting. One thing I can remember, however, is that a couple of weeks ago I was reading up about the Apollo asteroids.

          This painting is about failure. Not failure for not achieving something, defeat, or unfulfilled desire. It is about failure by an excess of force. It is about self-destruction by a will that is too strong. It is the failure by the excessive heat generating the inferno of one’s own making. It’s about toxic positivity.

          This painting was horizontal, originally. It was made to portray the Sun scorching the terrains of Mars. I saw horses stampeding, running aimlessly motivated by fear, anger, or confusion. The rectangle is a mesa. Like the mesas in Oklahoma. Oklahoma where the FBI building bombing happened.

          Once I went to Oklahoma. I walked to the highest point which is located on a mesa. Arid area. The highest point of Oklahoma is located in a rattlesnake sanctuary. The snakes appear in this painting. They borrow the images of the stallions. The Stallions are represented by golden horseshoes. However, somewhat, they also remind me of genetic material. There is a theme of aridity, overheating, and excess. Most likely, this genetic material is teratological. Horseshoes made of gold are also a symbol of extreme excess and ostentation even because gold is a weak metal that would make very poor horseshoes.
The golden symbols in the painting are Rahu, Ketu, the alpha, and the omega. Rahu and Ketu represent the path of evolution of the soul in Astrology. The alfa and omega are the beginning and end of all Existence in the Bible. The Universe exists as an immutable system (Lavoisier’s Law of Conservation), but it is also made of cyclical events like the voyage of the Sun in the sky.

          The Sun is a symbol of power. Life on Earth depends on it. Our solar system revolves around it. However, the Sun itself is not the source of its own power. Its existence is a fruit of the dynamics of the Universe. One day the Sun will die. It will die from burning in excess. It will burn out. But the dynamics that generated the Sun will continue forever.
Due to the importance of the cyclical theme, Uroboros appears in the painting as the snake of Oklahoma. It is also an atom orbiting around empty space, and an astronomic body doing the same. In the end, not even the cycles are the paramount power in the Universe. The paramount power is emptiness. It is where everything comes from and where everything goes and relies upon.

“Winds of change”: Scorpions’ song.
“The Days run away like wild horses over the hills”: Bukowski book.
“Over the hills and far away.” – Led Zepellin song.
“Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol.” (Black God, white devil) – a movie directed by Glauber Rocha.

Acrylic on vinyl
22 in. x 28 in

Price: U$ 500.00