10 November 2023

Calypso, metempsychosis, nymph, reincarnation as a nymph, the Odyssey, Odysseus, stuck on an island held captive by Calypso, Ulysses, James Joyce, the omphalos, the navel, the Delphic orifice, the orifice of prophecy. This painting has become a map, a terrain for an adventurer to metaphorize, to meet a ranger, to encounter a range of creatures, monsters, and people that symbolize something, that can be seen as a metaphor for things in one's life—deep and shallow, explaining human nature, displaying, illustrating, repeating. Repetitions through history, the things that repeat. Geographical aspects that anthropomorphize, becoming children of deities and the like, fantasy, but real. Discovering the mystery of the white circles within the pale sands. Can you see the contrast of white on white? There is a creature with many feet and legs walking precariously, struggling to coordinate its movements. There is an island sunk beneath the sea; was it once a pale sand with a vacant white circle? Or an Atlantis, forever lost but much sought after. There are many islands to explore, each with its ruling deity, entity, thing. There is a preacher or prophet who touches the white fire, the white light, that borders the world, that marks this world’s end, its purpose, and it seems to take a toll on him. There are people moving within people, a boy drinking milk from his bottle, a sandworm within the dunes near a patch of land that looks like agriculture has occurred; the sandworm being a long tube or gut, a digestive system. There is a rocky jade golem, beryl wheels within wheels, a hare with long ears and a puffin's face.