What
inspired me to paint this image I call "The Korai",
comes from a subliminal calling that I didn't quite understand
at first. It was purely aesthetic. I was walking across the street
in the early dawn and saw a shop window with mannequins inside.
The mannequins were beautifully illuminated. The whole scene drew
me like a moth to a flame. I went back the next day to paint it.
Since then I have been thinking about the reason I am so drawn
to this kind of image. The mannequin in the window symbolizes
women's status in our culture. I have been thinking about women's
role in the history of Art, or the absence of it. Today women
are becoming more courageous in following their instinctual creative
expression. They are awakening. I believe we are on the verge
of a female artistic renaissance that is long overdue.
The
Korai is a Greek word to describe early sculpture of the female
form. From the 7th Century BC (the Korai image) sculpture evolved
through stages from simplistic to a narrative of complete naturalism,
becoming the communication of ideal feminine beauty. She not only
represented feminine beauty to delight the Gods, she represented
a new quest for interiority, for exploring the inner self. She
manifests what we look for in ourselves, our perfection, the balance
of mind and body. Because this phase of Art (inner exploration
through art) was so monumental, it has never been completely extinguished
from our consciousness. The Korai stays skillfully integrated
in our culture by some form or another and we never realize it.
The
Korai represents a time in history when the Goddess was revered,
when women were held in high status, owned property, their matrilineal
lineage was carried on by the their last name. By the 5th Century
BC, The Goddess and women's status was forever altered. She lost
her power. Mysteriously her image as Goddess disappeared from
the ancient Western world. Today we see her phantom image, long
ago replaced by superficial decorum. Centuries of soul starvation
have left her disconnected, timid, and unaware of her true creative
nature.
She
shows up in the common shop window instead of a temple. She stands
behind the glass of the window, contained in a box, frozen, a
replicate. She looks mundane, an ordinary object by day. At night
she is transformed. She exudes the origins of ancestry. She is
illuminated by spotlights. She is elevated above the street so
that you must look up at her. There is a serene presence through
the glass. Her vacant stare has become a mysterious gaze. She
seems to remember who she was. Walking by a window, she has quite
literally stopped me in my tracks. As an artist I feel compelled
to narrate her form, to present her to the world in exaltation.
