Contemporary Art

Fairy Tale Series - The Hero's Journey
(click any image for larger view and pricing details.)

Fairy tales and myths are stories from the collective unconscious. A story which has a thread of commonality for all people.

Who is the hero? Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces describes the hero's path:

Where we thought to find abomination
we found a god

Where we thought to slay another
we shall slay ourselves

Where we thought to travel outward
we shall come to the center of our existence

Where we thought to be alone
we shall be with all the world

The Hero's Journey - Jack in the Beanstalk
Boogie Jack Boogie 72" x 72"

Often fairy tales appear in the psyche as dreams, at important times of transformation. Child to adolescent. Adolescent to adult. Adult to elder. They also appear in dreams when life has dried up. The job that is numbing. The marriage that doesn’t work. The unconscious begins to release images of a psychological death and rebirth. A leaving of one condition and finding a source of life, then coming back into a richer life.

The hero is often lured into a forest, into the belly of a whale, up into the sky, down into a cave, and within this place is a challenge.

Often a helper appears in the form of an animal, an elderly person, or bird.

The hero overcomes the challenge and then returns home. The result of the journey is a transformation of consciousness by trials and revelations.

Often In life a person, for example, raising a family, climbing the corporate ladder, stops listening to the Self. The collective unconscious begins expressing truths that can't be denied. Listen or perish! It is the very source of life. Life with mysteries gives life meaning and the unconscious releases vitality that has become locked up. The real monster is inside. The ego holding on. "What I must do!" "What I must think!"

The Hero's Journey - The Three Bears
Out the Window  48" x 48"

My first memory of painting lessons was when I was six years old. We lived near San Ildefonso Pueblo and once a week my father would take me to Popovi Da's studio, where I would paint with Po's son and Popovi Da would show us how to mix vivid watercolors. Po's mother, Maria Martinez, would often be there painting her black and brown pots. In those long ago summers, thus began my bliss.

In creating my art I draw on my many life experiences: a Director of the Institute of American Indian Arts, my study of Jungian psychology in Switzerland, my study of shamanism in the Amazon, my study of Oriental philosophy and medicine, my study of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. In my art I am interested in portraying the controversial: the mystery, the joy, the wonder, and the spiritual process of life and how we interact with ourselves, each other, the earth, and the greater universe.

Now, Why Fairy Tales?

1.They have held a fascination of both children and adults for centuries.

2. It is interesting to portray both Jungian and Freudian ideas about the interpretation of fairy tales: one emphasizing a spiritual approach, the other a sexual/sensual approach.

3. The tales present universal themes of life's problems to be resolved with usually a happy ending, i.e."and they lived happily ever after".

4. The imaginative stories from the collective unconcious presents wonderful images for the visual artist.

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