Artist Statement

My art practice is driven by my desire to express my spirituality and the esoteric concepts that shape it. This year, I focus on the process of creation within reality, specifically the formation of polarity; a topic associated with the Chinese ‘Yin and Yang’ symbol, which expresses the balance of opposing forces that results from the ordering of chaos. The outer circle representing the chaotic ”undifferentiated state of the universe”(Congxin and Yongxia, 2019, p.777), which is then ordered and contained within the circle, represented by the Yin and Yang.   

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The focus of this project extends beyond the ordering and balancing of chaos, and into the perpetual relationship between polar opposites, and the outcomes of their unity. It is dominantly informed by the foundations of our reality: light and dark, wave and line, geometry and platonic solids, although I retain some features from the Yin and Yang, like the symbolism of the circle. To understand the process of creation, I refer to the Chirstian concept of the Seven Days of Creation, which I explore through the sacred geometry symbol ‘The Seed of Life’ (fig 1). 

 

Hilma af Klint had significant influence on my work. Her paintings from ‘The Swan’ series(1914-15) resonated with me, specifically ‘The Swan No.13’(Klint, 1915) and ‘The Swan No.24’(Klint, 1915). In both pieces, the contrasting forms hold a strong presence, and the works capture the interaction of opposites while also maintaining their balance and independence; something I aim to capture within my own work. Her various expressions of polarity and unity using simple shapes and alchemical representations is profound and inspiring. The way she embraced her spirituality and esoteric knowledge has felt extremely validating to what I've been trying to do in my own art practice. 

 

In ‘Polarity of Mind’(Cebula, 2024), I explored how polarity of a specific subject could be expressed 2-dimensionally and how the contrasting sides could harmoniously exist together while maintaining their individual presence. I used the Vesica Piscis as the vessel for the opposing forms, a symbol representing "duality [and] the nature of opposites"(Bettinger et al, 2022, p.256), and the second step within the Seed of Life (Fig 1). Upon reflection, I realised the importance of giving more presence to the intersecting area that captures the relationship and coexistence of the opposites. I decided to experiment sculpturally, as sticking to 2-dimensional work limited my freedom of exploring this coexistence and giving life to the piece; an essential quality required to capture the continuity of their interaction and how this allows their relationship to evolve toward their unity.  

 

I looked to Olafur Eliasson’s sculptures to help my understanding of how I could create a natural, animated, and magnetic kind of movement within the forms of my sculpture. ‘A harmonious cycle of interconnected nows’(Eliasson, 2023) was particularly inspiring in the way the piece interacts with the negative space around it, giving it a strong presence, and how the variety in the quality of the curves create a lively and fluid feeling of movement. This helped me understand how I could create this within my work when working with curves and negative space. The texture within his piece also inspired me to consider creating contrast in more ways than solely the use of colour. Additionally, Eliasson’s use of light within his overall practice influenced me to incorporate light into my own work to capture the contrast of opposites, which was important to me since the distinction between light and dark are one of the first steps within the process of creation.  

 

In ‘Polar Interactions’(Cebula, March 2025), I explored the interaction of opposites and how this form would exist in a dark space by using a double-helix spiral combined with the triquetra symbol- the third step within the Seed of Life, representing the unifying of opposing forces to create a cohesive whole. The piece utilises materials with contrasting textures, paired with the use of light and dark, to further bring out the contrast between the two spirals. I incorporated a spinning motion to the piece to represent the perpetuity of the relationship between opposites, which gave the double-helix an illusion of growth, which also gave it presence and brought it to life. 

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‘Polarity to Coalescence’(Cebula, May 2025) refines and builds upon this. I utilise materials which contrast in texture, weight, colour, and light. And I express the independence of opposites, capturing how they attract from opposing sides toward each other to form the double-helix, spiralling upward together. Their unity is represented by the triquetra, which introduces the combination of the contrasting materials, which forms the foundational colours of the light spectrum, and the first potential platonic solid. 

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Bibliography: 

 

-Bettinger, R.A., Wilmer, A.P., Shockley, L. and Boone, N. (2023). Beauty in chaos: the hidden art and sacred geometric designs of trajectories in multi-body gravitational systems. Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, 17(3-4), pp.250–276. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17513472.2023.2187571. 

 

-Congxin, S. and Yongxia, Q. (2019). A Jungian Analysis of the Archetypal Image of the Fish From a Chinese Cultural Perspective. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(5), p.002216781985094. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167819850947. 

 

- Pike, D. (2013). Geometrically Ordered Design: The Everlasting Fruit. AEQAI. [online] Aeqai.com. Available at: http://aeqai.com/main/2013/08/geometrically-ordered-design-the-everlasting-fruit/ [Accessed 8 May 2025]. 

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  (Figure 1, Cebula, 2025, a breakdown of the Seed of Life)

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