Baphomess:

48” x 60” Oil on canvas

If you live in San Luis Obispo County, email me, I will deliver the piece and send you an invoice without shipping cost. If you live adjacent to SLO County, we can arrange an alternative to shipping. If you are having it shipped, choose the “4’ x 5” Oil Painting” shipping option.

I've explored variety of themes over decades of painting women, gender identity, gender roles, the celebration, oppression and strength of women. In this new exhibit, I consider them through a supernatural lens; women that transcend stereotypes. The subjects in this series are surrounded by an atmosphere of mysticism, spirituality, and the ethereal. There’s an occult aesthetic pushing viewers to see beyond the confines of corporeality and deal intimately with the complex enigma of these otherworldly personas, women as gods. The figures commingle artifacts of religious phenomena, ensconced in transcendental surroundings, creating a space between reality and magic. In doing so, they challenge our comfort and mainstream traditions while exploring our relationship with religious myths.

Serpents serve as surrogates for the tangible, covered in delicate hair; slithering softness, tethering the mystical narrative to things that are material, reminders that even imagined things stir real, physical sensations. Galaxies spread around, beneath and inside of the subjects, these women both create and are the universe that they want to move through.

I hope that while visiting these pieces, you reimagine your perception of women and reality; that you immerse yourself in the unknown, the unknowable and the unexpected. Pause and just enjoy the magic.

Symbols:
2-Headed serpent- The two headed snake, when appearing in dreams is said to symbolize the activation of unconscious feminine energy that resides at the base of your spine (root chakra). Known as Kundalini, it’s thought to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess.

The Pomegranate is held sacred by many of the world's major religions. In the Greek myth of Persephone's abduction by Hades, lord of the underworld, the pomegranate represents life and regeneration. Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol of righteousness because it is said to have 613 seeds, which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot, or commandments, of the Torah. Pomegranates are one of the “Three Blessed Fruits” of Buddhist tradition. The two-finger salute is seen in the satanic symbol of Baphomet. Two fingers point up, and two point down on the other hand, meaning "as above, so below". Her shirt is a reference to the old television series, “The X Files”, in which one of the characters desperately wants to believe in the supernatural but keeps finding scientific explanations for the extraordinary.

She has a lot of esoteric tattoos including Baphomet’s goat head, a hexagram, which in occultism and ceremonial magic is used for conjuring spirits, and a lotus for spiritual awakening. She also has a hexafoil tattoo, they can have a variety of meanings but I thought it was interesting to put on Baphomess because in the 16th century people would burn these symbols onto their doors to confuse evil spirits and protect themselves from witches.