I love Mark’s work. I love it so much, and my husband loves it so much, that we bought one of his paintings. I’m pretty sure its the first time we have acquired an original painting that did not involve a trade of some sort. Initially, it seemed like the attraction was on a purely aesthetic level, until I started to put this post together and became aware of connections between the image and current events, both in the spiritual sense and the material sense.
The painting is called ”A Man Alone Thinking About Many Things Including: Sex, Religion, Spirituality, The Bad Shape Our Environment is in, Money Problems, Abstract Art, Solitude, Love, Eating Healthy, Etc., While Painting”
I love seeing the high level of focus and care that Mark put in this painting.
The image itself looks like a new manifestation of an ancient symbol of the all-seeing eye or Eye of Providence with roots in ancient Egypt, Buddhist scripture, and early Christian symbology. I am not sure if that is what Mark specifically intended, but it certainly jumps out at me.
To my modern eye, the big iris-like circle depicts the eye of universal awareness and the triangle represents the light of consciousness streaming out of it, or maybe in to it. Chicken or the egg.
With this interpretation of the symbol in mind, its interesting to consider that the Eye of Providence image appears on our dollar bill and the Great Seal of the United States, especially in light of the economic conditions we are facing today. Systemic unconsciousness seems to be one of the primary drivers of the crisis we are now facing. The Great Seal’s call to consciousness is right on the money.
To top off the irony, this symbol was added to our dollar bill in 1935, right in the middle of the Great Depression.
Now I have another prominent reminder in my living room, right here on the proverbial Main Street, which is great since I rarely carry cash and I work from home.
For now, my renewed awareness of all things financial is translating into eating at home, turning the heat down, and working on growing my own food. I hope this will preserve our capital so that we can continue to support the individuals and businesses we admire in thanks for their support of us. I’m also really enjoying it.
I do want to clarify that my appreciation of this painting is not limited to its relationship to our present financial circumstances, I think the symbol’s relevance can be universally applied to all the facets of our experience, as suggested by the title.
Mark has a website and a lovely video about his work called ‘Ollie the Mind Gap’ right here.
I’ll close with the poem Mark included on the back of the frame:
Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breath his native air
In his own ground
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire
Blest, who can uncern’dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind;
Quiet by day
Sound sleep by night, study and ease
Together mixed; sweet recreation;
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
-AP