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PANDÆMONIUM

mixed media on canvas 100/100 cm – (2014-2018) – collaboration with Johanne

Where Nonsense Makes Sense, Therein Lies Poetry*

This is technically the second collaborative work we did me & artist friend Johanne Joe. We started it together in 2014 and worked on it for a couple of months. Then i inherited it, with the mission to finish it (which took me years, as you can see). Obviously, a screen online is not the best place to observe it. Because more than ever it is loaded with details. The only way to really dive in it would be to see it in person or to get it in a large art print. But i really hope you’ll still be able to enjoy it, because it is obviously a very important work on my journey, not only for the amount of work and dedication, but for what it can represent. Once again, when we collaborate with somebody else with a total sincerity, it can only bring out the best out of each other.

I really had a hard time to find its meaning and to accept it. And i just did, today, before putting it online. Once again, thanks to its title, which kinda wrapped things up with its implied background story. I am not into Heaven vs Hell, Good vs Bad or any caricatural vision of the existence. But i had to recognize there were many “evil-like” characters in this painting (bottom right) and many tortured entities or monsters. So where some of the colors. Once i’d accepted this, the whole story started to appear more clear. And its identity became obvious so was its title ” PANDÆMONIUM ” … Once again i encourage you to look for more about it by yourself.

To me it is not necessarily a “bad” place, but simply where Souls can fall away from their aspirations. So they are kinda lost and scared (which instantly makes them a little scary). There are bigger deities / heads / totems you can observe, maybe they’re in charge of different kinds of people down there. They look stronger and with authority but still, it’s hard to read their mind. Most of the painting is filled with smaller faces and monsters each sharing their story and wanting to be heard or saved. This is a very crowed place and it seems there is no real way out. So it adds like a choking effect to this chaos, which might be what hell should be (and it kinda feels of what we’re at on this poor planet Earth as well). It became sure this artwork had to be named Pandæmonium, when i noticed at the top left this red volcano. I realized it was the entrance of the underworld, a direct entry to this lava world from the depth of our world / self. This is why amazingly, without premeditating it, you can notice under this volcano, like a big dog’s head. Which could be seen as an incarnation of Cerberus, guarding the gates of the underworld.

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