The wheel of life spins round for man,
You must adapt the best you can.
⸺ Author Unknown ⸺
Print series, 2021
Études Circulaires
A circular journey
In this print series I explore spiritual, philosophical, and Zen-related questions, using the circle as a central symbol. The journey begins with Con-Zen-Trate — much like many meditative practices — and follows 21 steps, culminating in Nucleus, where the circle is completed — and the journey can begin again.
Confined to the studio during the first COVID lockdown, I turned to digital techniques — vector drawings and Photoshop collage, incorporating painted fragments from earlier ink drawings. A circumstance I would never have chosen, yet without it, this series would not exist.
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Con-Zen-Trate
The Zane Eye
Center Yourself
Pause
Meditation (on Circles) ⸺ This series began as a meditative and intuitive process — open to wherever this circular journey would lead. Like many meditation practices, it started with concentration and centering, akin to Zazen or Anapanasati. These practices emphasize the pause between breaths — a silent moment where, in stillness, a wider space of understanding may open.
Magnetic Fields
Magnetic Fields ⸺ In this piece, Thoth explores the concept of duThis piece explores duality as a unified entity — where a positive pole inevitably creates a negative one. Both are interdependent, each needing the other for its existence and completion.
Inner Landscape
Inner Landscape ⸺ Here I represent the horizon line of our inner world, separating consciousness from the unconscious — a realm where the known and unknown aspects of our personality appear and disappear.
Openings
Openings ⸺ As this journey progresses, it raises questions about truth and reality. Are these universal truths, or merely interpretations of my own worldview? Sometimes it feels like glimpsing through openings in the blurred, illusory image we call reality — a notion reminiscent of the Hindu-Buddhist concept of Maya.
Liquid Silence
Liquid Silence ⸺ I interpret silence as liquid — peaceful, calm, and precious. In this serene state, one can feel the flow of time, energy, and existence, much like the Tao in Eastern philosophy.
Sometimes It Snows In April
Weigh In
Weigh On ⸺ The wheel of life continues to turn — whether one feels they fit in or not, everyone is part of a greater entity, and must adapt as best they can.
Trace Through Time
Trace Through Time ⸺ Time is perceived as linear — but perhaps it is more fluid, with everything occurring simultaneously in a single, everlasting moment. Now.
Re-Flection
Re-Flections (on Circles) ⸺ Drawing from Edgar Allan Poe’s words — “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream” — I reflect on the idea of chasing illusions. Sometimes, breaking free from circular thought patterns is the only way to gain a new perspective.
Chasing Rainbows
Suddenly I changed My Mind
Vanish Into Thin Air
Vanish Into Thin Air ⸺ This piece explores the transient and impermanent nature of existence — reminding us that everything, eventually, will vanish into thin air.
Overlapping Realities
Overlapping Realities ⸺ Is reality random and chaotic, or organized and purposeful? Subjective, shaped by the observer’s perspective — or does it depend on the level of understanding?
The Sun's Origin (Nippon)
Running Round In Circles
Cosmic Views (on Circles) ⸺ I draw a parallel between cosmic and cellular structures, pondering the Hermetic principle: “As above, so below.” Existence as a series of interconnected circles, orbiting and spinning like a cosmic web — each part linked to the whole.
I Am Nobody – Are You Nobody Too?
The Flower Is In The Seed
Nucleus ⸺ The final piece — and the destination of all journeys. The ever-turning wheel of life, revolving around a central point. In this sense, the series concludes where it began, only to start anew.
Nucleus
The circle is the synthesis of the greatest opposites.
It combines the concentric and the eccentric in a single form, and in balance.
⸺ Wassily Kandinsky ⸺
> Read more about the circle and its symbolism