Statement
Fairy tales and myths from around the world have been part of my life and consciousness since childhood; as an adult I also explored archetypal / Jungian psychology. I've spent much of this lifetime exploring the layers of my dreams. All of this is present in my painting.
My work comes from my heart, my imagination, my dreams, my experience in life of color, line, light, composition. I'm interested in richness of color and texture, in the quality of light, of things luminous and shining. My work comes from a lifetime of seeing and paying attention. It was honed through growing up with an artist mother, and first seeing the world through her eyes, then her art books, her art, her artist friends, and living in New York City with its many museums.
An image from a dream I had when I was 16, has worked its way into my psyche, through my fingers, into my paintings. A silent dream: I am sitting cross-legged on a bay beach at dusk, in shadow, looking out over the water. The sun is right in front of me, enormous and red, slowly it is sinking to the horizon, touching the calm water and bouncing in slow motion back into the darkening sky, over and over again. Slowly sinking, touching, bouncing back up while very long and narrow blackened clouds move back and forth horizontally across the face of the sun. Slowly the sun moves up and down, slowly clouds move across the sun. A dance of dusk. A dance of death and reincarnation. A dance of rebirth.
50 years later I had another dream. Only the spoken sentence, "I am Rahabib." Rahabib? I google it. Nothing. I separate the word into Ra and Habib. Ra, the Egyptian Sun God. Habib is Beloved in both Arabic and Hebrew. Ra Habib. Ra the Beloved. Beloved Ra who every night travels through the underworld and is reborn. Another dance of death and rebirth.
I have no plan when I start painting. I put down a line or sweep of texture. Much like seeing creatures in clouds, an image will show itself to me and I go from there. But the natural world -- landscape, skyscape, seascape -- speaks to me. Metallics, shiny surfaces attract me. I explore light, texture, layers; creating richness and mystery under the surface. I make my own acrylic paints using pastels and powdered earth pigments, true indigo and cochineal, grinding and mixing them with acrylic mediums. I embed my history in my paintings, using scraps of my own unfinished paintings on paper. I have containers full of these bits of paintings, mostly done on handmade papers. These scraps of myself accompany me as I journey. Here in Oaxaca, Mexico, scraps of my handmade paper pieces from the '70s make their way into my current work.
My work comes from my heart, my imagination, my dreams, my experience in life of color, line, light, composition. I'm interested in richness of color and texture, in the quality of light, of things luminous and shining. My work comes from a lifetime of seeing and paying attention. It was honed through growing up with an artist mother, and first seeing the world through her eyes, then her art books, her art, her artist friends, and living in New York City with its many museums.
An image from a dream I had when I was 16, has worked its way into my psyche, through my fingers, into my paintings. A silent dream: I am sitting cross-legged on a bay beach at dusk, in shadow, looking out over the water. The sun is right in front of me, enormous and red, slowly it is sinking to the horizon, touching the calm water and bouncing in slow motion back into the darkening sky, over and over again. Slowly sinking, touching, bouncing back up while very long and narrow blackened clouds move back and forth horizontally across the face of the sun. Slowly the sun moves up and down, slowly clouds move across the sun. A dance of dusk. A dance of death and reincarnation. A dance of rebirth.
50 years later I had another dream. Only the spoken sentence, "I am Rahabib." Rahabib? I google it. Nothing. I separate the word into Ra and Habib. Ra, the Egyptian Sun God. Habib is Beloved in both Arabic and Hebrew. Ra Habib. Ra the Beloved. Beloved Ra who every night travels through the underworld and is reborn. Another dance of death and rebirth.
I have no plan when I start painting. I put down a line or sweep of texture. Much like seeing creatures in clouds, an image will show itself to me and I go from there. But the natural world -- landscape, skyscape, seascape -- speaks to me. Metallics, shiny surfaces attract me. I explore light, texture, layers; creating richness and mystery under the surface. I make my own acrylic paints using pastels and powdered earth pigments, true indigo and cochineal, grinding and mixing them with acrylic mediums. I embed my history in my paintings, using scraps of my own unfinished paintings on paper. I have containers full of these bits of paintings, mostly done on handmade papers. These scraps of myself accompany me as I journey. Here in Oaxaca, Mexico, scraps of my handmade paper pieces from the '70s make their way into my current work.
The ancient roots of the word 'art' have to do with connection, and art, at its best, is our connection to the mystery, to the parts of ourselves that are deeper and truer than the day-to-day world. Art connects us to our dreams, to the things that can't be explained with words, to the things that have touched our core, to our imaginary worlds, and even to our own personal chaos. Art has something to do with the part that doesn't want to be tamed, that can't be tamed. ~ Roderick MacIver
Los cuentos de hadas y los mitos de todo el mundo han sido parte de mi vida y conciencia desde la infancia; Como un adulto también exploré la psicología arquetípica / junguiana. He pasado gran parte de esta vida explorando las capas de mis sueños. Todo esto está presente en mi pintura.
Mi trabajo proviene de mi corazón, mi imaginación, mis sueños, mi experiencia en mi vida de color, línea, luz, composición. Me interesa la riqueza de color y textura, en la calidad de la luz, de las cosas luminosas y brillantes. Mi trabajo viene de una vida de ver y prestar atención. Fue perfeccionado a través de crecer con una madre artista, y ver por primera vez el mundo a través de sus ojos, sus libros de arte, su arte, sus amigos artistas, y vivir en la ciudad de Nueva York con sus numerosos museos.
Una imagen de un sueño que tuve cuando tenía 16 años, ha entrado en mi psique, a través de mis dedos, en mis pinturas. Un sueño silencioso: Estoy sentada con las piernas cruzadas en una playa de la bahía al anochecer, en la sombra, mirando por encima del agua. El sol está justo delante de mí, enorme y rojo, lentamente se está hundiendo en el horizonte, tocando el agua tranquila y rebotando en cámara lenta en el oscuro cielo, una y otra vez. Lentamente hundiéndose, tocando, rebotando de nuevo mientras las nubes ennegrecidas muy largas y estrechas se mueven hacia adelante y hacia atrás horizontalmente a través de la cara del sol. Lentamente el sol se mueve hacia arriba y hacia abajo, lentamente las nubes se mueven a través del sol. Una danza del anochecer. Una danza de muerte y reencarnación. Una danza de renacimiento.
50 años después tuve otro sueño. Sólo la frase hablada, "Yo soy Rahabib". Rahabib? Yo lo googleé. Nada. Separo la palabra en Ra y Habib. Ra, el Dios del Sol egipcio. Habib es Amado tanto en árabe como en hebreo. Ra Habib. Ra el Amado. Amado Ra que cada noche viaja a través del inframundo y renace. Otra danza de la muerte y del renacimiento.
No tengo ningún plan cuando empiezo a pintar. Puse una línea o áreas de textura. Al igual que ver a las criaturas en las nubes, una imagen se mostrará a mí y empiezo desde allí. El mundo natural - paisaje, cielo, paisaje marino - me habla. Las superficies metálicas, brillantes me atraen. Exploro la luz, la textura, las capas; Creando riqueza y misterio bajo la superficie. Hago mis propias pinturas acrílicas usando pasteles y pigmentos de tierra en polvo, índigo y cochinilla, triturándolos y mezclándolos con medios acrílicos. Puse mi historia en mis pinturas, usando restos de mis propias pinturas incompletas en papel. Tengo contenedores llenos de estas piezas de pinturas, la mayoría hechas en papeles hechos a mano. Estos trozos de mí misma me acompañan mientras camino. Aquí en Oaxaca, México, trozos de mis piezas hechas a mano de papel de los años 70 hacen su camino en mi trabajo actual.
Las raíces antiguas de la palabra «arte» tienen que ver con la conexión, y el arte, en el mejor de los casos, es nuestra conexión con el misterio, con las partes de nosotros mismos que son más profundas y más verdaderas que el mundo cotidiano. El arte nos conecta a nuestros sueños, a las cosas que no se pueden explicar con palabras, a las cosas que han tocado nuestro núcleo, a nuestros mundos imaginarios, e incluso a nuestro propio caos personal. El arte tiene algo que ver con la parte que no quiere ser domada, que no puede ser domada. ~ Roderick MacIver
