About the Painting 

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This painting started as an exploration with flow and slowly found itself presenting symbols and a theme. Throughout antiquity, society has always been dominated by brutish violence to usher control and change. This piece depicts the “Helm of Awe” Viking ruin which was worn by warriors going into battle to instill great fear into their foes and ensure victory and protection from their gods.

 

The “Eye of Ra” Egyptian symbol is also depicted. It is a feminine counterpart to the Sun god Ra. She has the power to give birth to the sun and protect all who wears her symbol while at the same time a fury to wipe humanity from the Earth – drinking its blood to gain more power. Both symbols have an element of protection of life but also have negative aspects.

 

In alchemy the ouroboros is a metaphor for the internal process of a person completely devouring who they are (mentally and spiritually) in order to rebirth themselves into a better version. Compositionally the tail is connected to the overzealous symbols melting away. The snake head eating its tail is a metaphor for how we, as a society, no longer thrive in violence and rage. While duality is ever present, we need to evolve our behavior and perception to a higher level of consciousness where shear force is not the answer to conflict and opposition.