LABYRINTH, THE SECOND

Acrylic on canvas, 1 x 1 FT.

Several years ago I painted a piece that really had a wonderful resonance with me called “Labyrinth”. I had been revisiting some Greek mythology and the Minotaur for some reason and wondered, “What is the difference between a labyrinth and maze?” With that question, I never thought I’d end up down a rabbit hole! But there’s where I went… the only difference between a labyrinth and maze it that a maze has false directions and traps. A labyrinth, on the other hand, is winding path with a clear direction to its center and back. I thought about Theseus and his borrowed, golden thread. I thought about different church courtyards though the centuries that had the labyrinths as a point of meditative space, often reflecting the walk of the Passion of Christ. I thought of what a labyrinth might look like on a 2D plain. How might a painting give the viewer a path to ponder? There’s the golden walkway folding in on itself, the cardinal and ordinal directions denoted in the corners and on the sides. There’s the the different colors opposite themselves in a yin-yang of balance with warm juxtaposing cool tones, the numbers of the stripes to ponder… this is a smaller version of what I came up with back then but also a new beginning of really exploring this concept. I mean, it’s fun, right?