Ethereal Presence

"Ethereal Presence" is from a series of 10 large scale oil paintings which is loosely based Herman Hesse's short story titled "Field Devils" which supposes that Lucifer, needing help with his infinite ambitions to create chaos and division in our world, enlists Field Devils to carry out his agenda. 

This story and the paintings follow the travels of one such Field Devil, a reluctant participant in these plans as it turns out, set in the early biblical era just as Christianity was taking a foothold. Spiritual aspiration, solitude, and loss are all touched on in the story and this painting imagines the presence of the Field Devil on his lifelong path of solitude and reverence.

The paintings are robust, energetic and full of suggestion yet do not literally illustrate the story. There is no strict representation of the these states of being in the work, instead they are new images drawn from those few short pages filled with the quest for spiritual reconciliation and personal betterment. These images reside in a dream state, directing our attention to a fleeting moment or a hint of something that can’t be seen and feels just out of reach, leaving as much room as possible for the viewer’s imagination to be uplifted and inspired.