Cycles of Visionary Recitals

As with most of my work, and there are exceptions, I recognize the influence or the story behind the work after it is completed. It usually comes as a revelation to me. This painting was inspired by mystical "recitals", the path of spiritual progress, written about by the Persian philosopher and physician Avicenna (11thC). Subject matter of the painting is the path to illumination. The composition of forms and shapes ascends and descends, its verticality indicating the divine path. Color is used symbolically, brushwork moves the eye in and out of the painting. The sensitive viewer should feel this movement, and the inner and outer "worlds". The acrylic paint allows for fast drying, which in turn, gives more freedom to layer the paint creating different intensities of light and dark as well as playing with overlapping space. The style is wh