«In the Embrace of the Bacchante»
2023
“The true, therefore, is bacchanalian revel, in which no one is sober; and because each, in his isolation, is immediately dissolved in it, he is just as much pure and simple repose.”
Hegel, G. W. F. Phenomenology of Spirit
In ancient Greek mythology, Bacchantes were passionate, frenzied women—participants in bacchanalia. They were also called Maenads, priestesses of Dionysus, or Bacchus. The Dionysian mysteries represented one of the ways of knowing the world—ecstatic: through unrestrained revelry and wild dances in the mountains. The embrace of the shameless wild woman from the ancient mystery promised a direct experience of mystical ecstasy bordering on madness.
The frenzied dance plunged one into the unconscious “Dionysian” element, induced ecstasy, and carried one beyond the limits of the self.
In the works of the new series, the Bacchic mystery is embodied in images of sensuous bodies fused together, defying identification—just as individuation is impossible in mad fusion. Their peculiar merging is activated by a pure, formless, and restless principle slumbering deep within the human soul.
This is the direct, immediate emergence of the unconscious—the part concealed and suppressed under the pressure of civilization and culture. Sexuality appears here as untamed Eros, as a desire to consume the Other. The Bacchante calls to dance, and in her mad embrace, in a surge of passion, seeks to destroy—thereby bestowing freedom.
The body of the Bacchante is rendered as a flowing substance, a stream of water. It reveals to the viewer a pliant yet powerful movement toward pleasure. This body-river also serves as a metaphor for the flow of thoughts and imagination—without beginning, endlessly merging into one another, forming fanciful shapes. It is also a metaphor for the course of human life—a river whose channel bears its own unique pattern. The watery element rushes toward the ocean, ultimately to dissolve within it.
In some works, pearl-like circular forms constitute the compositional dominant. Their abstract nature stands in sharp contrast to the overall stylistic register of the image; as if fallen out of the scene unfolding on the canvas, they manifest the unbearable excess of the Bacchic dance. The pearls symbolize the attainment of ecstasy—a preciousness that carries knowledge: acquired, yet inaccessible.
Ornamental patterns resembling tongues of flame veil the surfaces of the paintings, indicating the passionate nature of the dance—the fire that either consumes or resurrects to life.
The frenzied dance plunged one into the unconscious “Dionysian” element, induced ecstasy, and carried one beyond the limits of the self.
In the works of the new series, the Bacchic mystery is embodied in images of sensuous bodies fused together, defying identification—just as individuation is impossible in mad fusion. Their peculiar merging is activated by a pure, formless, and restless principle slumbering deep within the human soul.
This is the direct, immediate emergence of the unconscious—the part concealed and suppressed under the pressure of civilization and culture. Sexuality appears here as untamed Eros, as a desire to consume the Other. The Bacchante calls to dance, and in her mad embrace, in a surge of passion, seeks to destroy—thereby bestowing freedom.
The body of the Bacchante is rendered as a flowing substance, a stream of water. It reveals to the viewer a pliant yet powerful movement toward pleasure. This body-river also serves as a metaphor for the flow of thoughts and imagination—without beginning, endlessly merging into one another, forming fanciful shapes. It is also a metaphor for the course of human life—a river whose channel bears its own unique pattern. The watery element rushes toward the ocean, ultimately to dissolve within it.
In some works, pearl-like circular forms constitute the compositional dominant. Their abstract nature stands in sharp contrast to the overall stylistic register of the image; as if fallen out of the scene unfolding on the canvas, they manifest the unbearable excess of the Bacchic dance. The pearls symbolize the attainment of ecstasy—a preciousness that carries knowledge: acquired, yet inaccessible.
Ornamental patterns resembling tongues of flame veil the surfaces of the paintings, indicating the passionate nature of the dance—the fire that either consumes or resurrects to life.