AS ABOVE, SO BELOW  is a collaborative exhibition presenting selected works from SHARON LIGORNER, KARL LORENZEN, LUISA SARTORI and KENNETH W. WALKER.  This exhibition will run from January 26 - February 23, 2013.  Through their artwork, each featured artist explores the mathematical and geometric constants that are woven into the very fabric of all life along with the spiritual recognition that this intrinsic order provides an interface between the visible and the invisible world.

All life form is inextricably interwoven with geometric forms, designs and structures, from subatomic particles to the greater cosmos.  Revealed in the shape of our DNA, snowflakes, pine cones, snail shells, our solar system, galaxies beyond and intangibles as musical harmony, every natural pattern conforms to one or more of the three dimensional geometric shapes known as the 5 Platonic solids, which are said to act as a template from which all life springs.

 

The spiritual study of geometry, or Sacred Geometry, considers the geometric archetypes as absolutely perfect and unchanging, acknowledging the holistic perspective of interconnectedness, inseparability and the intricate beauty of all existence.  The ancients believed that the experience of Sacred Geometry was essential to the education of the soul and that these patterns were symbolic of our own inner realm and the subtle structure of awareness.  As Plato stated: “It is through geometry that one purifies the eye of the soul."

Strongly influenced by nature's forms, patterns, and geometry, SHARON LIGORNER allows the process of change; building up, burying, and scraping away, to inform her paintings.  Using feeling rather than thinking, the resultant pieces often expose their visual history; as in nature, all is in the state of birth, life, and decay, each with its own beauty.  In her work, she arrives at completion when all three stages have been met.  An example of her intuitive process at work can be found in her torus design painting, aptly titled Inner Space.  The torus design is known as the “perfect” shape in physics and has been suggested by some scientists as the shape of the entire universe.  In metaphysical terms, it is an illustration of “subtle energies”, as in the human aura.  Since ancient time, the human aura has been described as nested spherical toroidial formations with the energy flowing through the body and looping around to connecting at the feet and the head. 

Utilizing the Flower of Life motif, an intricate grid pattern created by fractalisation, ratcheting and concentricity, KARL LORENZEN’s body of work illustrates the traditional craft of creating the vocabulary and alphabet of Sacred Geometry.  Deeply moved by the numerical order of existence and seeking to embody it through decorative hybrids of nature and geometry, Karl utilizes the bow compass, straight edge, and graphite pencil to form the matrix on which the painting is realized.  The images are then painted in watercolor, primarily using a wet-on-wet technique. His influences include Islamic tiling patterns, Hindu yentas, and medieval illuminated manuscripts.  

LUISA SARTORI's collection of drawings and paintings reflect the artist’s enduring fascination with geometry by investigating the construction process of decorative patterns: how circles and triangles, assembled by combinatory rules, generate invisible frames that open the way for more complex patterns and forms to emerge.  Utilizing the cognitive use of geometry, that is geometry as “earth measuring” to give form and therefore sense to the world, and the esthetic use of geometry, as “form generating” in the focus of the ornamental, Luisa aims to reveal the deep and universal process of figuration, in the sense of both “figuring-out” and “out-figuring” reality.  

Rooted in personal history, KENNETH W. WALKER's work revolves around the nature of monumentality and the prospect of a consolidated identity. Acknowledging a history of geometric abstraction that ranges from the spiritual to the literal, his paintings are based on minimalist forms to create visually oscillating structures that refer to domestic interiors and commemorative architecture.  An interest in light and its ability to generate feelings of nostalgia and celebration is reflected in the elaboration of the paintings’ material foundation.  Surface divisions are determined by this underpinning, while textured spray paint is used to model light in terms of photography.  Rather than clarify spatial relationships, the painted light-leaks and faded gradients have a prismatic effect.

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Presented at New York Open Center | 22 East 30th St. NY, NY 10016

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