Room 1-2-3 (4-5)

  Room 1-2-3 (4-5)   Digital design concept

Drawing on influences European, American, and East Indian, and occupying the lower half of the Cornfield  ground directly opposite Chorale,  is  Room 1-2-3 (4-5) .     

A mural of five paintings in oil, Room is themed on the yogic philosophy of the Five Functions of God (Self, or Nature).  In addition to the more obvious three functions of nature - creation, sustenance, and dissolution - there is also the function of grace, wherein you perceive God, Self, or Spirit both within and without . . . and the function of concealment, in which such knowledge and direct experience of God is hidden or forgotten.  All that happens in the Universe - within the world, within one's culture, within the body and mind, within your relationships to living beings and the environment - exhibits these five functions.  In this understanding God does it all in the ultimate game of hide and seek, from the motions of the Universe to our most intimate thoughts and feelings. 

The same ideas are echoed in the companion piece, Burning Sheaves.

                                                                                                 Room 1-2-3 (4-5)     48"H x 23'0"W    Oil on linen and wooden panel   

                                  Jain Painter (creation),  Stroll to the Lake (grace),  Olympia (sustenance),  Death of the Corn Goddess? (concealment),  Shiva (destruction)

                                                                                                               Above:   Burning Sheaves     48"H x 66"W   Oil on canvas        

                                                   Apotheosis of the Corn Goddess                                                                                                                              Burning Sheaves     

                                                                                                                                                  Cornfield Storyboard    Plate 3 of 33

                                                                        (Center image:   Bhagavan Nityananda  of Ganeshpuri, India, as a young yogi      Photo credit:  unknown)

                                                                                           "Find that flame,  that love,  that wonderful Man,  who can burn beneath the water.

                                                                                                                 All artwork and design  © James Nichols 1976-2022