9.2.09
5.2.09
2.1.09
A large multi-disciplinary installation, created specifically for Galerie Pangee (Montreal)…(TRANS) FORMATIONS is a unique and designed invitation into the world of spiritual exploration… a deep and tonifying journey through the enigmatic narrative that is the ‘transmigration of the soul’.
These works are not meant as a theoretical/metaphysical treatise on the theories of ‘reincarnation’; they are a lens, shaped and polished, through which I could view the world and my attempts to make sense of the hubris of the day to day, and in so doing, rise above entanglements authored by the double-bind of life and death.
This ‘wide angle’ vision of life aids in transcending our ingrained social identities, thus allowing a pivotal testing of deeply entrenched social realities as well a fresh examination of our collective inherited ‘spiritual’ (or lack thereof) realities.
The ‘disparate’ elements and materials of this show are in constant dance with each other; a play of repeated visual ‘cross-references’. A call-answer dialogue. This ‘game’, in both its creation and interpretation, nurtures the recalling and development of one’s personal narrative/myth through a weave of historically established (archetypal) symbols, and images bubbling up from a visual logic and design of my own interiors, allowing for a compelling study of puzzle-like layers of reality.
“(TRANS) FORMATIONS” opens the door to my own expanded line of questions pertaining to the exploration of oneself as a ‘spiritual’ being. It is my hope that this work will inspire many more such inquiries, which in turn will invite and renew a greater sense of responsibility towards life in the broadest sense.
nouvelles au cube | rubik's news
RATSDEVILLE...
if you don't know it already, and live in Montreal, I'd suggest you make great haste to this amazing site/service created by Eric Bolduc! Promoted as "the visual arts' diversity webzine", this is the spot to keep connected to the arts scene in town.
Recently, Eric and I sat down to conduct an interview of sorts...the first (and hopefully not last) podcast released through the site. Relatively short and sweet...won't give too many details...tune in and check it out!
http://ratsdeville.typepad.com/ratsdeville/2008/12/jason-botkin-transformations-podcast.html
31.12.08
crow on the fence
Will the transformation. Oh let your spirit be enchanted by the
flame,
Which draws to itself that thing within you, where transformations
abound;
That designing spirit which masters these earthly things,
Loves nothing more within the figure’s trope than the point of the
turn.
(Sonnets to Orpheus…Rainer Maria Rilke)
this pic offers a good sense of scale on this guy, who stretches to ten feet across,
and stands at four feet. The image is separated into four individually framed units,
and, thanks to the gods, was recently sold to a cool guy (who has guaranteed visitation rights), and thus rescuing the drawing from the dusty grave which my studio becomes for other less fortunate pieces!
Model supplied by...don't ask...you can't afford him.
6.12.08
"a naked seed"
There are lonely cemeteries,
Graves full of bones without sound,
The heart passing through a tunnel,
Dark, dark, dark,
As in a shipwreck we die from within
As we drown in the heart,
As we fall out of the skin into the soul.
Death Alone, Pablo Neruda
Finally! Some thumbnail pics from the show, hot off the desk of Vladimir Antaki, the mastermind behind Artistic Agitators! Check his work out at http://www.artistic-agitators.com
More to come soon, as like a kid on Christmas eve, I'm in eager anticipation of the high-res images from the man, allowing me to go full bore into catalog production! Promise to keep the details flowin' on this page...
