Creatrix and Sphinx Series

The Creatrix and Sphinx paintings are part of an ongoing series devoted to mythic ideas about femininity. Ideas of the Goddess as the creative force in nature seem to be as alive today as they were in the paleolithic period. Although theological ideas have grown steadily more abstract over the centuries, we continually find meaningful uses for the ancient and primitive deities in all the arts. I have experimented with the Creatrix as a symbol of life and vitality which I can pit against the darkness and despair which saturates much of my art. In the Creatrix series I have combined the lush colors and delicate forms of vegetation with the warm, pleasing curves of human femininity in order to examine the mythic conception of the fertility goddess.

The Sphinx paintings do not concern symbols of fertility of the natural world, instead they focus entirely on the social and psychological aspects of the female as a divinity. When thinking of the Sphinx and her famous riddle to Oedipus, one inevitably recalls Freud. And these art works are undeniably Freudian (at least in the most general use of the term). Although they do not specifically follow any of Freud's concepts or conclusions, they most certainly tread the same territory and hopefully will lead the viewer in new directions. There is no single answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. It is, after all, the enigma of the Sphinx from which she derives her power over men. The same could be said for much of the world's great art.