Painting 14: Untitled (There are Eyes Above)

Oil on canvas, 190x150cm, 2009

This painting was inspired by four lines from the song 'There Are Eyes Above' by Josephine Foster:

There are eyes above
There are feet below
I am in between
Somebody console me 

It was quite remarkable how each time I listened to the song, I heard or felt something slightly different which gave me what I needed to progress with the painting.  It was like the music had a life in the way that it spoke to me at various times.  I really feel that paintings can have the same effect in that they constantly offer the viewer a window to something new.

The composition was also drawn from the song, in that I have left the middle of the canvas empty for the viewer to position themselves within the painting.  This is an expression of how I felt while listening to the song: the 'eyes above' felt like a higher awareness and the 'feet below' drew me back to myself.  It really felt like I was seeking to occupy the space in between where there is potential for anything!

This links to the theory of the aesthetic experience where the viewer becomes aware of the limitations of their self-consciousness at the same time as desiring to comprehend the immensity of what they are being presented with.  In the end there's only so much we can know before we submit to just being in the moment.