This particular piece has been literally years in the making. I think sometime in 2010, I purchase this huge canvas for $80 at a Pearl Paint outlet store in Long Island. It was going out of business, so when I saw the 40-50% off everything, I took advantage of it. I didn’t care how long it took us with blinkers on our car to drive home. I strapped that fucker onto the roof. When we removed it, we realized it had a small tear.
During that year, I went and got canvas linen, archival glue, and canvas stretching spray to fix the tear. You can’t even see it on the final piece now that’s completely painted and finished unless you look for it. Storage for this particular piece has been hell, let alone trying to find a shipper that will be responsible for it. I have gotten in fights with my husband and my own mother over where to put it.
This painting has seen me go through a lot. It moved in with me into my first new home. It has seen both my miscarriages. It has hosted numerous private parties both with friends and family. Seen me host classes in magick and art. I have made love and meditated under it. This painting knows all my secrets and of those who came to visit. I have prayed next to it and cried. Its witnessed my ugly and my beautiful side. It has even now traveled with me across the coast to Atlanta. It has seen me grow and blossom in my art career.
On Friday, I felt as though I said goodbye to an old friend. The shippers came, packed it, and carted it off without much pomp and circumstance. I signed it off and that was that. I felt drained. Besides this painting, I had just finished 7 more pieces during the last 3-4 months. I still feel like I’m nowhere near complete for a solo show.
No idea what possessed me to create such a huge piece. I think it was the challenge that was the most likely culprit. I couldn’t let the opportunity provided by this giant canvas pass me by. After spending forever agonizing about what to paint, I was inspired to depict a subject very near and dear to me, the embodiment of wisdom (Solomon) merging with mystery or knowledge (Makeda / Bilkis). One of my favorite occult movies is Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” which explains this idea very well.
If you’re one of those people that think it’s another chic flick, then you have missed the entire message of the movie, my friend. I won’t get into why it’s such a great occult classic (Aronofsky’s Pi is another good film that shouldn’t be missed). I’ll let this guy explain it here.