Of Course there's the Isenheim Altarpiece also

Most Amazing

For me, the most amazing of the Bosch images is the picture of ... creation?, the universe?, the world before man? ... that appears on the outside of the panel doors.

One Panel of the Bosch Garden of Earthly Delights

Bosch

Of course the penultimate altrapiece has got to be the Garden of Earthly Delights.

Source ideas

Juan SANCHEZ COTÁN San Diego Museum, California c. 1600


All kinds of images suggest ways of making ordinary things sacred, such as the hanging vegetables of this Spanish 17th century still life.

Symbolism

The spider is a potent symbol for it makes its universe -- or atleast one might say that everything that happens of importance to the spider takes place on the web. The rest of the world might as well not exist. Hence the spider is a potent symbol for the self. Of course the spider is taken to a larger frame than that: the notion of the spider as a weaver and of sensation as a kind of tapestry makes the spider a symbol for the creation of experience.

more columns

Some of the columns I made in the past have, in their abstractness, characteristics in common with representational images such as this detai from the Garden Fresco of the Villa of Livia.

Playing with ideas

When nothing has been settled, anything is possible. The beginning of a new project is a time for fiddling around with ideas, for adding images that you'll probably not use. This image is probably not one that will go into the altarpiece, yet something about it intrigues me, and so I want to have it around to look at.

Vertical Columns

The vertical columns were alternative designs for an early commission proposal. The altarpiece is more horizontal than vertical so at first they might not seem relevant. However, the central portion of the altarpiece will have a strong vertical pull precisely to offset the horizontal character of the completely opened frame.

Using earlier ideas

One of the things that is going to be wonderful about this project is finding uses for images I designed in the past for projects that, for one reason or another, didn't materialize. I've found that when you revisit materials of this sort, they develop into stronger forms since they profit from all the work you've done between their inception and their reuse.

the nature of blogs

Anyone visiting this blog, which of all the interconnected blogs I've produced, is really an unfolding set of ideas. The narrative it describes starts with these first posts and will become clearer as the project unfolds. However, in writing about it, since the blog is chronological -- all the early information will be located at the bottom. Blogs stack up from their origins so the first thoughts and the beginning of the story, as it were, settles to the bottom. Thus to get the whole story, one will have to begin with the first post and work backwards.

first idea for the outer panel

The outer panel as represented here is thrown together using imagery from other paintings and drawings I've made. We have begun by trying to sort out the shape of the altarpiece overall. So these images are just a point of departure that will lead eventually into the design of a whole program of integrated images coming from a variety of sources. The "cosmic fish" is an idea, however, that I suspect will stay. Something about this image I find quite compelling.

First idea for the inner panel

The idea is to create a modern version of the altarpiece form having a program of imagery that reflects ideas of the modern era. The symbolic images will have to develop over time as the design evolves. But this is a first snapshot look at the idea. As presented this would be the inner panel that one sees upon opening the altrapiece, which we envision to stand about 30 inches tall and stretch about 60 inches in width. But even the measurements are just estimations. The first one may be designed much smaller to make it easily placed on a table in one section of a large room. The design for the woodwork is still unresolved.