Circle & Square

Apollo Enamel on linen 48" x 48"	Cyclopes Enamel on linen 48" x 48"	Zeitgeist Enamel on linen 48" x 48"	Cyclic Palindrome Enamel on linen 48" x 48"
Cosmic Mandala Enamel on canvas 36" x 36"	Chaos Theory Enamel on canvas 48" x 60"	Polyphonic Vertigo Enamel on linen 48" x 48"	Binary Fission: Yin and Yang Enamel on canvas 36" x 36"
The Final Eulogy Enamel on linen 36" x 48"	Metabolism of a Circle Enamel on canvas 36" x 36"	Nautilus Enamel on canvas 36" x 36"	Violet Equinox Enamel on canvas 36" x 36"

The symbolism of the circle
The circle is a symbol of the self. It expresses the totality of the psyche in all its aspects, including the relationship between man and the whole of nature. It points to the single most vital aspect of life—its ultimate wholeness.

The symbolism of the square
The square is a symbol of earthbound matter, of the body and reality.

The transition from the circle to the square
The connection between these two primary forms expresses the union of opposites – the union of the personal, temporal world of the ego with the non-personal, timeless world of the non-ego. Ultimately, this union is the fulfillment and goal of all religions: It is the union of the soul with God.

-The Symbolism of Shapes, Hartwig, 1988

The “Circle and Square” series was inspired by an early fascination in symmetry, as well as related mathematical concepts.  Whereas in many abstract works, there exists a certain hierarchical arrangement of elements - a visual ordering of sorts - the works in this series can be compared to a network of irreducible phenomena.  As soon as one element becomes identifiable, it becomes part of another.   In most painting, line functions as either a conceptual division between space or as an area in and of itself.  Similarly, in these works, each point becomes interchangeable with circle, or sphere.

This uniqueness in proportion can be compared to what is called “self-sameness" in mathematics, and represented through a logarithmic spiral.  The logarithmic spiral abounds in many forms throughout nature and is also a symbol of the natural process of growth.  

As the physicist Mario Livio writes, “There exists a special curve known as the logarithmic spiral that has the unique property of maintaining its shape while increasing in size. Fascinated by this property, the seventeenth-century mathematician, Jacques Bernoulli wrote that the logarithmic spiral "may be used as a symbol, either of fortitude and constancy in adversity, or of the human body, which after all its changes, even after death, will be restored to its exact and perfect self."   From sunflowers, seashells, and whirlpools, to hurricanes and giant galaxies, it seems that nature chose this marvelous shape as its favorite "ornament."

Analogously, while the philosopher Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804) viewed life as an eternal progression toward perfection as pictured in a straight line, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) interpreted life as "a circle that came back to it, as part of an 'eternal recurrence.'"  The doctrine of eternal recurrence states that every event in the universe will occur again in exact detail infinitely many times, just as it has occurred in exact detail infinitely many times.   

While the works in this series are not intended as conceptual illustrations of these ideas, the analogies are the same, and can be interpreted through the cyclic form that appears within each work, giving the sense that each picture is part of an "infinite whole."

In the end, I believe that it is impossible to give the works in this series any coherent significance, yet the very consistency with which each picture is carried out provides that coherence.  I want to create a space – a realm – in which center and circumference cannot be differentiated.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.

-William Blake (1757-1827)