Fire and Ice

Most of the works from the 2024 collection form the Altar of Archangel Radiel. It reflects the Norse saga of the demigod Vidar, who slays the giant wolf Fenrir with a sword in order to avenge his father, the Norse god Odin. There are many analogies in this saga to the slaying of the dragon by Archangel Michael as depicted by artists of the middle ages, Renaissance and beyond (see also my Altar of Archangel Michael. Indeed, one can find traces from the early centuries AD in England and beyond of a sculpted or painted knightly figure killing a wolf-like animal, possibly representing Vidar, possibly representing Archangel Michael, and possibly Christ... interpretations vary. Behind these poetic symbols, are ideas "striving [...] to attain existence in reality", in the words of von Humboldt; and behind these ideas stand what in Christian theology – since at least the time of Pseudo-Dionysius in the 6th century, if not much earlier – are called the Angelic Hierarchies, guiding world events.

We have sagas, symbols, ideas, Divine beings, and the unrolling of time as history, which – as the famous philosopher Hegel writes – is nothing other than the unfolding of the Spirit, of the ethical life, in time...

All these ingredients have come together in my Altar of the Norse Hero Vidar, which was made exclusively to various compositions by the Finnish postmodern classical composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. Specifically, the altar contains a number of Angels left and right of a central panel made to Rautavaata's Vigilia, above which is the image of the mythical Vidar with his sword below, made to Rautavaara's Rubaiyat and Canto V, “Into the Heart of Light”.

The Sound of Life
The sound of life is leaving for eternity,
the sound of many sounds,
but the only one that has the taste of silence.
Music of deep waters,
covered with pink dawns and green hues,
mixed with orange and blue,
carries the sound of silence...
Annael

Most of the works from the 2024 collection form the Altar of Archangel Radiel. It reflects the Norse saga of the demigod Vidar, who slays the giant wolf Fenrir with a sword in order to avenge his father, the Norse god Odin. There are many analogies in this saga to the slaying of the dragon by Archangel Michael as depicted by artists of the middle ages, Renaissance and beyond (see also my Altar of Archangel Michael. Indeed, one can find traces from the early centuries AD in England and beyond of a sculpted or painted knightly figure killing a wolf-like animal, possibly representing Vidar, possibly representing Archangel Michael, and possibly Christ... interpretations vary. Behind these poetic symbols, are ideas "striving [...] to attain existence in reality", in the words of von Humboldt; and behind these ideas stand what in Christian theology – since at least the time of Pseudo-Dionysius in the 6th century, if not much earlier ... read more