Maria Kozak Polish, b. 1981
A narrow escape, 2025
Oil on linen
166,5 x 130 cm
For me this painting is about going through a dark night of the soul and coming out into the light. For me it almost reads right to left going from...
For me this painting is about going through a dark night of the soul and coming out into the light. For me it almost reads right to left going from order to chaos, control to freedom, darkness to light. As I was painting I was thinking about thin veils, cracks where the light get’s in, passing through. For names I was thinking of ‘the narrows’ and thin places which show up across various religions. In Celtic mythology ‘the thin place’ is the border between the real and metaphysical. The phrase ‘straight and narrow’ showed up and walking the narrow path. I think interesting that in both Christianity and Budism this refers to a disciplined and abstinant path to enlightenment. I think the characters in this painting are instead escaping these rigerous bonds. In contrast the Juddaic view of ‘the narrow place’ (Mitzrayim) is a time of great spiritual growth and in Passover the movement from the narrow place, a sense of constriction, of limitation, to a feeling of spaciousness and possibility.
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