This series of works is an exploration of subtle energies, and how we are affected by them. Everything is energy, and everything has a vibration at its most basic level. We all have good vibes, bad vibes, feelings of déjà vu. I have always sought to articulate the invisible world and its underpinnings through my work. My process and thinking have been guided by an ongoing study of metaphysics, astrology, numerology, systems of divination, energy, sound and light healing, meditation and visualization. Numerological meanings are encoded into the dimensions and composition of the work.
Colors and materials are chosen for their resonance and their associations with healing modalities and spiritual technologies. Color is a vibration, metals and crystals and stones carry specific frequencies as well. I bring all of these elements together as an offering of postmodern alchemy and magic in the context of contemporary art. Who knows if there is evidence to back up the claims of new age spirituality—as with any spiritual practice, a leap of faith is required, and the evidence is in the experience.
With this exhibition of experiential sculptures, installations and paintings, I’m making work that actively generates energy or mitigates energy on a subtle level through use of specific materials, all of which are earth based: metals, pigment and crystals, and all of which are chosen for metaphysical associations, and their effects on the subtle bodies. This work is an experiment to create a vibrational shift in the viewer. The only way to test it is to expose as many people as possible to these intentional spaces. I would like to ask the viewer to participate as well, by requesting that they record their experience in one word.
Phase 1: Faraday Cave
A Faraday cage operates because an external electrical field causes the electric charges within the cage's conducting material to be distributed such that they cancel the field's effect in the cage's interior. Source: Wikipedia, Encarta
This piece is a sculpture fabricated from copper wire into an elaborate abstracted cave-like structure. Living in close proximity to a cell phone tower got me interested in looking for ways to disrupt the constant bombardment of electromagnetic frequencies we are exposed to. So I started making grids, cubes and pyramids out of copper wire, and hanging them from the ceiling. Hung together, they started to resemble the interior of a crystalline cave, the planar surfaces described by lines of copper.
My intent is to fabricate a large structure entirely of copper wire into which the viewer can enter and sit and be protected from electromagnetic frequencies. Copper has been in use for over 10,000 years, and is elemental to life. Metaphysically, copper is considered to be the luckiest of metals, as well as a healing metal. It is said to conduct the intent of the metaphysician to amplify spiritual energy. In alchemy, is the metal associated with Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, charm and affluence. The dimensions of this installation will be 12 x 12 x 12’. The purpose of the faraday cave is to create a space of reduced EMF activity. The structure will be evocative of structures in nature. Repeating patterns in nature have long informed my process of repeating a simple thing many multiple times to create a complex visual situations.
Phase 2: Quartz Reboot Chamber
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macroscopic single crystals are usually identifiable by their geometrical shape, consisting of flat faces with specific, characteristic orientations. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography. Source: Stephen Lower, Chem1 online textbook—States of Matter
In spiritual circles, quartz crystals are revered for their ability, due to their structure, to facilitate smooth flow of energy in the subtle body by activating the chakras (the main energy centers in the body) and removing energy blockages. Crystals can be charged, or imbued, with intention. This piece is envisioned as a circular space created by 6 concentric rings formed by strands of drilled quartz crystal strung on fine copper wire. The dimensions of the installation would a 8’ diameter circle with a space for the viewer to sit or stand and receive a crystal healing, or an energy boost. Part of the process of the piece will be to charge the crystals on new and full moons, using a simple ritual to imbue them with intentions for the highest good of all who encounter this piece. I expect to use approximately 20,000 clear quartz crystal points to create this installation. It will be a shimmering column as light reflects off of the profusion of faceted crystals.
Phase 3: Orgonite Igloo
Orgonite is a pseudo scientific material based on the research of Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, MD. Reich was part of Freud’s circle, and his approach to psychiatry was quite radical, in that he promoted ’orgiastic potency’ as a mean of rooting out neuroses which he believed were based in socio-economic and sexual dysfunction. Indeed, Reich coined the phrase ‘sexual revolution.’ He fled the Nazis in the late 1930’s and landed in New York. There, he began researching and and promoting the concept of orgone, a term he invented to describe the presence of an active and measurable universal life force bioenergy, also known as qi or prana. Reich built orgone accumulators, devices that he designed to measure and study orgone energy. These devices reputedly helped people overcome various maladies by generating positive orgone energy. William Burroughs claimed the orgone energy helped him get off heroin. Eventually the US government shut him down, imprisoning him and physically destroying his life’s work. Among contemporary new age practitioners, orgonite is a tool that acts like Reich’s orgone accumulator, disrupting what is known as ‘bad orgone energy’ and transmuting it into ‘positive orgone energy.’ It’s very popular in new age circles for its purported ability to transmute EMF pollution into a more harmonious energy. For this project I would like to make an igloo out of orgonite bricks. The form of an igloo is a symbol of things lost in the post technology world, it imagines a space of respite from some of what ails us as a contemporary culture. Orgonite Igloo will be approximately 8’ in diameter by 6’ high, and will be made of standard size cast resin bricks embedded with quartz crystals and copper bits.
Paintings: ongoing work
The purpose of my painting practice is to create a place to rest, a visual space of harmonious contemplation and healing. My use of color and geometry relates directly to vibration, both physically and metaphysically. Pigments selectively absorb and reflect different spectra of light. Light hitting the surface of a painting is reflected back minus different wavelengths which produces the appearance of different colors. Playing with slight variations, each painting is an exploration of how the spectrum creates a very subtle dance in the eye, as the varying wavelengths--or vibrations--interact with the rods and cones in the back of the eye. Painting, for me, is a quiet discipline and a form of meditation. My process involves the repetitive act of laying down one brush stroke at a time, side by side, so that the act of painting becomes self-evident. This practice requires presence and creates a vibration of quietude and slowness, of contemplation and healing. I use color specifically to evoke a mood, and the inherent vibratory nature of color amplifies this intention. My objective with this particular body of work is to raise the vibration of the viewer, by using the physical properties of color and geometry to slow the brain down, and bring a sense of peace. Overall, I view my artist practice as a spiritual practice--bringing into being works of art that originate from transcendental states. Jennifer Joseph jenjostudio@gmail.com | 323.542.5208 | http://www.jenniferjoseph.com/ 2019 all rights reserved