Wizardry
Notes on a drawing-series in the making.
Abjuration is the first finalized piece of a series I have been planning for a while, portraying stages of the life of a person initiated in esoteric arts, a wizard with Prospero-like powers.
The abjuration may actually be the last of those stages. The idea was inspired in part by Prospero’s words at the end of The Tempest, announcing, after having achieved what he set out to do, that he shall break his staff.
Other things helped form this idea, such as Iris Murdoch’s novels, in which the issue of the dangers (to the magician’s own “soul”) of using “magic”, even when with good intentions, appears often; and my own growing appreciation of staffs, sceptres and rods, not only as symbols but as material objects with a purpose.
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Here are a couple of studies for other works in the series:
Thank you for reading and until the next post,
MA.
This is a slightly altered version of the post I made on my Ko-fi page.
