2013
24″ x 72″
32″ x 96″
The Latin word “ousia” has compelled and confounded philosophers and theologians throughout the centuries, from Aristotle through Origen to Heidegger. It speaks of the fundamental, unqualified essence of a thing, the state of being that needs no condition or context to define itself. The word captures the primal truth of nature’s perpetual cycle, just as I’ve sought to capture it in my work “Ousia.” With its sparser composition and muted color palette, “Ousia” steps away from the explosive, vibrant fecundity of other works I have created through my hypercollage technique. That is not to say, however, that “Ousia” expresses any less joy and delight in meditating on nature’s ways and wonders. Rather, it emphasizes the inevitable element of death and decay in the natural cycle, celebrating these as the source of new and further life. Life cannot be without death, and likewise death without life. They define each other. Together they are alternating facets of nature’s way of being, the “ousia” that exists in and between every living thing.
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© 2011 Ysabel LeMay. All Rights Reserved.