Artists Registry

THE MYTH OF THE PHOENIX
9/11 created a wave of paint humiliation and confusion. At the same time, the need to receive signals and symbols arises, to connect the tragic moment with a higher dimension of understanding.

In this collective emotional intensity I participated in 2002 in the Listening to the City event, "Remember and Rebuild", sponsored by Civic Alliance in Jacob Javits Center. In 2003 I created my Memorial project,
"spiritual Galaxy" for the Memorial Competition, organized by the LMDC. In 2004 I found the inspiration in mythology envisioning the firebird,
the Phoenix. This painting, 72"/78" oil on canvas, is my version of the rubble, fire, fossil and recomposed wings. The image contains the stage of death and rebirth simultaneously.
The Myth of the Pheonix

The Phoenix, in mythology and legend in several cultures, points out the man's desire to transcend his finite existence by choosing a symbol that expresses his hope of rebirth, humanity's ever-determined spirit.
The root of the story first appears in ancient Greek literature, in Herodotus' account of Egypt (CH 30 BC). The bird sings the song of rear beauty, and build a nest of the sweetest spices. The ray of sun ignites the nest and both are consumed to ashes. From the ashes arises a new Phoenix. The young Phoenix embalms the old ashes in an egg made of myrrh, and deposits in Heliopolis, Egypt. In the greet{ language phoenix means the color purple-red. The magical Bennu bird in The Book of Death appears with many attributes of the Phoenix. Early Christian art transformed it into a symbol of Christ, representing the resurrection. The Chinese Feng-Hwang is a heavenly emissary which appears when the land enjoys God's favor.

An other association is with the total eclipse of sun, which displays a distinctly birdlike form, and inspired the solar falcon god, Horus in Egypt Ancient mythical birds are Garuda, in Sanskrit, Ziz or Roc. The giant bird in Jewish mythology, or Simurgh in Persian beliefs. Even the Inuit in far Nord had myth about the "Midnight Sun", or in the sacred art of indians is the legendary "Black Thunderbird".

The myth and theological concept inspired by the"sun-bird" has the esoteric cosmic symbolism about the death and resurrection:
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL RISE, WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS"

"PHOENIX"

THE MONUMENTAL AUBUSSON TAPESTRY 16'/ 2o'

The 9/11 real-time tragic events are revoked with the Memorial Ceremonies each year. The pain of loss reverberates in Ground Zero.

In 2004, the Phoenix painting was shown in my gallery (Symbol Gallery) on Front Street, just blocks away from the World Trade Center site.
The impulse, to create the monumental tapestry, happened on September 11, ioo -. The visitors comments started a circulation of ideas about the image: how visually rich and densely layered, how interconnected the material is with the immaterial, how the surrealist language of the dramatic concept expresses the meaning, is striking.
I remember the confession of one lady with white hair, about her special emotion, provoked by this image: she has not felt this powerful energy of rebirth, since her son died in the 9/11 attacks. She suggested, that this painting should be emphasized.

"The impact of an archetype stirs us because it summons up a voice that is stronger then our own" (Jung)

Aristotle theorized in his work, The Poetics, that tragedy results in catharsis of healing, emotional cleansing for the audience through their experience of emotions in response to the suffering happening in the drama. Dramatic realism is the style of my art. My artwork offers a meditation on the permanent and transitory, on the poetic and the tragic. The image captures a real contemporary feeling using a symbol from the collective memory to revile its contradiction. The image, with its self-narrative nature will always be meaningful.

In my tapestry studio the loom was too small to translate the image in a monumental tapestry. Searching for solution, in zoo6, I found a high quality aubusson style tapestry studio in China. The 16 7 2o' piece will be finished in 2007. I recomposed the image with more suggestion of "rebirth in front of our eyes", with more details from the real elements of the dramatic scene.

The tapestry is a timeless art form and will inspire generations to remember the tragedy through the symbolic Phoenix-image and to save the idea of hope. The tapestry is an artistic luxury and its contemporary concept can emit the spirit of this time.

KLARA TAMAS, F I N E ARTIST