Christine Wykes : Benevolent Universe Series

chriswykes@paradise.net.nz

Artists Statement.

‘The Benevolent Universe’
“What quantum calculations show is that we and our universe live and breathe in what amounts to a sea of motion – a quantum sea of light.”
(L. McTaggart, The Field: 2003).

This series of work sprang from my interest in outer space with its dynamic power, size, colour and light. I named this series ‘The Benevolent Universe’ because following surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and while in my ‘worst hell’, there was a realization of something infinitely precious at my core: perfect peace; a peace ‘that passed all understanding’. I realized that the power that sustains the manifest world is intelligent, alive, whole, completely unified, full, and present, here and now.

Having recently begun working in neon (and at times other lighting effects), I discovered that I prefer to hide the light behind wood, boards, mirrors or metals, thereby creating a ‘halo effect’ that gently, although vibrantly, illuminates the work. These artworks, to me, are therapeutic and healing. They cast a coloured glow, particularly in the fading light and something stirs within, a quiet joy, leaving me centred and peaceful.

01_emerging_day 02_emerging_twilight 03_emerging_night 04_starborn_day 05_starborn_night 06_the_cosmic_eye_day 07_the_cosmic_eye_night 08_solar_bloom_day 09_solar_bloom_night 10_in_the_beginning_day 11_in_the_beginning_night 12_space_ball_of_light_2 13_space_ball_of_light_1

Transition between
Exhibition 3: Creatures from the Inner Space
and the
Benevolent Universe Series

14_home_in_aotearoa_day 15_home_in_aotearoa_twilight 16_home_in_aotearoa_night