IMMORTāLS

ārmageddon II

Although the word armageddon by itself comes with apocalyptic connotations and surely all the chaos that may be projected towards the end of the world, I would like to express a brighter approach. I’ve titled this piece as such with a diacritic mark, the macron, to represent an era that we have yet to know. I also believe that this era is here today, in the world of the subtle. We observe its unraveling in our gentle gestures, in the warmth of love, and in the dance of incense smoke. 

One day, years ago, I made a wish. A strong visual played in my mind, and for years it accompanied me to remind me of my intentions. The years passed, and this visual would visit me occasionally in my waking moments. Upon opening HEĀRTRIUM, this visual came one last time, shocking my senses and arresting the flow of time. Looking into the chaos, or “hēll”, that was the space at its birth, I saw a figure. A handsome young man with curly hair and suffering eyes, an embodiment of compassion looking towards heaven.  

The face of Jesus, soothed me not only because of its symbolic significance but also because it was that face, in the midst of chaos, that revealed itself to me years ago. I have come to the knowledge that my awareness has shifted in time to the present moment. This understanding has sparked a new fire within to embody the heārtist: the essence of my incarnation.

In Hebrew, there is a word for this that is called “מסר” meaning “message from above”. There was no conversation, but an instant understanding —  a knowing — urging me nothing but to become a channel for its directive using my true gift from God, my hands. 

On the day I received this message, the sun had just set and I remember the emerging twilights. I was in the middle of the creation of an artwork I called “The blue tear of America" ​​in which the main motif was the Statue of Liberty that is bleeding blue Crocodile-tears from his left eye and from his right eye dusty tears made out of silver and gold. The loudness of this message felt heavy with responsibility with every passing moment, and I surrendered my human needs to begin the process of transforming the painting into “ārmageddon”. Still, I recall the sensations and thoughts of knowing the need of expressing something of such magnitude while being clueless of how best to do so. This expedition of bewilderment coupled with restless certainty has been my own journey to discover the depth of my own rabbit hole. For guidance and reference, I’ve found myself reading about world religions and relevant sources of inspiration. Within and across their words, a discovery long lost within the folds of my intuition has surged, pushing away noise and irrelevance that seem to have blinded humanity for too long. 

In my mind’s eye, New York is burning, along with all the symbolic associations to the fast-paced corporate lifestyle that has directed so many children’s dreams into the shallow and unsustainable. Even art expression has fallen to the hell of pimping itself for this so-called Machine that has captured God’s land and resources for man’s profit. 

Here, the “Almighty” dollar fools us with indifference. It’s seven o’clock and the sunset is upon us. only the closeness to our high ideals can save our future on this sacred land. This here, however, is not a manifesto, but a humble expression of my heārt.

In Chapter VII of Lewis Carroll's “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland”, the Mad Hatter convinces us that time has frozen at six o'clock, his desired time-frame in which tea pours and friends gather at the table. I’ve set the clock to the moment we leave this event and we face a less pleasant reality. Time Square, the epitome of humanity’s past concept of American progress, is on fire. The old taxi with its twisted metal made once with intention of durability is only a memory of an era that was once considered golden. A barbed wire tiara, resembling spiked fencing, invites the viewer to the passion scenes of Jēsus in a modern world that still feels the pains of this not-so-distant past.  

The intention of this painting is to bring to the viewer the painful compassion of Jesus, through eyes that have witnessed so much over centuries of humanity’s ignorance of how to live under God’s embrace.  Ideally, upon looking at ārmageddon I, we are reminded to center ourselves on Jesus’s message, repeated ad nauseam: Love is the answer. 

Materials: Digital art, acrylic on plexiglass/tempered glass
Title: Ārmageddon II
Specialty: 3 moons effect
Copyright: the heārtist

Schoōls: Necromancy, Alchemy, Transmutation, Illusion, Evocation, Summon