My latest NFT artwork – Mystic yogi with the divine mother – launched on the Hive blockchain
In my latest NFT (non-fungible token) artwork you can see my favorite themes emerging again, namely religious iconography, metaphysical symbolism and a cosmic landscape. At center stage a child, from what looks like the Shaolin martial arts monastery in China, stands in advanced yoga posture with apparent ease. Behind him or her is a massive rising planet with satellite moon on a black night sky backdrop. Below we see several statues of the Holy Mother Mary, mother of god.
As with my previous collage artworks, I have taken diverse pictures from old magazines and cut them up to place together in my own new remix, using scissors and glue. Then I scan the picture and upload it as an NFT into my gallery on the Hive blockchain at www.nftshowroom.com/julianhorack/gallery. The portfolio is growing nicely and you can see my recurring themes throughout my artworks on display there.
The sense of the otherworldly and metaphysical are primary themes in these surrealist dreamscape windows to the cosmos, so to speak. I like to create a sense of depth, which is something possible in landscape pictures. Yet I also aim to depict something otherworldy and unique. In today’s scene you can see the exotic oriental buildings in the background which also allude to the far east, land of mystique, mystery and spirituality. In front of the buildings you can see, on each side of the central figure, two Tibetan Buddhist monks standing together and blowing traditional Tibetan horns.
In the foreground we have a total of seven stone statues of the Virgin Mother Mary of Catholic tradition. As with previous artworks in my NFT gallery, I have combined diverse religious iconography into one image, thus bridging the divide between spiritual traditions or cultures. I like to break the mold and allude to something beyond the formal externals found in the different exclusive religious practices.
As a result, it looks like the mother is adoring the child, only it’s not the Christ child but the Buddhist monk and yogi performing some mystical feat of yoga. From the head of the mystic yogi emerge four bolts of lightning, spreading in the four opposite directions, as if the yogi has – by dint of their mystic feat – invoked a great deal of power, and thus lightning flashes from them. Obviously I wanted to symbolize a sense of balance and centerdness, which is clearly visible in the yogi’s posture.
The primary color combination of this palette is cool turquoise contrasted against hot red. The red flowers decorating the foreground at the bottom of the image are reminiscent of the decorations one might find at a shrine or altar to the gods or goddesses. I like to show up a contrast by combining juxtaposing color schemes.
The same turquoise and red is seen in the background above the central figure, up at the top of the scene, in the form of blue rays focusing down toward the center. They also look like serpents, with bright red eyes. These serpent-like projections, three on each side, symbolize the serpent power or “kundalini shakti” activated by the meditating yogi. They also add to the balancing geometric imagery, as do the lines in the foreground. Everything is pointing to the central image, guiding the eye to focus on the center, as the yogi is doing in the image.
At the heart of the yogi in the very middle, on their chest, is an image of another icon. It is the focus of the yogi’s attention as they perform their advanced level of acrobatics. It consists of the Buddha, but also – if you look closely – in front of the Buddha is a pair of dancing figures. They are called Gaura Nitai, and are a divine pair of dancing brothers as described in the Vedic culture of India. So the yogi here is meditating on his or her gods, and the gods are at the very center of the entire artwork.
Traditionally the snakes in the background are also alluding to the serpent called “Ananta Shesha” which is usually depicted in religious iconography of the Buddha when he is seen seated in meditation. It is also seen in all traditional Vedic iconography of Vishnu the supreme personality of godhead, when he is either lying down or seated. This multi-headed serpent actually has unlimited heads and is the support and protection or assistant of the god Vishnu, of which Buddha is actually an incarnation.
Some people might see the snake as an evil omen or image but in the religious traditions of the east, the god Vishnu and his incarnation as Buddha are always depicted with these serpents which are an expansion of the divinity. They look a little bit naive in their shape here as I was keeping it simple and used them more to add to the color scheme and as lines to draw the eye toward the center. In other words today’s composition is a good meditation piece to invoke centerdness within oneself by gazing at it.
Fell free to check out the actual NFT and my portfolio or collection (as it is not in the gallery, where it was already sold to a buyer)... www.nftshowroom.com/julianhorack... Here you can pick up an NFT for your own personal collection if you wish. I have minted a limited edition so you can be the one happy recipient to own an NFT. The art work itself is now a cryptocurrency token in its own right and preserved on the Hive blockchain for future generations to see.