K u r o s     Z a h e d i

 This was shot during Ari's visit - I am working on the 'mural' part of the piece, pictured in an earlier post as a charcoal sketch on the panels.  Thank you Josh for another amazing video!

Ari Derfel, THE MAN that made this project possible came to Bellingham!  He is such an inspiring, true, visionary, witty and enthusiastic spirit.  We had a great time working together, drinking wine, eating well, pondering the mysteries of the universe, and tossing stones on the beach.  My good friend Caroline drove up from Seattle for an amazing work session.  Josh filmed Ari and I philosophizing.  Thanks to all three of you for a good and fruitful couple of days.
(photos in this post by Ari Derfel, Caroline Cumming and KZ)

The conspiring pair.

Unfinished ladders leaning on the unfinished mural.

Detail of a ladder showing the "Delta" logo from one of Ari's flight itineraries.

Pretty ground glass in Ari's hand.

A watercolor study which Ari found in the studio.

Checking out the progress.

The mural coming together (very slowly).

The paper / powdered glass figures are closer to completion. 

Caroline with a new friend.

Ladders are an important element in the work.  They symbolize the ascent of consciousness to a higher level.  The first three images are about the iconography associated with ladders.  The other images are of the making of ladders out of Ari's cardboard, white paper, and receipts. 
(photos by KZ and Steven Kennedy)

This image is from Robert Fludd's Utriusque cosmi historia, II, 1619, in the tradition of western alchemy.  The ladder leads from the world of matter to spirit.  Each rung represents a stage of development - see below.

This drawing depicts the seven chakras, with the last represented by the flaming crown of light (much like the sun in the above image).

The ladder is symbolically associated with the caduceus, which is the ladder upon which Hermes/Mercury, messenger of the gods, ascends and descends.  The snake glides along the earth, sheds its skin and renews itself and is therefore associated with change, renewal and healing - in the familiar image of the caduceus, above, snakes rise up the rod, representing the transformative life forces of mother earth.

Back in the studio, the cardboard is cut to size and taped together to make the rough skeleton form of the ladder.

Several layers of paper are applied with wheat paste.

After a couple of layers.