Creation 2017 / reworked 2024 | 36 x 48 x 2.5 inches | Water soluble wax paint and 24k gold on wood panel | $5200
CREATION
Creation was painted in December of 2017 during a period of deep study and quiet inquiry. At the time, I was immersing myself in geometry and reading Timaeus by Plato, where form, number, and meaning are inseparable—where geometry is not merely descriptive, but foundational to how the world comes into being.
In Timaeus, Plato presents geometry as the foundational language for understanding the cosmos, portraying the physical world as constructed from perfect, mathematical forms. Matter itself is not random or chaotic, but intelligible—arising from precise relationships between shapes, planes, and proportions.
As Plato writes:
“Fire, air, earth, and water are bodies and therefore solids, and solids are contained in planes, and plane rectilinear figures are made up of triangles.”
This statement establishes the geometric basis of matter, asserting that all physical substances are ultimately composed of triangles—the most fundamental geometric shape. From this perspective, creation is not something added onto the world; it is structured from within, through geometry itself.
That understanding became both the philosophical and experiential ground of this painting. While informed by study, Creation emerged through a lived engagement with geometry as a means of orienting consciousness—an exploration of how inspiration gathers coherence and unfolds into form.
The overall composition of Creation is based on the golden spiral—a geometry associated with organic growth, unfolding, and emergence. In the upper right corner, at the genesis point of the spiral, sits a large star tetrahedron rendered in 24k gold leaf. Nested within it is a smaller triangular form, holding the potential of all that follows. This is the source point: the moment before manifestation, where all possibilities exist in coherence.
From that point, the spiral unfurls like light itself—moving outward through color and form. At the lower right edge of the painting, three tetrahedrons appear as if tumbling out of the spiral, marking the first steps into material expression. These forms directly reference Plato’s tetrahedron as fire—the active, generative force behind creation—now entering the visible world.
The color story of Creation is warm and dynamic. Rich orange-browns anchor the edges of the panel, while brighter tones of orange, yellow-orange, peach, pink, and white emerge as highlights within the spiral. Energetically, the painting carries a feeling of warmth, momentum, and creative ignition. It’s a piece that supports inspiration and flow—subtle, but alive.
Different stages of the paintings surface repair in 2022.
For a time after it was completed, Creation lived in my home. Then, through an accident—a slammed door and a poorly chosen resting place—it fell and was badly damaged. The wood panel was punctured, and the surface scarred. I was heartbroken and, for a long while, the painting went into storage.
Years later, in 2022, I felt ready to return to it.
The restoration became its own quiet practice. I sanded back the damaged areas, drilled out the irregular edges of the punctures, reinforced the panel from behind with balsa wood, and carefully rebuilt the surface with wood putty.
Once the painting surface was repaired I let it sit in the studio until January of 2024. I repainted the affected areas and addressed scuffs that had accumulated over time. During this process, I also made a conscious change: the star tetrahedron, originally painted white, was re-envisioned in 24k gold leaf—giving the source point of the composition a new luminosity and presence.
While repairing the painting, I found myself reflecting on how we move through life. We are all, at some point, bumped, bruised, or broken open by circumstance. These moments don’t diminish us. When tended with care, they become part of our depth—carriers of experience, wisdom, and resilience.
Creation holds that truth physically within it.
This painting is no longer only about the genesis of form as described by Plato. It is also about repair, continuity, and the way meaning evolves over time. Its surface carries both intention and history—an integration of origin and lived experience.
In that sense, Creation continues to do what it was always meant to do:
to unfold, to adapt, and to hold the intelligence of becoming.
While Creation is informed by philosophical and geometric study, it did not arise from a mathematical approach. I am a meditator and an artist, not a mathematician. My relationship to geometry is experiential.
Working with geometric forms has a distinct effect on my state of consciousness. Certain shapes, proportions, and relationships quiet the mind, clarify perception, and create an internal coherence that feels both grounded and expansive. Geometry becomes less about abstraction and more about orientation—a way of aligning awareness.
In this sense, the star tetrahedron at the source of Creation represents not only cosmological origin, but the moment of inspiration itself: the instant when something non-physical gathers enough coherence to begin unfolding. The golden spiral traces that movement—from inspiration into articulation, from impulse into form.
Geometry offers a visual language for experiences that exist beyond the physical senses. States of consciousness that are difficult to capture in words can be expressed through the eternity of line, the precision of angles, and the relationship between shapes. Through geometry, something unseen becomes visible—not as illustration, but as resonance.
This painting reflects that process: the journey from source to manifestation, whether that manifestation takes the form of a painting, an idea, or a life lived with intention.
