Prayer’s alchemy (1998)

Material: Aluminum, glass, photographs on a transparent sheet, computer drawings on a transparent sheet.
Size: Small: (individual from each other) 40 by 40 centimeters, 30 centimeters from the wall.
Large: 80 by 35 centimeters, 25 cm from the wall

In this statue lies in the doing a simple task, like the folding of hands in prayer, (see wide capsule) … enclosed a miracle, viz … That the act can transcend the intellect, the sensory and the predictable. St Bonaventura (1221-1274)

Nasty chilly practices from the Middle Ages (especially the pillory) stand in stark contrast with the beauty and mystique of that time from when Bonaventure inspires me and teaches about transformation and transcendence in his Triplica Via, the Triple Way. I want to emphasize this contrast between the cold callousness and the warm mysticism of that time. “Through the “ray of understanding” and “the brilliance of wisdom” (see Triplica Via) hard cold matter can be turned into energy, which transforms the elements into a different chemistry and structure, and can be transformed into a time capsule for the future.

From the exhibition “In de wijde val van zomeravond..” Gallery Fons Welters.
Collection Hans Jansen