Curios About: The Sun by Aelur

The Sun
By Aelur
Acrylics on canvas, 50cm x 70cm

1. This work is about … creative influences in my life, and how they come together to form the landscape in my head. It’s about transformation, and how from the shadows/dark stuff in our lives we can reshape our minds. The central wheel represents the Meli Witran Mapu, the Mapuche cosmovision – it represents the order as I’ve been brought up to understand it, following the southern hemisphere’s natural order. (The Mapuche are a tribe that inhabits the Andes/Patagonia region in Argentina and Chile.)

2. I made this work because … It’s part of a series that illustrates the 22 paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, using characters that represent aspects of myself.

3. I hope when people see this work they will … find something about it they can relate to, or something fun they can meditate on. I put a lot of symbolism in my work, and even if there’s not an immediate liking to it, at least it can provide something to do some detective work on.

4. In terms of art history, this work … draws a lot from South American aboriginal art. There’s also a more realistic interpretation of Egyptian gods (Nuit to the left, Thoth to the right). It is, however, something that owes a lot to the paintings of the visionaries Xul Solar and William Blake.

5. You can see my work … online, at aelur.deviantart.com or facebook.com/aelur.

“Curios About …” is a series featuring works by Dublin artists. Each artist is asked to submit an image of one work and answer a set of questions about it. We’d love it if you’d submit something you’ve made, here.