This series of paintings represents the four worlds or heavens: Atzilut ("the world of emanation"), Beriah ("the world of creation"), Yetzirah ("the world of formation"), and Assiyah ("the world of action") all emerging out of infinite light and culminating in our finite physical universe. A four diptych series is dedicated to each of these worlds.
The inspiration in the first diptych is the world of emanation, the eternal unchanging divine world. On this level - the cosmos- the light of the infinite radiates from, but is yet united with its source of light.
The second diptych relates to the abode of creation. In the first separation from the divine, creation emerges out of pure nothingness. It is considered "Heaven" proper: abstract intelligences, without shape or form. Painting this series felt like traveling by air through the spiritual universes.
The third diptych represents the world of formation which I view as the source of creation, with the element of water as its life source. For the first time, the created being assumes shape and form. Existence takes the form of general archetypes, the abode of men's souls.
The fourth diptych suggests physical action, depicting dream-land views of mother earth, the material universe in which we live, paradisiacal aerial views, in which the micro-cosmos contains the macro-cosmos and vice versa. On this later level, creation is complete, - our physical world with all its creatures.
The "fourfold" motif repeats itself within the series conceptually and visually in various different ways. There are paintings relating to the four worlds by means of the alphabet which is of heavenly origin. This in turn corresponds to the four letters of the Essential Name, Havayah. The round circles and spirals repeat the infinity and worlds theme, not in the plain meaning of circle or sephirot, but in its sense of integral completion.
The heavenly abstract nature of the paintings and the energy of the colors attempt to demonstrate the mystery of creation, as it is written in Proverbs: "God's glory is a hidden thing (25:2)". The art works are spontaneous, inspirational, revealing intense emotional experience that conveys a distinct focus and evokes the imagination. I want to visually and intuitively translate metaphysical concepts into images. To a certain degree, I allowed the art to self-create through a combination of intellectual considerations with which I wanted to work and experiment. The color manifestation and the narratives that go along with the paintings are a visual aid to these various meanings. Just like the lens which captures in a frame an open space, pointing to a continuum of the big picture, so I create working from all sides of the canvas, maintaining an open composition and letting it create itself. As Jackson Pollack said "The painting has a life of its own".
Jack Cymber
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