Title: Comedy of the Left Hemisphere

Medium: Graphite on Board

Dimensions: 18x24”
Year: 2005
By: David Powers
Website: www.LucidWindows.com
 Description of Artwork

The piece opens with a large eye with a clock behind the pupil, sitting just before the iris.
The clock is symbolic of what we would consider ‘mental time’ which we all know is
relative. Whereas real time is quite a different thing, it involves a space; hence, we have a
space-time continuum. But in mental time, we have ideas of time, we have that internal
clock counting down our life for us – we hear this voice normally just about every
birthday after 30! This idea of time, or rather, this misconception of time and how our
minds and egos can become some rapt in this illusion that it actually creates suffering,
that is the focus of this piece.

Through our incessant thoughts arises an identity, or a mental projection of a sense of

self. It is in this projection that I have come to witness what I believe to be a strong root
of personality disorders and all mental suffering. Our egos exist in time. Without time
they cannot exist because the ego is after all, our ideas of self and our thoughts/feelings
of self. Which, in themselves, are mere reflections of yet more things. I’m reminded of
the movie Vanilla Sky – how at the end of the movie the star character finally realizes
how he had been creating his life from strong emotional imprints during his life – namely
his childhood. All his ideas of life and all of his mental projection of himself had been
compromised by this false sense of self. And so he suffered.

This again is close to the philosophy of this particular piece of artwork.

The title was chosen as a satire title. In the old days a comedy was a tragedy and a
tragedy was a comedy. So this piece to me was a way for me to sort of
sigh/laugh/express my human disposition with self as it related to this identity that
existed in time – which held this projected future and which was based primarily off of
the past and how it affected me (both good and bad). I realized, for me, these were stunts
in growth, arrested development. I had been failing to self actualize because I was SO
very into this ‘sense of self’ as it existed from my life growing. We all know it, it’s the
who and what that we were told we were vs. that feeling inside you cannot deny your
entire life through.

The masks in this piece symbolize the persona or personality experiencing this happening
of life – it celebrates dances and swirls. There’s light coming from the mouths of the old
comedy and drama masks. Note how the light moves through the masks from white to
black – symbolic of how the good and bad elements in life go hand in hand.
 Within the pupil exists the soft imprint of a butterfly which is symbolic of the beautiful
change peaking through the windows of the life itself, of our connected vessel to this
matrix of energy with seemingly pure loving intention attempting to over throw fear and
violence as if they were a tyrant who no longer who be accepted!

You may take notice of the crucifix of the eye and unraveling matrix crossed over by a
camel’s bone – with subtle hints of a camel’s snout near the bottom.

The line work in the background and throughout the piece forms a motion similar to a
wave or a meshing spiral. Again I am to remind you that these pieces are much like a
snap shot of a continuous melting and meshing experience.

This piece was created five times and the iris is actually a hazel color.

There are two major waves of energy which help to not only frame/place the time piece
but also to give the impression of the image moving forward or even receding backwards.
The large energy waves are symbolic to ‘chi’ or what we could think of as being waves
of life/light/love ~ that is all manifesting.