I would like to thank Tom Rice for provoking the thoughts that are the foundation of this series.

This work is intended as a tool for self-exploration. Many people are accustomed to tools of this nature only being found in religious texts or therapy. In my experience they are also found in the creation and interpretation of art.

Whenever we experience an intense event in life it will change us dramatically. Corresponding change occurs externally as well as internally. External differences brought by such forces are obvious- a change in posture, a crease under the eyes, enhancement or reduction of muscle structure.

Internal changes are noticeable as well but more subtle- mood, intensity, or rhythm. It would be easy to depict dramatic external change in a person. Comparing photographs from infancy to old age would accomplish the task nicely.

How do I depict the drama of an internal transformation?

Each series of six pieces is a narrative of an emotional transformation that follows a journey from depression to hope. I could use a series of landscapes to show a geological transformation, or a series of portraits to show a physical transformation in an individual; but I wanted to depict emotions, which have no substance or form, and to do so invited me to more universal and abstract methods and forms. Abstraction became a necessity when I found that more concrete and real forms tended to be contrived and political. I chose five different mediums to tell the same story because I felt one method for one medium was too limited a view of a vast emotional world.

The split in each piece is a split in figure and the moment where one emotion becomes the next. That moment, under focus, can be boiled down to a single experience. That experience, nailed to the frame of our character, then becomes a key that unlocks momentum within us. Understanding the nature of the key may allow us to harness the flow of inevitable momentum and provide clarity, purpose, and direction in ourselves. To view the rest of the series visit “jpmccauley.com”