Page 3 - Essay Awakenings Reloaded by Paul McCloskey

Awakenings Reloaded’ by Paul McCloskey.

Below are five large scale paintings included in the final exhibition. Four of the
five are triptychs, see fig.2, 3, 4 and 5. The triptych has been used throughout
history for varying reasons, from narrative to convenience of transport,
including contemporary use, such painters as Cimabue, Giotto to Rothko and

bacon along with many more featured the triptych. But the triptych for me in
this series is representative of the three parts that make up the whole, as
described by Neal Donald Walsh in his book ‘Conversations with God, book

one,’ ‘This Triune Reality is God’s signature. It is the divine pattern. The three-
in-one is everywhere found in the realms of the sublime. You cannot escape it
in matters dealing with time and space, God and consciousness, or any of the

subtle relationships’. He goes on to say, ‘Some of your religionists have
described the Triune Truth as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Some of your
psychiatrists use the terms super conscious, conscious and subconscious. Some

of your spiritualists say mind, body and spirit. Some of your scientists see
energy, matter, ether.’(1997, p.30-31). I see this Triune however one describes
it, as suggesting all that is substance and spirit alike that makes up our entirety,

including the divine.

When I speak of ‘spirituality’ I’m not necessarily referring to
organised religious assemblages, but more so I'm referring to the belief that the

act of creating can allow us to tap into our higher selves, which has been
referred to as God, Spirit, energy or soul, this can open us to being inspired and
allows us to sense, see and feel without the influence of the ego. Therefore I

believe that being open to divine influence is an essential part of the creative
process for the artist, producing work that can engage the viewer in a spiritual
experience. This has been acknowledged throughout the interviews for my

essay and throughout history. ‘For a long time I was sceptical of the spiritual in
art, and believed that it was used as a label for work (painting) that could not be
easily explained. I now believe that the spiritual is that innate drive that an artist

must have, that same drive where the work of the artist goes’ (Doran, 2010). ‘In
the broadest sense of definition of the Spiritual, there is little doubt that it plays
a significant part in the creation of work, and I believe I experience some vital
force, either of Self or of Other at certain stages in the making of work’

(Gaynor, 2010)