Santa Fe New Mexico

Doors of the Night

 

43" x 27"

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• A door presents a transition from one reality to the next.

• When ajar, it is difficult to tell if a door is opening or closing.

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.

William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Once in 1,001 nights, the labyrinths of the palace are illuminated by the ethereal light of the constellations. An old man passing through the solemn rows of palm-shaped columns opens the doors of the night. One door, slightly ajar, lets in a shower of broken stars and reveals a sliver of crescent moon. It is as if the infinite universe itself arises under the inquisitive gaze of the wise elder.

The straight lines of palm trees and the green sea of branches form the vaults of that palace on the edge of the desert. The Last Chaldee, one of the few who remain from the ancient tribe of stargazers and astrologers, is the only inhabitant of the palace.

He converses with the sky, eagerly reading its writing and giving names to the newborn constellations. The shadows of the mighty palm trunks are like a ladder that brings a man closer to Heaven, to that door behind which the great mystery shines. Man feels like part of the cosmos: one more step and the depths of the universe will be revealed.