Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Seraph of Geburah



This colorful angel is a Seraph who represents the Kabbalistic sphere of Geburah. According to Western esoteric lore, Geburah is a warlike, fierce, but just character who is associated with bright red and gold against black. As always with the celestial images of A.C. Highfield, the body parts are colored according to their corresponding Hebrew letter, hence the almost uniform grey-green legs and olive colored feet which correspond to the final I.M. of an angel plural: "Seraphim."

I conceived of this vigorous angel as a superhero, complete with metallic lightning bolts on his costume. I think that both esotericism and orthodox religion would benefit from more super-heroes and fewer martyrs.

"The Seraph of Geburah" is cut paper and metallic foil (some of it re-created in Photoshop) glued onto an airbrushed illustration board. 7" x 10", January 1987.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"...more superheros and fewer martyrs."

Effing brilliant line.

Pyracantha said...

I had you in mind when I wrote it, Michael.