Astrid Bauer
"From my earliest childhood I
found it natural to immerse myself in the search for the hidden, driven by a
need to look deeper and beyond the surface of things, and reality, so called.
Through memories of other times and selves arising in dreams I re-membered the
ways into the art of magic, and looking around me found a few individuals with
whom to work, to make astral journeys and invent trance techniques that
extended our knowledge of hidden nature and our hidden selves. Along this way,
both in my home country of Germany and now in Britain, I have used all methods
of art to express myself; a love of colour and the almost alchemical procedure
of bringing it into a form or pattern offers the possibility for me to work as
a medium, literally being inspired by the breath of the old ones, and to
witness the image emerging out of nothingness. The manifestation of the image
acts as a sigil or anchor which returns the mind into those other worlds which
I wish to portray, to communicate and to share with other seeing individuals.
It is the image that is the messenger between worlds, and it begins where words
have to end. Working with and continually exploring different magical models of
the world, I use different media to capture and express the image, and exploit other
artforms including dance and music, playing Yadaki (didgeridoo), Berimbao,
drums, folk harp and flute. The pulsation of sound and the resonance of colour
are equally potent to structure and mutate reality according to the needs of
the magician, and for me the aesthetic dimension of magic plays an essential
role, though one that is too-often overlooked. Magic is not something you do,
once or even twice a week: it is your way of living every moment, every day -
your basic response to whatever the world, seen and unseen, holds for us to
experience, and allow change to happen as Self wills."
Artworks Currently Present:
Wekeloba
Acrylic dot painting on paper, 69 x 48 cm, 1996. Private collection
Vollmond (Full Moon)
Oil pastel on paper, 37 x 26 cm, 1998. The dazzling light of the full moon
unveils
Lilith Dreaming
Acrylic on canvas board, 61 x 92 cm, 1999. In a dream Lilith revealed herself
as a the devourer of aborted embryos, a welcomed recycling of life-energy
Twilight Treelife
Gouache on paper, 40 x 28 cm, 2001. In the dusky half-light of the woods we can
encounter pure primal lifeforce, when branches draw neural networks against the
darkening sky and the trees transform into unimagined beings. Convince yourself
- take a twilight walk in the woods and be surprised
Lilith
Acrylic on paper, 40 x 28 cm, 1998. The appreciatrix of unusual postures: try a
new one - for Lilith's sake!
Transformation
Gouache and acrylic on paper, 40 x 28 cm, 2001. Sometimes one feels the need to
escape, back to the home planet - anywhere but here…
Masks
- the mask reveals...
Skull Gate
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 28 x 19.7 cm, 2001
Nobody Home
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 31 x 24 cm, 2001
Shapeshifter with Familiars
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 31.6 x 24 cm, 2001
The Dreaming
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 29 x 23 cm, 2001
The Visitor
Acrylic and gouache on paper, 28 x 19.6 cm, 2001. The other day upon the stair…