"The Sea! The Sea!"

by Michael R Hayter · Bristol, GB

This series has been painted during the Covid 19 lockdown. It comprises fifteen playing card-sized paintings on watercolour paper. The theme of the sea as a metaphor for life and, moreover the life of the human psyche, gradually evolved over a period of weeks, each piece leading on to the next. The sunlit air above the surface and the surface itself, represent consciousness - that which is perceived and understood - whilst below the surface lies the unconscious mind - that which is hidden and often surfaces in seeming haphazard and threatening ways. It brings to mind Jung's differentiation between the creative imagination and psychosis as "the difference between diving and drowning". Initially the pieces were influenced by the often illustrated prayer notes in Catholic churches, available to any visitor to pick up and take away for free - not unlike a religious relic or memento, but free of charge! However as I worked on the pieces I could also see and feel a similarity with playing cards, but more specifically, with Tarot cards. The apparently irrational symbology has, for me, its own internal logic - a logic I myself do not (yet?!) fully understand!