Guest post by Amy Steinberg
The worship of symbols, that is what symbolotry means and I suppose you could say that is what has happened in my art. I worship the symbols that came before me and the ones that I create within my work. Symbolism in art has a rich history starting as far back as 30,000 years ago in the paleolithic ice age of Europe. It turns out cave paintings include a collection of geometric symbols such as dots, handprints, hearts and other interesting shapes. We don’t know what any of these symbols really meant 30,000 years ago but it gives us a window into the people that traveled the continent and scratched these symbols out in dark caves.
Fast forward to 5,000 years ago and Egypt was a thriving country with pharaohs, grand promenades and hieroglyphics. Luckily we know what most of the hieroglyphics mean and are able to interpret them to better understand what was happening during this time in history.
Jump forward to 2,000 years ago and we come to the time of Jesus and the Christian Cross. Before the cross the “Jesus fish” was used by early Christians to symbolize their faith and because they were broadly persecuted by Romans and Jews the fish was used to secretly identify areas where Christians lived. The cross wasn’t widely used for many years because it was considered a gruesome symbol of crucifixion.
Throughout history symbols have been embedded in art to allow artists to hide clues in plain site circumnavigating authorities such as the Church, monarchies and lay people. What were so many artists hiding? Usually their own beliefs or that of their patrons. Many times these beliefs went against mainstream thought of the era they lived in. Everything from flowers, arrows, ladders, clouds, etc were used as symbols to signify the gamut of anti-papacy beliefs to much simpler ideas of love for fellow mankind.
Today artists such as myself create symbols embedded in their work to tell stories, create meaning and communicate all types of beliefs. A continuation of a very long history of embedding personal symbols in art, from people living in caves to modern art, we all have our personal artistic language. Some modern painters with a history of symbolism in their work include Miro & Kandinsky.
For me, I love the idea of secrets or mysteries in plain site and embedding symbols in my work is a way of accomplishing this. I can communicate my most inward thoughts and feelings without ever really sharing them or having them interpreted. For me this is a great mystery, something I love and worship about painting with symbols.
Join Amy for Symbolotry- learn more HERE
