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TWPT: Could you tell us a
little about Jonathon Earl Bowser?
JEB: Well, I graduated from
art school in 1984. Commercial art paid the bills for the first few
years, but that really wasn't very satisfying. I signed with my first
gallery in 1990, and fine art has been my only pursuit since then.
TWPT: You
work with canvas and oils, but I also see some pastels and watercolors.
Do you have a preferred medium? Have you ever worked with computer
graphics for art design?
JEB: Different
mediums have different advantages, but oil paint is certainly my
favorite; no other medium is as versatile or durable. I have used my
computer as a photocopier, but that's about the extent of my
experience with computer graphics. I'm a traditionalist at heart.
TWPT: Have
you ever done Gallery Showings? Has the Internet had any impact
at all on your work in respect to more people seeing your work or
opening your work to a new audience?
JEB: I
have had many gallery showings, and like most things in life I
suppose, this has both positive and negative aspects. Money and
talent often divide like management and labor - with galleries taking the management
role. Many artists chafe at such condescension. I have found the Internet
liberating in this regard. My site went online in January
1996, and now my work has been seen by people all around the world.
Few galleries could offer this kind of promotion, and I have
complete authority over the way my work is presented.
TWPT:
You describe your work as "Visual Meditations on The Goddess and
The Divine Feminine - a quest for Transcendent Truth in Beauty".
Your work is indeed very Goddess inspired, and you have beautifully
shown a touch for a spiritual path here. Could you explain a little
of your vision for us?
JEB: I
see the cosmos as a single divine entity with 2 fundamental and distinct
aspects. One is the violently dynamic domain of material nature -
things we can touch in space and processes we can observe in time.
The other is the eternally static domain of ethereal law - the
predicate forms of existence that mediate the phenomena of space and
time. These 2 aspects are interdependent halves of one whole: like
Life - where the feminine and the masculine dimension are subsumed
into a greater entity in which they are but parts - each aspect can
only exist by virtue of, and
in relation, to the other.
The first aspect is - like
the universe itself - a "pushing out" force, an ever-evolving
aspiration of something not yet realized. I call this force Lord
Chaos. The second is a "pulling in" force, an infinite
perfection beckoning Chaos into his 12 labors of transformation. I
call this force of transcendent order the LotusMaiden of Eternity.
She appears in my work as a guiding apparition, silently drawing all
the manifold forms of the universe toward a single distant ambition
at the end of space and time...
TWPT:
I find the images of the Feminine form very exact in your work, but one
of the things I also find fascinating is your landscapes, not just
the separate ones, but the backgrounds for a lot of the Goddess
material. You seem to have a talent for landscapes also. Are these
also drawn from the same inspiration as the Goddess forms?
JEB: Yes,
I also consider the landscapes to be inspired by this same
philosophy. I prefer mountain landscapes, and traditionally, the
world-mountain is the home of the Goddess. In a chaotic world of
tumult, the world-mountain was seen as a place of eternal calm and
serenity, the passive center around which the active cosmos revolves.
And if one cannot see things clearly in a universe in perpetual motion, then
to journey to the world-mountain is to seek a place where motion
stops, clarity is found, and the eternal wisdom of the Goddess might
be achieved.
TWPT: Some
of your work has been reproduced for The Bradford Exchange, and for
Eureka Publishing. Would you tell us a little about that?
JEB: Working
for the Bradford Exchange presented new challenges; the requirements
of an enormous multi-national corporation are in many ways inimical
to the ethos of true art. Finding a balance between their needs and
mine was more difficult than you might think. Working with Eureka has
been a little easier. They still have an eye to the bottom line, but
from the beginning of our association they expressed a sincere
interest in my view of the world. Even when Eureka commissions a work
to be published (as opposed to publishing an existing work), they are looking for
my perspective and not theirs. My association with Eureka has been
very rewarding.
TWPT: Do
you have any new projects or works or special events coming up that
you would like to tell us about?
JEB: I
recently signed with the Simic-New Renaissance Gallery in Carmel,
CA, so if anyone in the Bay area would like to see Jonathon
originals, the helpful people at Simic would be delighted to show
them. And I am nearing the completion of my book, "Mythic
Naturalism - Meditations on Truth, Beauty, and the LotusMaiden of
Eternity." This will be a collection
of related essays and images about the Way of the Goddess. If anyone
knows a good publisher...
TWPT: We thank Mr. Jonathon Bowser
for his time and participation with TWPT. It is always a pleasure
dealing with such wonderful and talented people. |
