Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends. The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact. One sees more devils than vast hell can hold: That is, the madman. The lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt. The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name. Such tricks hath strong imagination, That if it would but apprehend some joy, It comprehends some bringer of that joy; Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

--William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act V Scene 1

Two things I shall define to bring clarity to rest of this piece:

1. Lovers and artists are mad. If you disagree with the statement, you are neither.

2. Sanity is the state of being in alignment with the status quo. Any deviation, no matter how far, is madness. How far you stray defines how mad you are.

Now that we’re clear on these two points, let us continue:

“Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,” says Theseus, in drawing attention to the idea that these kinds of individuals have the capacity to see more color than their more sane--or perhaps less mad--counterparts.

Or as Frank Herbert asked in Dune: “What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?”

The senses you lack are tied tightly to your inhibitions against straying from sanity. In order to open your mind and SEE THROUGH to other worlds, you must be willing to deviate from the status quo.

You must be willing to embrace your madness.

ABOUT THE COLLAGE

This photo by Andrii Lytvynko on Unsplash of Misterpiro’s work served as inspiration and provides some of the raw materials by which 02 SEE THROUGH was assembled:

This photo by Daniel Apodaca on Unsplash serves as the centerpiece:

And this photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash serves as the backdrop:

The textures made it easy to see where I needed to carve to separate and create the elements I would need to build the piece I had in mind. From there, it became a matter of drawing out borders to create the layers of color that would either highlight or mute particular areas. Then arranging the pieces to interact well with the design elements. The finished arrangement represents an individual embracing their madness, becoming sensitive to a greater awareness, and stepping into their ability to SEE THROUGH to other worlds.