Courtship of Shadows

By: Richard III

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Dimensions: 16in x 20in

Year: 2015

Status: Private Collection / Available

Courtship of Shadows : Rhythms of Stagnation

This is not a memory of play; it is a documentation of the subtle mechanics of the Hollow—the spiritual state of worldly living where we are kept in constant motion to distract us from our own emptiness. The Hollow is the seductive "almost," a realm where we pursue comfort and routine at the expense of our true purpose.

In this space, we often mistake the hand that pushes the swing for a hand that supports us. The figure in the shadows is the Architect—the Adversary who initiates a courtship of our soul, seeking to keep us forever in the Hollow. He does not strike; he seduces through the kinetic comfort of the motion he provides, wooing us into a rhythmic stagnation. We are the figure on the tire, suspended between a cold earth and a clouded sky, lulled into a trance by a provider who only seeks to keep us swinging in the void. To see this is to recognize the choreography of our own entrapment and the identity of the one who orchestrates the motion to ensure we never step off the swing.