David's Dance

Medium: Silhouette paper-cut. Cut by hand using a scalpel.

Dimensions: Approx. 50 x 40 cm.

Date: February 2012

Comments:
“I could only believe in a God that knows how to dance.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"David's Dance" is a reference to the biblical verse: "And David danced before the LORD with all his might" (2 Samuel, chapter 6 verse 14). King David throws his whole heart and soul and body into the ecstatic throes of the dance. The three designs are based on energetic freehand sketches on the reverse of the paper. As the scribbled lines of the pencil sketch are 'translated' into the intricate paper-cut medium, they convey the intense, fiery, almost violent energy of the dancer. The very nerves, sinews and fibres of his body threaten to unravel and disintegrate, yet he throws himself fearlessly and headlong into the unknown. David also famously sang: "I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139 verse 14). He celebrates the sublimity and divinity of the human body, yet remains painfully aware of its fragility.

I have sought to convey the ecstatic dance of the soul in praise of its Creator. I do not seek to capture the realistic form of the human physical body, but rather I try to capture something of the energies and impulses of the soul behind it. The patterns and shapes in the figures might evoke flames, or celtic knotwork, or tribal designs. My work is all about energies, flow, movement, dance...

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche



Price: £SOLD. In a private collection.