hans diebschlag
September
“The golden leaves that jewel the ground, they know the art of dying”
R Williamson
September is one of my favourite months. It is the month of the slow turning. The year has passed its zenith, it is getting old. In the first half of the year the spirit submerges itself in matter - the illusion of matter - and gives it life. This has now come to fruition and in September, suddenly and graciously the process of dying and spiritualisation is beginning. Now the spirit is beginning to retreat again, to turn away from the earth.
But for human beings it is not so easy to free ourselves from attachment and to see more clearly. We build a scaffold which, like the tower of Babel, tries to reach up to the sky. This is an attempt to build one’s own universe. If you look at the scaffold, you realise that it has a human form - head, arms, legs. It has something of a giant or a golem about it, like Goya’s giant, or a robot. The old tower in the background shows that our ancestors have already undertaken similar projects.
According to Robert Graves the white poplar is the tree of the month of September, and the poplar avenue is reminiscent of a graveyard. The vine too belongs to September. In Italy, unlike in northern wine producing countries, the grape harvest begins already in this month. The vine leaves and bunches of grapes were the most complicated frame to complete and almost took me longer than the painting itself.
© 2008 Hans Diebschlag. All Rights Reserved.
