Last May I was introduced to my current favorite painter, Hans Haveron. After seeing just one small element of one of his works, I hunted down the whole piece and then started digging up as many photos as I could find of the rest of his portfolio. Even before I interviewed him the first time, I knew that I had a spiritual connection to his art and the symbolism displayed in it. Haveron loves talking about art; his own, his friends' and anyone's that he has experienced over the years. A child and grandchild of artists, paint runs through his veins, music powers his nervous system, performance fills his lungs. He takes his own talents and encourages others, mentors them and inspires them through collaboration. Arts are this man.
Once he gets talking, well...he's an interviewer's dream because he just goes and all I have to do is make sure the recorder is working. In that waterfall of words, comes stories and one of those stories was the explanation of the symbolism of "Sepia's Secret". The interview question had just been, "do elements of your paintings have meanings?". Not only did he share with me the story of the painting by how he had told the story to Adam Lambert who felt so connected to it that he bought the painting. That in turn inspired him to have the key tattooed prominently as a reminder to always create from his "child".
"The key" has also affected other artists in Hans' circle. One of those people is Shannon Shiang. Shannon is a jewelry designer and creator. She has two jewelry lines; Shiang New York and Skins and Stones. Shannon is an L.A. native who has relocated to NYC and is a long-time friend of Haveron's. After producing some prototypes of Sepia's key, one or two of which turned up at Burning Man this year, Shiang worked with Haveron to come up with a version that will be produced on a larger scale (200 units to start). Presale orders are being taken now for product to ship on March 20, 2012.
These artists and their work have affected my spiritual focus, not only the particular keys depicted in Hans' paintings and their symbolism but keys and locks in general. As we enter the Age Of Aquarius or the coming of the new age foretold by the Mayans, there are things that need to be locked away and new doors and windows that need to be opened. However, the keys involved may not be a metal object designed to insert into a lock and turned. Maybe it refers to the key a song is written in. The Christian bible speaks of the "new song". Maybe this is the era that that song will be written.
Maybe it is a cipher key. A word, a letter that provides the code to unravel a hidden message. There may be some secret manuscript previously unnoticed by man because it just looked like some foolishness.
Or maybe it is a keystone. That piece of material that holds an entire structure together. That structure could be a building, a person or a society.
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