HEXAGRAM 58: JOY
30 x 30 inches
Mixed media on panel • $750

The traditional image for this hexagram comes from two lakes that are interdependent. I have depicted them as two interdependent people whose interaction strengthens each one joyfully. This artwork is from my series based on the 64 hexagrams (containing a combination of six yin or yang lines) from the I Ching, the 2000-year-old Chinese divination system.

SEVEN SAGES WATCH OVER THE GREAT BEAR IN THE ANCIENT NIGHT
47 x 33 inches framed
Mixed media on paper
$950

The background is inspired by the astronomical ceiling of the Temple of Dendera in Egypt. The Egyptian figures in that ceiling mark the beginning and end of a constellation known as the Big Dipper, the Plough, or the Great Bear. Denise used the European star maps from the 18th century (Urania’s Mirror and the Celestial Atlas) as inspiration for the bear. Between the Egyptian layer and the Great Bear are the Seven Sages inspired by an 18th century silk painting from the temple of Kukch’ong-Sa in South Korea depicting the Seven Buddhas which are related to the same constellation. In the Hindu tradition the constellation is known as Seven Sages who are looking for their lost wives the Seven Sisters of Pleiades.