Paul Laffoley Cambridge, MA, 1935-2015
The Kali-Yuga: The End of the Universe at 424826 A.D. (The Cosmos Falls into the Chaos as the Shakti Oroboros Leads to the Elimination of all Value Systems by Spectrum Analysis), 1965
Oil, acrylic, vinyl lettering on canvas
73 1/2 x 73 1/2
187 x 187 cm
187 x 187 cm
Subject_ The Night of Dissolution and the End of the Universe. Symbol Evocation_ Shakti and Cosmic Energy_ Shiva and Cosmic Passivity. Comments_ The culture of India, which comprises a multitude...
Subject_ The Night of Dissolution and the End of the Universe.
Symbol Evocation_ Shakti and Cosmic Energy_ Shiva and Cosmic Passivity.
Comments_
The culture of India, which comprises a multitude of beliefs and traditions, is understood to be Sanatana-Dharma_ (the imperishable eternal unchanging essence of existence). It has three aspects_ 1) The law or the eternal order of the Universe; 2) The righteousness or the basis of human morality and ethics; and 3) The foundation or basis of all religions.
This trimūrti or three-form world-view was instantiated thousands of years ago as the divine trinity of the Gods. Vishnu (to the left) is called the preserver who maintains the harmony of the universe and Brahma (in the center) is the one ultimate Supreme Being, who is infinite-infinitesimal and eternal and therefore the source of life. The World-Soul (a conception of the divine as extended in space and time and including the world as its internal-external environment) and is present in all things as the At-man (the pane theistic soul having both absolute and relative aspects of being, consciousness and bliss); Shiva (to the right) the deity that represents the destroyer of Avidya (ignorance) and regeneration. Shiva is the Lord of the Universal Dance with his wife Shakti (also know as Amba – The Divine Mother, Durgā – the Unfathomable One, Kāli – the Black One, and the force of a-posteriori knowledge) as Shiva is the a-priori knowledge received entering into the natural world.
According to Western reckoning we all live in the Fifth Manvantara and the Fiftieth Maha-Yuga. The beginning of our present Kali-Yuga began in 3120 BCE. The end of our present Kali-Yuga is at 426,872 AD. If you do the arithmetic there are 2,046 years unaccounted for. The end of the Universe is on 424,826 AD. The missing numbers are the points of change between the cycles of time.
Symbol Evocation_ Shakti and Cosmic Energy_ Shiva and Cosmic Passivity.
Comments_
The culture of India, which comprises a multitude of beliefs and traditions, is understood to be Sanatana-Dharma_ (the imperishable eternal unchanging essence of existence). It has three aspects_ 1) The law or the eternal order of the Universe; 2) The righteousness or the basis of human morality and ethics; and 3) The foundation or basis of all religions.
This trimūrti or three-form world-view was instantiated thousands of years ago as the divine trinity of the Gods. Vishnu (to the left) is called the preserver who maintains the harmony of the universe and Brahma (in the center) is the one ultimate Supreme Being, who is infinite-infinitesimal and eternal and therefore the source of life. The World-Soul (a conception of the divine as extended in space and time and including the world as its internal-external environment) and is present in all things as the At-man (the pane theistic soul having both absolute and relative aspects of being, consciousness and bliss); Shiva (to the right) the deity that represents the destroyer of Avidya (ignorance) and regeneration. Shiva is the Lord of the Universal Dance with his wife Shakti (also know as Amba – The Divine Mother, Durgā – the Unfathomable One, Kāli – the Black One, and the force of a-posteriori knowledge) as Shiva is the a-priori knowledge received entering into the natural world.
According to Western reckoning we all live in the Fifth Manvantara and the Fiftieth Maha-Yuga. The beginning of our present Kali-Yuga began in 3120 BCE. The end of our present Kali-Yuga is at 426,872 AD. If you do the arithmetic there are 2,046 years unaccounted for. The end of the Universe is on 424,826 AD. The missing numbers are the points of change between the cycles of time.
Provenance
Private CollectionExhibitions
Paul Laffoley. Playboy Club, Boston, 1971Paul Laffoley_ The Sixties. Kent Gallery, New York, 2009. Chasing Napoleon. Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2009
Paul Laffoley_ Secret Universe. Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2011
Paul Laffoley_ The Boston Visionary Cell. Kent Fine Art, New York, 2013
Paul Laffoley_ Premonitions of the Bauharoque. Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 2013
Literature
Croquer, Luis, and Paul Laffoley. Paul Laffoley_ Premonitions of the Bauharoque. Seattle_ Henry Art Gallery, 2013, pp. 10, 111, ill. p. 11 (color). Dichter, Claudia, and Udo Kittelman, eds. Paul Laffoley_ Secret Universe. Cologne_ Walther König, 2011, p. 27, ill. pp. 105–6. Howe, Rupert. “Master of the Universe.” Wonderland Magazine (April/May 2009)_ ill. p. 110. Johnson, Ken. “A Beautiful Mind.” Boston Globe (11 February 2007)_ p. N9.Kestner, Jeffrey. “Paul Laffoley.” Artforum (March 2007)_ p. 320.
Meixner, Christiane. “Höhere Wesen bemalen_ Der Hamburger Bahnhof würdigt den “Aussenseiter Paul Laffoley.” Der Tagesspiegel (12 January 2012).
Prince, Mark. “Paul Laffoley.” Flash Art (January/February 2012)_ ill. p. 139.
Walla, Douglas, Linda Dalywimple Henderson, Steve Moscowitz, and Ariel Saiber. The Essential Paul Laffoley. Chicago_ University of Chicago Press, 2015. illus in color plate 8