Paul Laffoley Cambridge, MA, 1935-2015
MAQUETTE FOR A THOUGHT-FORM
, 1993
Acrylic on tulip and maple wood, balsa, and basswood
With base_ 7 × 12 × 122 in./17.8 × 30.5 × 309.9 cm.
With base_ 7 × 12 × 122 in./17.8 × 30.5 × 309.9 cm.
With base_ 7 × 12 × 122 in./17.8 × 30.5 × 309.9 cm.
$ 50,000.00
Subject_ The Creation of a Thought Form. Symbol Evocation_ Finding the True [Essence] of a Thought-Form. Comments_ When I first read the books of the Theosophists_ Annie Besant and Charles...
Subject_ The Creation of a Thought Form.
Symbol Evocation_ Finding the True [Essence] of a Thought-Form.
Comments_
When I first read the books of the Theosophists_ Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater such as “Man Visible and Invisible” (1902) and “Thought-Forms” (1905), I wondered how a “Thought Form” could be illustrated and presented. From my background in architecture I began to see how that would be possible with the use of diagrams of a scientific nature in relation to isolated content. This is the method of the phase of heroic modernism. That is, to make use of a neutral matrix and set high emotional content within it in order to discover what it is becoming. A “Thought Form” therefore, is in Plato’s terminology “reason” persuading “necessity.” In the book “Key to the Meaning of Colors” by Charles W. Leadbeater (1902), you look at square patches of color all the same size are juxtaposed to each other like paint samples where the only differences are your emotional reactions to the image of the color in itself. This is just the same as the rouge department in a women’s store. The masculine (thought) is holding on to the feminine (form) where intuition can reign supreme in order to produce meaning. In other words, the extreme meaninglessness of thought can allow the pure meaningfulness of the content of form to emerge.
Symbol Evocation_ Finding the True [Essence] of a Thought-Form.
Comments_
When I first read the books of the Theosophists_ Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater such as “Man Visible and Invisible” (1902) and “Thought-Forms” (1905), I wondered how a “Thought Form” could be illustrated and presented. From my background in architecture I began to see how that would be possible with the use of diagrams of a scientific nature in relation to isolated content. This is the method of the phase of heroic modernism. That is, to make use of a neutral matrix and set high emotional content within it in order to discover what it is becoming. A “Thought Form” therefore, is in Plato’s terminology “reason” persuading “necessity.” In the book “Key to the Meaning of Colors” by Charles W. Leadbeater (1902), you look at square patches of color all the same size are juxtaposed to each other like paint samples where the only differences are your emotional reactions to the image of the color in itself. This is just the same as the rouge department in a women’s store. The masculine (thought) is holding on to the feminine (form) where intuition can reign supreme in order to produce meaning. In other words, the extreme meaninglessness of thought can allow the pure meaningfulness of the content of form to emerge.
Exhibitions
Paul Laffoley_ Mind Physics. New York, Kent Gallery, 2007The Force Structure of the Mystical Experience. New York_ Kent Fine Art. September 11 – November 7, 2015 illus.
Paul Laffoley. New York_ James Fuentes, 2022
Literature
Laffoley, Paul with Richard Metzger. The Force Structure of the Mystical Experience. New York_ Kent Fine Art 2015. Illus.Walla, Douglas, Linda Dalywimple Henderson, Steve Moscowitz, and Ariel Saiber. The Essential Paul Laffoley. Chicago_ University of Chicago Press, 2015. pp. 218-19. illus in color plate 66