The Page of Wands-Prodigal Son

The Page of Wands, as a tarot card, speaks of the impulse of youth; a high energy, potentially explosive, creative, and sexually charged being or condition. In my painting, this renegade energy becomes apparent in the image of the Prodigal Son, referencing both the root, as in "prodigy", as well as the biblical narrative of the youth who strays from the virtuous path, and in doing so, finds virtue at last. The boy as prodigy, a bright, illuminated spirit in touch viscerally with a divine source, is driven into realms of indulgence and the exploration of his curiosities as a means of self-actualizing without the filter of orthodoxy. This therefore, is a map of the quality of self purification through a process of trial and error, an abandon of references in order to reconstruct them first hand.

The wand to his left signifies both the Tarot influence as well as the egyptian scarab which governed the movement of the sun across the heavens. In this painting, the sun is partially eclipsed by a dark mass, revealing the youth's position at the moment between enlightenment and damnation.

Despite the page existing in a dynamic and complex state, his world saturated with vibrance, heat, and chaos, in his eyes a solid intent is revealed--a spiritual focus which does not bend in the quest to ascertain truth.