Sabe
Lewellyn
Artist Sabe Lewellyn continues his exploration into the sacred with his first exhibition in Pittsburgh, "Scapegoats." Using both spheres and orbs, which are created by stamping wine bottles around his animal subjects, Lewellyn creates a symbolic hieroglyphic surface in his paintings. In Shona tradition, the goat is used for sacrifice for many events such as; weddings, funerals, or the birth of a baby. The Semitic goat-god Azazel symbolized life and creative energy. In Judeo-Christian tradition, the goat carries an interesting duplicity as far back as the Old Testament as goats were known as lusty, rude and associated with false gods.
These same traditions also assigned goats the special duty of "scapegoat." The scapegoat, one made to bear the blame of others, is attributed to the Hebrew ceremony of Yom Kippur. The Scapegoat was chosen from two goats, one of which was for the Lord. The other, the sin-bearer, was sent into the wilderness for Azazel (the goat that escapes). In Christianity, the idea of the scapegoat is symbolic of Christ’s suffering and baring all the sins of the world.
In Memphis, Maynard the Magnificent a plucky beer-drinking goat at Silky O'Sullivan's, even had to bare his burden as he bore bad luck for both the Memphis Grizzlies in 2002 and the Chicago Cubs in 2003!
How
do we as painters define our roles and ourselves given
that there is an unavoidable spiritual element in
all artist labor? In every piece, Lewellyn starts
one person and finishes as another. He finds both
the rising of the Dionysian dream and acts of husbandry
with the Apollonian in his work. As viewers visit
each of his paintings, they share Lewellyn's struggle
to understand our world and ourselves. While deconstructing, pushing and expanding upon his
current use of materials, Lewellyn finds further answers
to the problems of self; mysticism, myth and allegory
both ancient and contemporary. So we can find aggressively
negotiating the tension of depth between the Angel
of essential reality and the actual Jacob facts of
the world.
Born in Heber Springs, Arkansas, Lewellyn found a
strong sense of play and enjoyment. It was here that
he first discovered his love of art. At 21, Lewellyn
moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Drawn by the musical heritage
of the area, Lewellyn attended the Memphis College
of Art and graduated with his Bachelor of Fine Arts. Lewellyn began his exploration into the sacred after graduation when he met Brother Spyridon, a Russian Orthodox monk whose specialty was painting iconography. Befriending Brother Spyridon raised Lewellyn's interest in spiritual symbolism. Lewellyn continues correspondence with him at his Alaskan monastery. In the summer of 2001, Egyptian-Canadian Artist Nihal Mazloum taught Lewellyn hieroglyphs. When the British Museum exhibited Eternal Egypt in Memphis, Lewellyn scribed hieroglyph names during its duration.
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