
Paul F. Yount, 'Body of Rights', 2024
Oil on Canvas
60 x 120 inches, constructed of three panels, 60 x 40 each
Notes from Paul F. Yount:
"Our minds and bodies maintain ownership of ourselves. But when an act of violence occurs, we are invaded and feel vulnerable. In my painting, the structure on the left portrays a scene where a rape has just occurred; the house is empty, and the only evidence of the event is the light of silence coming from within.
The house has a transformative dual nature as an ancient relic of pain and horror and also a transcendent entity with healing and restorative properties. The plants and organisms growing on the house belie a morphological language and transcendent spiritual energy that travels from the house into the middle of the canvas and depicts the final act of renewal and rebirth.
Enclosed in a central elliptical shape, a human transforms into an owl to give life to a dying species. The owl offers nourishment to the dying figure. This genesis of a restorative process has brought about the creation of a new moment.
The figure on the right has become a new human, called the 'Post-Human' species, that will bring us into a new time. The new landscape will be unimaginable in this Humanistic age, and 'Humanity' will become decentralized and disconnected from its surroundings. The new Post-Human will not be the central figure in a dawn of enlightenment, as all matter, all energy, all atoms, and all forms of life will have equal significance and importance to perpetuate the flow of time.
The future, the progress, the energy of this new world will be shown by molecules, atoms, and particles floating about in time and space. In order to have change, we must develop a new vocabulary with patterns and rhythms that are aligned with mysterious origins that result in unexplained but states that are intrinsic to our existence.
View more of Paul F. Yount's work HERE