Literature

Rory Doepel (1993) Karel Nel: Transforming Symbols, Johannesburg: Foundation for the Creative Arts, illustrated in colour on page 12.

Notes

In the Eastern and Western esoteric literature, emphasis is placed on concepts of energy, with reference to consciousness and self-transformation through meditation and visualisation. The Arcane School emphasises the importance of the science of energy flow and energy relationships, and advocates control of energy, a formulation which is central to some Oriental meditation practices. Energy, the underlying principle in life and matter (in the mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms) is a major theme in Karel Nel's work, evidenced in abstract geometric forms, such as a rotating circular form, but also energised landscapes, such as Point Reyes (Berkeley) (1989). In Nel's work, colour, line and mark - codes - function as equivalents for and simultaneously in matter, and the energy experienced with shifts in consciousness - the energies referred to in the literature on mysticism, and numerous esoteric texts.

Rory Doepel