HENOSIS

Henonis

This ongoing series of drawings is a narrative of contrasting elements. It records an artist’s observation of dualities: the glowing neon light–darkness dyad, captured in the drawing of a figure holding up a bar of light, for instance, or the symmetry of a one-headed twin, in the work representing two female figures. The building blocks of our universe are made up of combinations of matter, enabling us to perceive reality through the coupling of elements.

Noppen contrasts this order of things by showing us the paradoxical nature of our mind with its endless yearning for union, for becoming one. He draws human displacement and its everlasting search for unity in all things. In this cycle, Noppen underscores the failure of man to become Monad (one), but it is the psychology of perseverance, of ‘going on despite knowing one will fail’, that fascinates the artist here. Noppen uses light, symbols and symmetry in the positioning of the bodies, often employed to depict the ambrosial, to make us aware of how easily we can be deceived. But what the artist really wants to show us is that ultimately the desire and attempt to reach the supreme is what renders our existence tragic.