main website

Artist Statement

Psychopompos are spirits from the non-visible world that have the ability to cross between the barrier that separates the visible and non-visible worlds. In Christianity one thinks of Angels and Saints appearing to the blessed- for the Ancient Greeks Hermes was the messenger between the worlds. All cultures and civilizations allow for some sort of method of communication between the realm of the living, and the world that exists outside of time. As a mediator between the conscious and unconscious realms, the psychopomp can restore psychic order and bring forth a deeper level of consciousness and clarity, and ultimately help us come to peace with the sublime mystery of existence.

 I believe in a Shamanistic and Alchemical art that can act in this way. The painting is an intermediate agent negotiating the liminal space between the everyday and the Archetypal; a reconciliation of the Sacred and the Profane. One may look into the painting, but the painting looks back; a strange mirror of hidden desire, a vision of striking clarity, a confrontation with our collective memory. The forms in my work are foreign and familiar, Universal and particular. Painting can be a type of magic if we give it enough space and a little silence. 

Jacques de Beaufort

bio/cv

main website