Pearls and Pomegranates, Meanings and Interpretations.




I think its rad that pomegranate’s symbolize fertility, temptation, and death. also so people have speculated that it was Eden’s fruit of knowledge, if you compare the former meanings with the fact that it is considered the fruit of knowledge and not immortality, its pretty safe to say it is a fruit that symbolizes the temptation/choice to be part of the living/dying world, or our reality, rather than remaining “pure” innocent/separate from it. i wonder if anyone else picks up on that?

There are two basic drives that are first to develop in our brains, the pause to check drive, and the drive to seek out stimulation/take risks. this basic yes/no  system that we have perpetuated in computers, is also fundamental to all aspects of our perceptions,  it is a duality which  manifests into the interpretation of most religions. abstain/partake, may be the most basic conflict to our beings but i highly doubt one finite choice was meant to lead to enlightenment or god. it is vital to our survival that we develop the drive to seek out and take risks hoping to gain food or learn by what we encounter. and luckily we can also draw on a deep well of collective learning to help us along the way. but i stress the word DRAW, rather than the word “follow”  the first step to enlightenment i think aught to be conscienceness.

 I think people aught to be more conscious about a lot of things, what they eat, where their stuff comes from and where it goes when we’re done with it. I try to never buy things new, but i still eat Carl’s Jr. every now and again, however  if we are at least aware of what we are doing that is a huge step forward. you enter a world dominated by choice and not reaction.  For better or for worse we will and must choose to partake. That is what it is to live.

When I depict pearls and pomegranates in my paintings I am drawing on my own idea of how we are exposed to experience and how we perceive it. A pearl is a precious thing, it also symbolizes purity and wisdom, but its physical structure also mirrors the onion theory, and its process also mirrors lessons learned by other people and experience that was hurtful or uncomfortable (i am still uncomfortable using the word negative in this application), which over time was processed  into a refined idea , with layers upon layers of that beings thoughts and after thoughts on anything you can possibly relate to that first irritant. You can take that metaphor, considering also farmed and fake pearls to explore the nature of “truth” and its acceptance and value. 

You can be given a pearl, or find it yourself  and consider it when making decisions of action, but the Pomegranates also represent the aspect of action , It is both object of potential, and the action itself.It is the will to live, the libido, and its fruit [the consequence].  I feel like regret belongs more to the fruit than the pearl, mostly on account, that i connect regret with a reaction, that reaction being the discomfort that inspires a need for understanding and the formation of ideas and lessons.

So  goes the symbolism of two elements in my art, and like any semiotic interpretation, you must also consider the objects in relation to each other. I hope to do some more writing on other elemnts in my work but thats all for now!