The Eye of the Beholder: On Our New Artist Galleries Section
Welcome back to this week’s Occult Library blog. This week’s post will help us to unveil and introduce the newest section of our site, namely the Artist Galleries space. This is a unique space in which we feature galleries containing viewable art pieces from notable artists in the occult community. There are a few aspects we’d like to explore and point out to you here.
Firstly, we’d like to discuss our purposes for including and adding this section.
While the addition of such a page was under consideration from our earliest inception, it became clear to us that it was particularly needed when considering the adjacent texts featured on the project. Many of these texts constitute works which contain the artists of the community. We strongly feel that due diligence for these artists is in order.
Consider, for example, the inimitable works of Benjamin A. Vierling. Based in California, Vierling’s work has been featured in a number of unique occult publications. Perhaps most notable, those of Three Hands Press. The recent Three Hands Press publication The Green Mysteries contains hundreds of vierlings illustrations – cover art, full color plates, accompanying designs, and even marginalia. One such piece is the formidable illustration entitled The Alchemist, Wahshiyya, seen below.
Benjamin A. Vierling. The Alchemist, Wahshiyya.
Benjamin A. Vierling cover art (Witch & The Devil) for Daniel Schulke’s Three Hands Press publication The Green Mysteries.
This work can be viewed on the Artist Galleries page, along with an expandable view, and information on the works media & dating.
As such, this section allows easy access to images, information, and appreciation of works which appear in our featured occult texts.
On the other hand, as standalone aspects, these artists and their works represent the best aesthetic expressions of the community. In this regard, we felt that including them would help to display, color, and enhance the overall sense for the milieu with which we are concerned.
The oft-veiled, and even ineffable, nature of occult experience lends itself heavily to visual art. Where words and phrases fail, expression finds life in the form of visual and aesthetic depictions. At once beautiful, enigmatic, and even terrifying, the visual culture of occultism offers an inroad to the experience of the unsayable.
Within our project, we felt that mere words and textual cataloging likewise failed at sufficiently representing the breadth & depth of the culture with which we are so concerned.
These are our guiding principles for including this section.
Thumbnails detailing the currently-listed artists on the section, and leading to individual pages containing their works.
As we continue with our project, users can expect more artists to be added. While this section of the site is brand new, we are immensely satisfied with the works we are privileged to have garnered thus far. All works are used with permission of the artists, some assisting and guiding us to aggregate their most notable, and even difficult-to-source, works.
As such, we would like to take this time to offer a world of immense gratitude to the artists who have given us the opportunity to display their work. We look forward to serving as a space to respectfully engage and appreciate it.
Continued updates mean that an extensive set of galleries will develop over time – perhaps the first of its kind in terms of artistic quality & diversity in a single location. Updates to this section will be included on our monthly email list, which we encourage all users to subscribe to for ongoing updates.
Continued blog posts will also contain artist features, interviews, and unique explorations into the process and works of the featured artists – work which we have already begun carrying out with authors and publishers in the community.
We are eager to share this section with you, and look forward to hearing about your viewership and the experience it garners.
Ever in the spirit of beauty and appreciation,
– The Occult Library Staff