Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery
438 Union Avenue, 718-383-7309
Williamburg
September 16 - October 22, 2006
Reception: Friday, September 15, 7 - 9 PM
Web Site
The Struggle of the Magicians, by Timothy Marvel Hull features graphite and ink drawings on paper, wall diagrams, video and sound, and will have atmospheric elements to heighten the mystical placement of visitors to the gallery.
The Struggle of the Magicians explores the ideas, personality, environment and audience that surround the mystical thinker and orator, G.I. Gurdjieff (1877-1949). Rather than an indictment or a celebration of Gurdjieff, this project is a view into the dynamics of the cult of personality, the plausability of esoteric knowledge, notions of orientalism, charismatic icons, diagrams and mysticism. Gurdjieff can be seen as a point of departure in understanding these concepts.
Hull uses Gurdjieff as a symbol or an indicator for the incidence of new age gurus and the search for truth? and reality? vis-a-vis Eastern knowledge in early Twentieth Century Europe. Through a multitude of formal techniques, mediums, and art practices, the work seeks to analyze and historically contextualize the milieu of Mr. Gurdjieff. This process includes the complex conceptualization of mystical identity, patterning as reference point and metaphor, spiritual collectives, and revisionist cultural history. Pulling from sundry strands of references, the work seeks to be evocative of a particular era and feeling creating new associations either linked to or wholly inconsequential to the subject matter.