Being Visible: The Star Matrix Cover & A Personal r[E]volution

I have spent more than four decades "hiding behind" my art.

An actual social media pic from 2006!!!

Of course, with art itself that is super easy - focus on the picture, the sculpture, the artefact.

You won't even notice the artist sliding away into the shadows ...

As an author and writer and sometimes even poet, that's even more pronounced. Mostly there's not even a little head shot of the artist on the cover anywhere.

Well, that's one of those things.

It has serious downsides.

And here we cross over into my other estates, those of being a developer of patterns and a writer of technical manuals on how to make people happier.

Here, my lack of visibility had some serious downsides, most importantly that I and my work became too many people's "secret weapon" - I was making it way too easy to hide the fact that I had done the work, and therefore, didn't receive the credit I deserved.

It's one of those things though.

The artist is who makes the art, and the art doesn't make sense without the artist.

There is a reason why people collect "Picassos" rather than just collecting colourful paintings with lots of angles in them per se.

Especially in this modern age, that personal touch, the personal recognition, is of the essence; with social media, you need "visibility."

Social media has had many bad side effects, but it also had some good ones, and this visibility business is one of them.

We want to know the "real person behind the mask" now, we expect this.

We want to see who's doing this, who is saying this, who that is.

And that's a really good thing.

Slowly, this started to sink in and under the excuse that I am taking "provenance photos" I started to make sure there would be an image of me with what I had made on the first sunrise after it was completed.

It is an interesting thing, standing by your art, and it took a long time to get there.

And now, the books.

I am in the happy position to choose my own cover art.

So for r[E]volution, I decided to put myself on the cover for the first time.

Now we know who is talking here, there can be no mistake any longer.

I think that's the right way to go.

I also enjoyed creating what are essentially self portraits; I think of these much in the vein of explorers of old who would pose with a compass, a map and a globe, so that folk would know they were explorers, for their grand oil paintings.

In these two cover images, I am thoroughly enjoying holding up two works of art; the gold leafed E for r[E]volution, and the core symbol for Star Matrix, the MirrorMan.

What I am trying to tell folk is that these highly technical information manuals about human emotions, behaviour and memory wouldn't even be here at all if their creator had not been an artist; that "art" is important for evolution, for bringing in new ideas. That you actually cannot do revolutionary science without art, if you want to phrase it that way.

"Art" provides us with a way to access wisdom, information and knowledge that cannot be had in any other way. It certainly cannot be had by just talking and thinking with the conscious mind.

You need art for new ideas. Especially so you can break out of old brainwashing, misunderstandings, or to discover things that were entirely overlooked before.

Lastly, by creating two self portraits with art, I feel I can both place the aspects in the right time and context, as well as honour them for their contributions.

The pictures are both non-photoshopped, non-touched up, non-make up or concealer of the aspects who created the work. That seems only right and fair.

It'll be interesting to find out what future covers will be like; these are special to exactly this time, this space, and yes, I absolutely consider them works of art in their own right, proper self portraits in their rightful sense.

The r[E]volution 2 cover:

r[E]volution 2nd edition cover featuring the GoE E and Silvia Hartmann

(and a reference to The Heart of Gold and the essential Heart Position from Modern Energy)

 

Star Matrix The eBook Cover featuring Silvia Hartmann & The MirrorMan (twice!)

 

The personal joy is that I am not hiding behind my work any longer. I am side by side with it, showing us both, because we belong together.

I wish earlier aspect could have done this. I would have loved to have seen the younger ones with their art, their work. But hey!

It's never to late to become visible in your own incarnation!

 Silvia Hartmann, August 2020

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May 2023 Update

Work has started on the international book shops. In order to get the translated titles onto book images, a new design format was needed.

Following on from the insight three years ago, it was decided to theme all the books like this.

Here is the first draft/concept art for the main titles.

Now they will be tested as often, the translations are much longer than the original English, to see if they will fit, and the designs adjusted.

As an idea, I like it.

International Bookshops 1st Concept Strip 2023

Infinite Creativity International 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Get r[E]volution FREE here
• Star Matrix The eBook

• FREE 4 Part Visibility Course For GoE Members