Blue Mormon "Enantiodromia"

JESSE WAUGH
BLUE MORMON "ENANTIODROMIA"
2018
OIL AND GANSAI ON CANVAS
41 X 33 CM

Enantiodromia is a Jungian term for extremes becoming their opposites - a form of equilibrium where the pushing of something to its extreme causes it to flip directions and become that to which it was formerly opposed. I believe that this phenomenon is happening to humanity worldwide right now, in that extremism has reached its natural end point, and will therefore force itself to change poles.

Blue Mormon Papilio polymnestor is a swallowtail butterfly found in India. My parents saw one recently and told me about it. Beautiful indeed! 

I experimented using gansai - a sort of gummy Japanese paint which is still new to us outside Japan - over the grisaille underpainting. It worked when I let it dry and spread it around. The colors are brilliant, but oil glazes have better adherence.

This source image is a photograph by Srikrishna D.