:: 2005 :: 59cm x 84cm :: Inks and Markers on Card ::
This vision of the Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve are fused together has been rendered in an overtly stylistic fashion which is strongly influenced by Classical Toltec and Aztec art styles. Flanked by two Toltec Bird warriors, who act as gateposts into the mystery within, we see the 'Yellow Brick Road' leading towards a pyramid or pedestal on which can be seen Life-And-Death-Entwined. At the left, Life points towards the rising Sun in the east from a fertile and green landscape. At right, death indicates the setting moon in a dead landscape which is dry and brown. There are also a couple of Japanese influences here, though they are implied rather than explicit: the notion of two gatekeepers is directly inspired by the two gatekeepers Fear and Desire at the temple of Todaiji in Nara city, and the line crossing the inner sanctum roughly seven-eighths the way down represents a shimenawa, a delineation between the sacred and the profane. This point is underscored by the presence also of the river.
