O Fortuna

This was intended as somewhat of a Platonic view of the Wheel of Fortune. The Wheel of Fortune was initially a Medieval theme that represented the cycle of nature or of destiny. The skulls on my wheel are the zodiacal animals, and represent the astrological cycle. Behind this is my figure of Sophia, which had been used before.

The view is that of the gnostics, which is that astrology and the effects of the planets are the arbiters of this physical existence, but that there exists a greater fullness beyond them and the rest of the perceptible world. This is why Sophia is here pulling back the curtain of the nighttime sky to reveal a greater light.

The name was suggested by a song from Karl Orf’s “Carmina Burana.”

 

Return to "O Fortuna."

 

(Paintings that feature the Sophia character are "The Thunder," "In The Beginning," "O Fortuna," and "Crucifixion.")