THE STRUGGLE OF JACOB the-struggle-of-jacob | Page 36

Initially I thought to make these
three lines vertical to simulate
the triptych itself: the unbroken
line corresponding to the
position of that painting
in the triptych.
It was only during the phase of execution, at the last moment,
that I thought to rotate them through 90° anticlockwise and
make them horizontal, because they would be linked to another
my significant theme, the I KING (I CHING), the ancient Chinese
Book of Changes.
In this text the various circumstances of life are represented by
64 hexagrams, that is, all the possible combinations of 6
unbroken lines (the male principle, yang) or broken (female
principle, yin). Standing above these are the 8 trigrams
associated with the 8 archetypes equivalent to the figures of the
father, mother, three sons and three daughters.
KKIENN: Heaven;
the father;
creative; strong. KKUNN: Earth;
the mother;
receptive; devotion.
CENN: Thunder;
the eldest son;
exciting; movement. SUNN: Wind;
the eldest daughter;
gentle; penetrating.
KKANN: Water;
the middle son;
abysmal; danger. LI: Fire;
the middle daughter;
clinging; standing out.
KENN: Mountain;
the younger son;
keeping still; quiet. TUI: Lake;
the younger daughter;
serenity; joyous.
Therefore, in the seals of the triptych, to signify the sequence of
the paintings, there are the trigrams of the three male sons
which correspond remarkably with the contents:
- in the first the physical encounter is associated with thunder,
- in the second the verbal confrontation with the danger of water,
- in the third the catharsis with the placid elevation of the
mountain.
The last touch, as planned, were the blurred red trails
positioned high up, to reference and balance the presence
of the red marks lower down.