NEW VISION OF A MASTERPIECE

Around 1492, Leonardo da Vinci sketched a diagram of the harmony inherent in physical human proportions. Vitruvian Man is not only considered a touchstone of High Renaissance art, it is also widely regarded as an example of perfect geometric balance. More than five centuries later, Serge Polakoff, a contemporary artist, psychologist, astrologer and engineer, created his own vision of man’s mathematical consonance. The resulting digitally-created work of art is titled Body, Psyche and Soul.

Da Vinci’s Man has two physical centers: the center of the circle, located in the man’s belly, and the center of the square, located in his genitals. With a dynamic relationship between the circle and the square, Leonardo created a geometrically symbolic expression of man’s physiology.

In Polakoff’s work, the stylized helical DNA pattern bordering the figure similarly represents man’s physical body, however, other elements expound upon this by indicating para-physiological aspects of being (essentially picking up where da Vinci left off). In particular, the yin and yang motif inside the sphere of the figure’s head symbolizes the psyche; the numinous blue halo centered in his heart goes yet a step further in signifying his soul. Together, they indicate the psychological and spiritual dimensions — two necessary components of a holistic being.

In the spirit of the Renaissance master, this new graphic coalescence is the product of intensive research and reflection. “In studying similar schemata from various world philosophies, I recognized correlations between human physical constructs and certain spiritual traditions,” notes Polakoff.

By way of example, he observed that DNA, the definitive road map of the physical body, has a mystical counterpart in the I Ching, the Chinese book of wisdom. He points to an interesting correspondence between the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching and the 64 protein combinations of the DNA. Could the interaction of those two templates be the basis for a mathematical map of the soul?

Further investigation reveals a similar correspondence between the four centers of being — body, mind, heart and soul — and the East Indian belief in chakras, or energy centers, located in the body at the "root" (genitalia), solar plexus, heart and brow. Those same centers also mirror Carl Jung’s four functions (sensation, thinking, feeling and intuition) as well as the four elements (earth, air, water and fire) and the four worlds of the soul as denoted in the mystical Kabbalah (action, formation, creation and emanation).

In this digital painting, Serge Polakoff delineates a new holistic vision of man by modernizing Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece.