Inspired by the primal unity, the source of heaven and earth from which multiplicity developed, the subject of One and Many is a drop of blood, which represents the “one” as a symbol of life. The universal One can also be perceived as the Creator outside the artwork. It is shown exploding into multiple droplets of life, similar to the multitude of planets, moons and stars. The entire cosmos, like the drop of life, is of divine creation.

The window frame splits the ego and the consciousness, separating the spectator of the artwork from the world seen through the window. This duality is also present between the earthly and celestial images. While matter and spirit are of the same energy, they have different densities, with the soul flowing from one to the other and back again.

Is the psyche one or multiple? Is the psyche identical to the world or not? Are the world and God one and the same? Whether “yes” and/or “no,” I believe that all supporting explanations to those answers have merit. Most of us realize the absurdity of the fragmentation so common in our present society. I observe and experience a strong attraction towards the alternative: the longing for wholeness. Beyond the psychological, philosophical and ecological issues, there is also an incessant quest for a spiritual synthesis. The fundamental dialectic inherent in my artwork highlights the relationship between the serenity of the celestial heaven and the earthly drama resulting from the exploding drop of life.

One and Many thus represents an endless philosophical debate. Over time, while philosophers proposed monist, dualist and pluralist theories of substance, religions offered monotheist and polytheist answers to the essential spiritual quest. After thousands of years of philosophy and religions, why is the world still so confused?

Our world is filled with dualities: spectator and spectacle, earth and heaven, soul and world. The common feeling in many dualistic philosophies is the sadness resulting from this division. At the highest end of the spectrum of the division between the one and the many we find the duality between the soul and God.

God and soul? Body and soul? Body and spirit? God and world? Men and world? Soul and psyche? One or many? If there were correct resolutions to those dualities, we would surely know by now. Since the most remarkable thinkers of our civilization have been and remain divided on those issues, perhaps a pluralist approach is the only reasonable choice because it includes both one and many.

Today, with destruction and violence everywhere, our collective soul is in great pain. Our suffering results from these dualities. We sometimes forget that each of us is responsible for all of us. The one belongs to the many and vice-versa. By integrating opposites, the road to individuation becomes a pluralist idea based on the search for wholeness and inclusiveness.