7- “Mystic Joy” - by artist Stephen Yarbrough - multi media on paper - 48”x36” -June 2014. (Available) What is it like to look, to really LOOK, at the small moments, the cracks and the wrinkles, and to see joy there? This year, my favorite moments have been times spent in the natural world, next to a creek somewhere, with my young children digging in the sand or discovering something new. Or a relaxing conversation with my wife out on the back porch (though those have been hard to come by, since we’re both stressed and overworked, most of the time.) In this piece, “Mystic Joy,” I particularly like the moments of overlap and disconnect. I was trying here to make meaning with mundane symbols, alongside my other artistic project, but I feel that it also has a degree of “deconstructing reality” here. The use of moving pieces around. The multi-media aspects, mixing things together. This was one of the first uses of the sea star, which continues to show up in my work as a reference object. I can’t really tell you why that is. Maybe it has to do with its bigger, identifiable form, contrasted with smaller moments of interesting surface variations. Maybe it somehow reflects my own sense of self to me. Maybe it’s the simple fact that I used it in this early, beloved piece of mine. I still feel the ‘mystic joy’ in this piece, coming from a time when I was just finding my artistic voice and style. It reminds me of an important part of myself. And I need that, especially in these other times and days when my life feels like it has been falling apart.
