aqua regia

"AI, Digital. 4K.

In Alchemy, the pursuit of the "Magnum Opus," by which both enlightenment and immortality might be obtained, is reached through a series of chemical phases, each associated with a particular color.

Aqua Regia, from the Latin, "Royal Water," is the phase in which gold is dissolved into a liquid solution. Esoterically, this represents the soul being "dissolved" of impurities to allow access to the higher self.

For the artist, this piece symbolizes the transmutation of envy into action--of want into ambition--of "lack" into empowerment. The figure is touched with a transcendent light and is part of a story larger than itself.

This work is composed of thousands of images via Artificial Intelligence, with both digital and hand-drawn elements. In this way, it exists collaboratively between the human, the machine, and the transcendental. The figure remains faceless, as the identity is still forming--and will continue to form, until the Magnum Opus is complete."