Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder
Work in progress
The Magic Flute is a project I’m currently re-visiting and re-imagining. This project is based on images of stars, galaxies and nebulas captured from the Hubble Space Telescope, which I then manipulated to form the character designs. This process is similar to staring at clouds and seeing images appear. The process almost has a will of it’s own, and my job as the artist is to let my intuition and subconscious guide me, drawing out the designs from the marks on the page.
The inspiration behind this design came from the libretto describing the Queen of the Night’s arrival and departure:
“Darkness; the Queen appears from beneath the mountains amid thunder
and lightning…. She disappears amid more rolls of thunder, with
her Ladies. The light is restored.”
The sheer magnitude of her passion and power, which is so awe inspiring that the heavens and earth separate for her, along with the star imagery, lead me to look at photographs of stars for inspiration.
I’m became interested in re-visiting this project while investigating new printing methods, which would create larger, more vibrant renderings. I envision this project being printed on a large scale and hung so that viewer’s silhouettes could be seen as they move through the exhibit, perhaps listening to music from The Magic Flute.