STORY

It all started with a blinding flash of light, or more specifically spotting a blue square ahead of the chest area of someone chairing a meeting  which I attended, more than twenty years ago.

I had been observing these flashes, light, energies  all my life and I could never figure them out.

But on this day after I had seen ‘the blue square’  my friend at the meeting said “isn’t it fantastic he is doing this work, given that the chairmen has just had triple by-pass surgery!”

My a-ha moment!!

I understood this ‘blue square’ was ‘the memory in process’ – i reterm today aetheric energy – of this operation. Square for surgical human impact, this blue for profound and massive healing. The size and position determined by the place of the incision.

And I looked and looked for evidence from others in the current society for this knowledge and discovered it is lost knowledge, know by everyone through ‘vibe’ and ‘karma’ and described in its complexity, by no one.

LOOKING

When you are looking for knowledge one of the good places to go to is a university. You would think! Having gained a Masters in Politics I then decided to train at Chelsea College of Art, London (with Terry Frost, Virgina Verran and associated with Joshua Compston) which was magnificent.

But no one would engage with aetheric content. The gorgeous heady mix of the divine alchemised in the arts and sciences was and still is in fact Taboo.

I found that

“Strong scepticism remains about alternative dimensions or realities in society. Openly people are reticent to discuss their esoteric beliefs. Scientists openly disassociate their findings from aetheric thinking, whilst most artists are keen to ignore this area of their practice.” The First Book of Aethericism

To counteract these outdated research methods, to network with thousands of like-minded individuals not scared of aetheric content I founded www.aetheric.life

Aetheric.life is a gathering of individuals from diverse backgrounds who wish to renew the vibrant relationship between the Arts, Sciences and the Divine within the academic, professional and public arenas. 

My hope with aetheric life is by showing the many thousands of individuals interested in an aetheric life the taboo will be broken and the conversation opened. A dynamic creativity will flower with deep roots in responsive-inclusive relationships in all the major disciplines.

Aetheric painter in hiding

After Chelsea I continued to produce work and held two very successful solo shows at Spitalfields Gallery – ‘Paradise on Earth’ and ‘Money ‘at Zetland Gallery, Shoreditch.

However the resistance to aetheric content put me into hiding and I worked on the concepts for this collection in secret.

The Second Book of The Aetheric Movement shows 35 of the collection ‘an aetheric collection, Celebrities and Icons?’. There are now 100 paintings in the entire ‘an aetheric collection’.

To see more of the collection please go to www.degard.org

Intent – Why?

Celebrities ?

have a magnetism – their aura pure creates a special kind of energy which makes us happy, excites us. Even the most dur and sceptical of us when meeting a celebrity will ‘wake’ up.

The aetheric content – the aura pure is where I wish to direct the viewer’s attention and consequently their imagination. To engage with the concepts and conversation of this massive complex aura.

Portraits ?

Easy reading for the viewer – desire to NOT be obscure. The concept of visionary is hard enough to promote without creating a level of obscurity. I have an entire collection of early work based on obscure shamanic abstract work (the paintings Joshua Compston saw and loved but most viewers just walked on by at my shows – look + not engage + repeat! – horrible experience for an artist)

I want the work to seem to be easily readable, attractive, magnetic, even ‘pretty’ at times.

I do not want to do battle with the portrait. I can paint portraits but portraits often do not quite ‘get’ the individual. Portraits have their own set of battles.

My intent is to move the viewer to consideration of the aura pure of that individual.

All the photos are magnificent already

Photography ?

I choose the photos very carefully to ensure that the celebrity looks exactly like the caricature in my mind of that celebrity. Many stars have very few photos of them that ‘look like their screen persona’, of them. Seems astonishing!

Photos ?

Clarity of ‘reading’ is very important to me – I hate the response – I don’t understand it – I don’t get it (for many reasons)  We ‘read’ photos quickly and so, they are consumed, potentially discarded. I want the viewer to be allowed to grasp the image, the whole painting. Therefore ‘consuming’ the imagery of the known individual is a designed hook. People can ‘get into’ my work very quickly via the celebrity and then the engagement starts. Then can ‘get’ it!

Once the engagement starts one can question back – how can a celebrity be, so able, to ‘hook’ a viewer?  To excite the viewer to question is a part of the work’s desire.

Referencing art history ?

I work with the process of referencing significantly, drawing often, on sources of aetheric art, throughout history.

Backgrounds ?

Hard won, worked up paintings – the viewing public have cried out and craved for work that is decently painted – where expertise is obvious – the painter’s hand in the work. I decided to give it to the public. Recognisable ART with a hand in it.

Desire to explore ?

The sparkle around stars involves my curiosity as it has done with hundreds of artists in the past; Warhol, Van Dyck, Holbein etc…  My questions aren’t for someone’s instant presentation only but also what does the aetheric energy of great perceived success look like? What does aetheric energy of extreme wealth, fame, depth of character, overdose, over doing it, invention, huge intellect, extreme happiness, extreme immediate success – just before the crucial goal – just after it – those moments – just then – what energies do people need, create, what aetheric ‘luckiness’ is involved –  what are these people conjuring to them to make their worlds, their very public worlds real to us?