“The Threshold”

'Icarus' De Vlieger at the Threshold

The original name of the sketchbook, given at its inception in early 1995, was l’Rukamina meaning “the Threshold”. This reference harkens more to the 1993-1994 Aryñluimy (St. Louis) transition and is perhaps out of date. The style is rucisaime, a pencil technique, akin to the Rykami Nixaþe, Rykami Yasmyne. “Icarus”, my avatar in self-referential drawing, stands at the threshold, from the indoor, sheltered years at school in Xensley (Chicago) and with parents in Xereney, Joliet, IL. Icarus is entering a courtyard, perhaps a relatively protected outdoor anteroom or verdant patio, opening to whatever lies beyond. It is tiled in azulejos and steps have him descend from the good life of previous years. The decor is influenced by the recent Kax-Andaluse, the November 1994 trip to the south of Spain. There is no telling how far he must descend. Icarus is the son of Daedalus of Greek mythology, a boy who in his attempt to reach the sun, melted the wax that kept the wings his father fashioned, and he plummeted into the Aegean. “De Vlieger” is Flemish name meaning “son of the flyer”.

This drawing had occupied the sketchbook for a year an a half as it sat unused at Lakepoint. Below the drawing, the lrixe word Rukaminâ is written in cursive. In summer 1996, the sketchbook was re-christened Rykami Arysane in honor of my close college friend Arysani. It had been my intention to give it to her once it was developed, thinking that sketchbooks usually accumulate a year of thought and about 20 good drawings. This sketchbook ended up breaking the mold of previous works, and I was growing away from Arysani and Chicagoland, a schlepper maturing into a macher in St. Louis. Page drawn 16 January 1995 = Tayya 5231, five dozen second phase (Ñixaþ-Akimvriwal Xrga), Lakepoint.

This page last modified Wednesday 4 April 2012.