Myron Conan Dyal and Christopher Ulrich: Alchemy, Love, and “The Reckoning”

Posted by

Sunday night mystic sculptor Myron Conan Dyal and painter Christopher Ulrich discussed their art, creativity, alchemy, religion, and love at La Luz de Jesus, further illuminating both artists’ works; Dyal has shown before at La Luz, and Ulrich’s monumental “The Christ Chronocator Series III: The Reckoning,” the final chapter in Ulrich’s six-year odyssey, the Demoneater Saga, is currently hanging  through December 30.

With an audience that included author Lori Nyx; artists Jennifer Jelenski, Chad Schoonover, and Vega; curator/journalist Dahlia Jane, and Ulrich’s very cool father, Dyal delved into the dogma of religions, his past, how letting go of his anger towards his brutal, fundamentalist parents changed his life, and the alchemical journey. His main message: Love–love is consciousness. And he reminded the audience that

Nothing is nothing. Nothing is some thing. All of our processes are form nothing, something.

Dyal and Ulrich are close friends and spend a lot of time discussing art, creativity and process. Ulrich began his discussion of his work with the theme of love as well:

Play the heart card, especially when someone is nailing you with a spade.

He spoke of his own struggles with anger, anger at himself, with others; and anger that his paintings would not conform to what his vision was, that they took on a life of their own, pointing out the six toes on one of Christ’s feet in “Crucifixion,” which happened accidentally, without his conscious knowledge:

I painted the bones, I painted the veins, I painted the flesh. And then as we were going through the works for the gallery, I saw it. And then I saw what I had painted about the the cross: U.R.I.T.  You are it! Not the old I.N.R.I., Jesus King of the Jews, but You Are It. All debts are settled…And in Last Supper, the center element is a heart, the arches the pillar, down to the dragon.

Along with contemplating the need for heart, intent, and truth in art (what is the difference between Van Gogh and a painter who is technically supberb, yet misses the mark, doesn’t resonate?), Ulrich delved into his agonies using a blowtorch on his works to complete them, the struggles of creation, and the pain and ultimate resolution of being able to say to someone and/or to one’s self:

I can love you, but if you can’t love yourself, I can’t go any further.

Watch for our upcoming interview with Ulrich in which we’ll go deeper into his art, his creative processes, the symbolism of the works, his influences and much more.  “The Reckoning” moves the viewer through the zodiac, through the planets, through religious and mythological elements, and personal transformations that are intimate and hidden, yet universal.

Christopher Ulrich, “The Reckoning”
Through December 30
La Luz de Jesus
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90027
323-666-6776
Open Monday-Wednesday 11am-7pm; Thursday-Saturday 11am-9pm; Sunday, noon-6pm

Gallery director Matt Kennedy surveys Dyal’s lecture from on high.

 

Myron Conan Dyal’s “Charon’s Pantheon” recently showed at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.

Christopher Ulrich, flanked by da Vinci and Jesus, with the dragon of awareness, from his “The Last Supper.”

The rapt audience included Dahlia Jane, Chad Schoonover, Jennifer Jelenski, and Ulrich’s father.

Shoonover (far left) and Jelenski (far right) with “Crucifixion.”

Vega

Dahlia Jane (left) and Ulrich’s father (center).

Author Lori Nyx with “Armadgeddon.” She and fellow author Denise Dumars spent time with Ulrich discussing the myth of Horus and Set, depicted here.

Jesus, he has six toes on his left foot!

Leave a Reply