Enigma. n. Greek, αἴνιγμα, ainigma, “obscure saying, riddle, mystery”
That which communicates the inexplicable
Divination. n. Latin, divinare, “to be inspired by God”
The art of invoking unknown knowledge.
Wondering Stars (2021) explores music, visual art, and poetry through a personal dream-derived divination system. The first in a series of related works, this exhibition features emblematic drawings (alcohol ink on paper) and corresponding musical meditations for guitar (audio recording), as well as documentary video and materials related to the creative process.
Inspired by his ongoing dreamwork as well as studies in esoteric divination traditions, Matt has been developing an emblematic divination system over the last 6 years. Rather than prophesy the future, he employs divination methods to hone his intuition through a symbolic structure of geometric enigmas.
Using a geometric array, crafted from a discarded Amazon box, Matt tosses two beans, randomly selecting two geometric pairs. These resulting pairs then form a single geometric emblem--one of 81 "wondering stars"--which serves as a focus for enigmatic meditation. Within each emblem there are hidden symbolic connections, spontaneous verse forms, colors, pitches—any or all of which may guide meditation and the creative process. Image, sound, and idea then mutually inspire one another. Wondering S tars presents two audio-visual emblematic explorations, as well as a series of related hand drawn eggs.
Matt Marble (b. 1979, MS) is an artist, esotericist, and writer currently living in Greensboro, NC.