As Above, So Below
For centuries, astrology has fascinated humankind. The zodiac remains our original psychological profiling tool. The dense imagery of the practice, passed down through the ages, is dicey territory for artists. To be taken seriously, a fine artist must avoid kitsch; illustrating the signs of the horoscope is inevitably an exercise in kitchiness.
But Terri Lloyd goes beyond illustration in these paintings. With a deep comprehension of the personality types each zodiac sign encompasses, she renders the positive and negative attributes as separate sides of the same coin. On arched surfaces, scenes that recall Salvador Dali’s vast landscapes depict the fruitful and intolerable aspects of each sign. And yet, absent the referent, these remain glorious allegorical paintings, sensitively assembled. These paintings tell us who we are and, in their disciplined approach, remind us of what we can become.
—Mat Gleason
As Above, So Below is an, original quirky, and entertaining reinterpretation of the Zodiac. Mudras (gestures) replace constellations in a cosmic sleight of hand, while the positive and negative traits of each sign are portrayed in two-panel ersatz fairy tales.
As with the Mudras body of work, scenes are set against backdrops of what could be described as a sort of Zen Surrealism. Compositions host a subtle yet lyrical meticulousness. Key elements are recognizable throughout much of my work: a simple vertical three panel layout, sky at top, horizon line and ground. My palette within a series tends to be rigorous. Action, much like thought occurs on both upper and lower planes of the image.