I can't say else than, even with tens of minutes, this illustration couldn't appear crystal clear to me... At all.
Yes, staring at the whole can give sensations, feelings, a kind of rather indetermined emotion (basic). There's an atmosphere. Looking at it can be pleasant, or intriguing, or mystical.
But I still wonder if art can be unrelated with clear words, with thoughts, and, let's be sacrilege for some persons maybe : with very rationnal thinking.
For me, i can't see art if I can't understand and translate it into words.
Don't we say that an artwork speaks to us ?
So, I just listen to it.
And if it has real things to say to me, then I can tell "this is art".
Yet, "The Star" wasn't very talkative to me.
So, I prefer to say that I've played to invent an explanation/interpretation, rather than saying that I've understood it.
I (want to) see the allegory of someone having made half ot the path. Or half of a path.
Who is even "close to the goal", why not. We can consider phenomenons of changeovers exist in lots of domains, and it can happen that when you've done half of something... you get ALL very soon.
The various little curved lines in the picture symbolize the beginnings of the various understandings of the world, and particularly, the sense of being a human in this world. How do I explain life ? How do I, more, find a harmony between me and nature ?
(beyond bathing naked and immobile in front of a star in the sky)
(people are weird)
In that sense, the white and black dots are the elementary particles of these understandings that begin to organize themselves.
By the way, being only white or black, we can imagine they take birth purely in our good or bad experiences in this world.
(and this can easily relate at its fundamental bases emotion and reason, who can thus be seen of the same nature, the same origin)
So the character in the picture moves both bright and dark sides all around her (certainly from her too), from which she's splashed with lots of drops/dots, that then trickles on her body in more constituted objects : little curved lines of water.
Of water.
At this point, i can't do else but very strongly think at that other painting : En-Trance.
Such a similar theme...
Mm... what was I saying ?...
Yes : it seems that the curve, the round, are forms that contain some achievement, wholeness, harmony... Or a part of...
A part, because straight lines can also be one part, the other part of what we are searching for.
I'll come back to it.
So, having the hands and the body in the direct contact of the world, the character tend to come to more defined, and particularly, more round things... before she can come to a more square mind.
(yes, the curved and the straight lines love themselves.
So do rounds and squares, and spheres and cubes)
You can see that, beyond being already very round herself, the character stirs the water/world so as to make her a kind of wedding dress.
She's prepared to marry.
To marry with the star.
Or rather, with her goal.
Because the star has become close now, and enough to see it as round too, and not a simple dot in the sky.
The new clarity : stars too are like us, and we from now start to understand them. And to know how similar we are.
They're consitituted of inner circular streams (and that's sure a scientific knowledge too), they are round, of course, and this is where I wanted to come back, previously : they yet can have very straight properties, such their rays, here pictured.
In the painting, the star is both made of curved lines, and straight ones.
So is the character, being round in her round dress, and yet, standing very straight in the direction of the star.
We could say she irradiates too, with this main ray (she being standing) directed towards the star.
And the dress is a sphere from the same nature of the sphere of the star.
I say "same nature", because ths is not a path to escape from this world where we make our transcendental and spiritual experiences, and then reach the stars, leaving here dirty or dark or black things.
We have the idea that we are stars too, only because we can experience it it this world. If not, we would feel nothing.
In that sense, the moutain pictured ahead is another symbol : the star is now very close ; but we have to look at it and enjoy it in our terrestrial world.
Always climbing higher.
Because, particularly : aside with dark ones, good and bright and white things also belong to this world.
Which rather gives hope for our human life, no ?
That's good news!
You know, I was once asked by someone why always spheres and round shapes, why never any cubes and boxes?
This was actually not entirely true, but true enough, as it referred to my paintings from a certain period (of several consecutive years). That question inspired me to a drawing, however my state of mind while drawing was, albeit somewhat curious, also quite disinterested. It was rather a "There you go! A box! Now back to..."
How often does nature create boxes?
Regarding playing to invent an interpretation, could it be that playing is always involved, at least to some degree?
Playing to create art, playing to see art...
Thank you for the extended story and musings on this card Chris! I'll read it again a bit later, and may have more to add then.