Absorption (cubes and spheres) (1979)

Starting from solid matter, a sphere of space gradually swallows it from the inside, ending with nothing.  Or read the other way, nothingness is contained within matter.

There is an ancient symbolism found in many religions and frames of knowledge in which the square (or cube) represents matter, and the circle (or sphere) represents the spirit. (For example temples based on the square, surmounted by a dome, or Pierro della Francesca's Baptism of Christ in the London National Gallery, or the symbolism of alchemy). Consequently, like much of my later work, this piece also alludes to the relation of spirit and matter, or mind and physical universe. The mind contains the world and matter contains the spirit.