Compound eye/"I" was inspired by my experiences with Buddhist cultures and their message of interconnectedness, fluidity (actually, nonexistence) of identity, the absorption of small self into the greater "I" (i.e. awareness), its request for us to look clearly, to polish the lens and tread lightly…messages that speak to, and move me, on many levels. Artistically, I wanted to express all of this with Compound eye/I and a sister sculpture (as-yet unrealized: an elongated, androgynous contemplative figure), both surfaced with convex mirrors outside, plain mirror inside.
The compound eyes of insects, with multifaceted lenses forming a cohesive vision, and the Mandelbrot fractal, with nodes of connection into infinity, are metaphors for the same interconnectedness and all similar in form. Inside Compound eye/I, was an encircling net with faceted crystals, a literal (perhaps too...) expression of Indra's Net of Jewels, the great web of consciousness in which we are reflections of the other…no separation.
Voila, Compound eye/"I".