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Death Valley Sand Dunes, IV, Nevada | Hexagram #42 – I/Increase
Death Valley Sand Dunes, IV, Nevada | Hexagram #42 – I/Increase
Death Valley Sand Dunes, IV, Nevada | Hexagram #42 – I/Increase

Death Valley Sand Dunes, IV, Nevada | Hexagram #42 – I/Increase

Artist (American, born 1951)
Date1999 (printed 2006)
MediumGelatin silver print, with printed text panel
DimensionsImage (a): 10 3/4 × 4 in. (27.3 × 10.2 cm)
Support (a): 11 3/8 × 4 5/8 in. (28.9 × 11.7 cm)
Mat (a): 22 × 18 in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm)
Image (b (Text)): 14 9/16 × 3 5/8 in. (37 × 9.2 cm)
Support (b): 21 7/8 × 7 in. (55.6 × 17.8 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Robert and Kathleen Siebel, 2018
Object number2018.23.5ab
Descriptiona.) Vertical close-up of sand dune with patterns created by the environment, in this case, a strong vertical shape at right with three landscape with large rock formation filling foreground from left edge to approximately center. Along front of composition are trees. Background shows what looks like a distant rock formation and sky. b.) Hexagram #42 – I/Increase
eMuseum Notes

              益


42


I | INCREASE



Iching-hexagram-42.svg


SUN | The Gentle, Wind


                                                             CHÊN | The Arousing, Thunder



                                                              Thunder and wind increase,


strengthening each other


Observe and imitate


Abandon evil, embrace good


There is great energy for worthwhile endeavors


Progress and successful development


All can benefit.

Hexagram #42


The I Ching or the Book of Changes is the study of nature, its natural processes, and the study of human nature. Its teachings are based on observation of the natural world, of observing the flow of natural processes and time and taking those observations to human behavior, to learn beneficial ways of responding to situations.

It is universal, speaking to all of humanity, yet at the same time, it is highly individualized as it is directed towards the one person who is consulting it. It is a personal questioning with a universal answer. Although its knowledge is directed towards the one individual consulting it, it is not for the individual alone. It is holistic. It’s basis is the interconnectedness of nature and man. Everything is connected to the earth and mankind as each one influences the other.

The I Ching consists of 64 Hexagrams (consisting of 6 broken or unbroken lines), made by combining 2 trigrams (three broken or unbroken lines). Each Hexagram denotes an idea, for instance, the first hexagram Ch’ien – the Creative – Heaven, is a double trigram of Heaven – 3 unbroken lines repeated. The 2nd HexReceptiveun – The Recpetive – Earth, is also a double trigram of Earth, 3 broken lines. There are 8 double hexagrams in the I Ching, while the other 56 hexagrams are a combination of Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Water, Mountain, Wind/Wood, Fire, and Lake. Thus it is a book that speaks in metaphors, using these very visual images to create ideas from the niinterpretsrld that then interpret our day to day existence. These very visual concepts appealed to Janet Russek and David Scheinbaum, as they explored and learned the workings of the I Ching.

Both Scheinbaum & Russek, photographers, began to make images that were personal interpretations of the 64 hexagrams or commentaries in the I Ching. The images are not literal interpretations – not a photograph of a lake, or a mountain, etc., but rather, they are interpretations based on the understanding of the images and the emotional response to the Hexagram using the natural world as interpreter.

On View
Not on view
Terms
  • landscapes (environments)
  • environments (object groupings)
  • dunes
  • wind
  • patterns by general type
  • abstraction