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Background
The sun that appears in the East and disappears in the West is associated with a number of sun myths with a certain hero or missionary acting as a spiritual mentor and assistant for people. In Polynesia, for example, and in particular on Hawaii, there is a myth about the sun-hero Maui, who sets out on his journey from the East. He helps people to get the fire going and having taught them basic crafts, later disappears in the West, in that space which is the dominion of the Night.
In the artist’s work Where the Sun goes the Sun takes the form of a golf ball making a parabola in the sky and disappearing into the net under the table top, indicating that “the game is over for today.”
Key concept
Represented in the painting is that moment in nature when it looks like the sun is suspended in the air before going away. In everyday speech, this position is reflected in the use of a verbal metaphor “the sun is setting.”
Nightfall is that “rescue parachute” which helps the man to leave daily cares behind and return to self, to the true yearnings of his soul.
The image of a parachute as a gift from the Sun integrates into a more prominent picture the “saving ray” notions found in literature – a whole bunch of beams (“parachute ropes”) aids him in “landing.” He hopes that for him the new day will mean a new joyful encounter with the Sun.