The Boatman 

Editor: This enigmatic oil painting, "The Boatman" by Sabin Balasa, conjures a rather surreal atmosphere with its ghostly figure emerging from the water. What do you make of the symbolism here? Curator: The figure, almost translucent, immediately strikes me as archetypal. Water, of course, is a primal symbol—birth, cleansing, the unconscious. What does this Boatman guide? Souls? Memories? He is, after all, lit by the inner light of his solar plexus, in Jungian psychology this energy center governs power, control, freedom. Are we invited to consider the emotional current between the individual, and the universal? Editor: That’s interesting. So you see the Boatman as almost a ferryman of consciousness? The texture of that porous rock structure on the right could imply we're looking into something deep? Curator: Precisely! Note its structure echoes the bone caverns of the body: we're inside a giant's torso contemplating consciousness, a figure of myth guiding passage from a realm within into a physical location of feeling—notice how all edges of all shapes soften into this overall blueness, an integration of spirit and matter. Editor: And the boat itself? Is it simply a mode of transportation, or something more specific? Curator: It is passage between states of awareness. That's very cleverly understated—what we really notice, viscerally, is the quality of being neither quite here nor there. Does the integration ever occur? It’s a quest we see mirrored in countless cultures. The artist leaves it unanswered, a poetic gesture that heightens the feeling of being poised, breathless with possibilities. Editor: I hadn’t considered how open-ended it all felt. Thanks; I’ll never look at the boat the same way! Curator: Nor will I, thanks to you. Recognizing the raw wonder invites continual questions—art is a dynamic current!