Myron Dyal
With staunch Christian beliefs his family treated the disorder as if it were demonic possession including the requisite religious rite of exorcism. It would take some time before Myron would be diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy and now at the age of 70 he has come into his own blessing in living with it in grace.
At the onset of a complex partial seizure, California-based artist, Myron, falls into somewhat of an altered state not induced by external means. He can communicate, talk and can function physically on some basic levels. However, what he sees is the vision of another world, a surreal environment populated with entities with whom he can speak and interact.
Inspired by his mystical experiences encountered during those episodes, Myron translates these ineffable visions into drawings, paintings and mixed-media sculptures communicating viscerally and spiritually what no words can express. He began with journal entries recording his visions. He has thousands of drawings in numerous journals.
The Dream of the Eyes
The Crying Tree
Looking at the entire work Myron has created over decades one gets a real sense of what lies behind the veil through which Myron passes. With energetic sensibility and organic surrealism, his paintings and sculptures speak of a personal myth, what Joseph Campbell would call a hero’s journey.
Journal entry by Myron Dyal
Despite being surrounded by corpses, rotting flesh, bloody entrails, the foulest stench and the darkest gut wrenching scenes imaginable, at that moment Myron’s fears were allayed. He even describes this entity’s demeanor as kind and gentle. Although the visions may be disturbing in imagery and the experience may be frightening, what Myron feels is love, not fear.
One of the important figures in Myron’s other world is a kind entity that Myron named Charon. Although inspired by the ferryman of the famous Greek myth, this Charon is not a ferryman but a spirit guide who often appears in Myron’s works in some form.
His latest endeavor is the creation of a pantheon of goddesses and anthropomorphized figures which he collectively calls “Charon’s Pantheon.” (this collection is currently at the Performing Arts Center Gallery of Cal State University, California, where it remains until June 7, 2014.)Altered states of consciousness have been inspiration to many an artist for ages. Many of these have been voluntarily induced with the use of natural and synthetic hallucinogens like those used in shamanistic rituals. Further exploration of the motifs in these art works, the works of Myron and others with temporal lobe epilepsy, may give insight into the deep root that all of these artists are tapping.
We might call this root a single underlying cosmic consciousness. Aldous Huxley called this “Mind At Large” in his book “The Doors of Perception.” This experience of interconnectedness or oneness is something many of us experience more often than not in fleeting moments. As Myron Dyal continues to dance with goddesses of another world, we can attempt to understand what they have to teach us vis-à-vis his artistic medium.
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Myron Dyal art
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