EXEGESIS
The poetic vision of Joseph Kaliher seeks to invite humanity into a world where Peace and Love are the dominant forces. Both audiences and critics, meeting him during the presentations of his paintings, have immediately embraced him as the alchemical artist, a collaborator and seeker of Truth (Cooperator Veritas).
In every one of his works, one can observe an explosion of vibrant colors, profound and investigative perspectives, and powerful, esoteric symbols. These elements reflect a deeply challenging and authentic journey of knowledge and awareness—a passage from the submission to dogmas to a freedom understood as Liberation, the ultimate goal of initiation.
The artist transcends matter, delves into the invisible, the void, the essence, the absolute, and the all, engaging in a dialogue of thesis and antithesis: a probing equilibrium leading to a higher synthesis—to become the Great Architect of the Universe.
For Joseph Watchman Kaliher, space and time do not exist; he is already projected into the eternal present, the “Now.” Each of his works is dynamic and subliminal, rich with hidden messages, a living testament to the “Nosce Te Ipsum” (Know Thyself) principle—a profound interiorization of being and a brave dive into the temple of man.
His path of knowledge is the result of a progressive construction, his free thought acting as a tool to transcend the limits of the self, rendering his works complete. In this sense, his art prefigures immortality, fulfilling what, for the common man, might be a psychological need but, for the artist Joseph Kaliher, represents one of the “boundaries” of his identity.
Magnificent is the purpose he sets with his paintings: to elevate humanity—starting with the individual, the one who aspires to rise. He seeks to inspire reflection, meditation, and an understanding that each person is an unconscious messenger of the Supreme, an infinitesimal part of the Whole, where all parts are bound by a single force: Love.
His thought takes shape in his paintings; the blows of the mallet and chisel mold the raw stone, transforming it into a cubic stone… the alchemy of an artist: the physical and psychic transmutation of the creator from a state of “base” humanity (like Lead) to one of “Noble and Golden” humanity (like Gold).
In alchemical language, the transition of a metal or a man from a “base” to a “noble” state signifies a transformation toward the fullness of their essence—a regeneration through which every metal becomes the metal par excellence and every man becomes the “Man par excellence,” emancipated (Gold) from impurities, corruption, and the limited duration of life.
Kaliher’s artistic alchemy is both “Hermetic Art” and “Psychic Progress”—a process inseparable from a spiritual journey, which he himself defines as “Self-Consciousness” or “Auto-Coscienza”.
The symbolic and artistic language of his works is determined by the vivid emergence of profound, constant, archetypal structures of the human psyche. The alchemical mastery becomes a systematic exploration of the deepest layers of the psyche, aimed at the regeneration of the Self: the restoration of the Self to its wholeness within the universally human experience.
