Marian Kay

ZODIAC

oil on canvas, series of twelve, 40 x 40 cm ea., 2025

In “Zodiac”, the author reimagines the twelve astrological signs through a language of pure form. Departing from the conventional depictions rooted in constellation diagrams, mythological figures, and symbolic iconography, this conceptual work offers a radically reduced system of interpretation — one based not on narrative, but on geometry, structure, and suggestion, moving seamlessly between artistic and design contexts. Following the prompt, this work is a result of human imagination, employing just one of the three geometrical shapes the author is otherwise using. “This is a symbol of who we are…” – and, the target audience: absolutely everybody has a certain zodiac sign.

Each square canvas follows strict visual parameters: a symmetrical composition, the use of only circles or their fragments, and an identical size and positioning of the visual field for every sign. The materials are traditional — oil on canvas — but the conceptual execution is deeply contemporary. No sign dominates another; each occupies equal visual and symbolic weight, unified through compositional discipline. And yet, within this rigor, there is an interpretive freedom. The author does not want to rely on figurative gestures to express meaning. Instead, each form is distilled to its symbolic logic — not to be decoded, but felt. In place of horns, scales, or water-bearers, the audience encounters curves, closures, bifurcations, and balances: shapes that suggest identity rather than assert it. The viewer is invited to engage not through recognition, but through resonance. What appears at first as a formal exercise, gradually reveals emotional, even archetypal undertones. Each piece holds the tension between clarity and ambiguity — a sign reduced to its minimum, but retaining a quiet authority.

In contrast to the long tradition of zodiac representations that fix meaning in stars or myth, “Zodiac” instead locates significance in equilibrium, geometry, and symbolic reduction. It is a system not of illustrations, but of visual archetypes — constructed, not told. This is a zodiac for those willing to see the familiar in the unfamiliar, and to trust the intuition of form over the certainty of symbol.

mk@mariankay.art