Artist's Interpretation:

Between history and mythology, far from the shores of memory, lives the legend of the crusaders. These romantic warriors that fought their way to the cradle of religion were the younger sons of nobility, adventure seekers soon to be joined by a popular element that wanted to share in the economic, social and religious revival of the XI century. Thus the crusader came to epitomize vigor, courage and determination. He stands at the forefront of any movement to support a cause or suppress an abuse. He descends on the battlefield of ideology to fight hunger, injustice, ignorance, discrimination and arrogance.

The Metaphysical Crusader on his white horse, without armor, without sword and without sorrow, rides across the landscape of the mind rationalizing the expectations of yesterday and the dreams of tomorrow. Against the intense blue sky play the everchanging anthropomorphous clouds seeking, in the soundless beauty of the eternal moment (butterfly) to capture the silent symphony of the cypresses while light and shadow play on the checkerboard floor the analytical process of the mind before the intellectual formulation of thought (blue). With his blue cape floating in the wind, he brings to his original passion of youth the constraints of maturity as he emerges from the dark mysterious cavern of Spring and forges ahead towards the splendor of Fall.

Like the Roman aqueduct that brought solace to the citizen of the empire, the Metaphysical Crusader brings also solace and hope to those who live on the fringe of society beyond the horizon of time. He knows and you, the reader and viewer, know that anyone can physically stop anybody but no one can stop the mind from creating, and eventually its creations will purify the sea of ignorance and arrogance and will eradicate the twisted tree of difference and indifference.

Joseph Cusimano

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Additional Information:

• First in a series of three paintings; the second being La Dialettica dell'Avventura (The Dialectics of Adventure), and the third being The Rider of the Mind.