Mai Watts and Peter Lacoux live in a converted barn built in the late 1700s. Their home hosts several creative spaces, including studios and permanent exhibition spaces in the barns on their property. Their farm is on a dragon line, which permeates the place with a palpable magical energy. Everyone who visits feels at home.
Since their childhood, both artists have been drawn to the arts. Lacoux, born in England, studied at Croydon College of Art and St. Martin’s College of Art and Watts, who lived nearly half of her life in England, studied alongside Carmen Cicero at Sarah Lawrence College and Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg, Austria. Having met in England through friends, Lacoux and Watts’ creative interests quickly outgrew the so-called “traditional.”
Currently, the artist couple paints and draws sacred sites and geometric structures derived from their shared experiences. Lacoux and Watts now exclusively work together, sharing a deep love for and fascination with their collaborative art. Their current work explores phenomena such as sacred sites, sacred geometry, inter-dimensional channeling, and healing.
A Curator’s Note
Mai Watts and Peter Lacoux create work that bridges dimensions. A contemporary, visionary artist couple, the two depict metaphysical themes in their work and incorporate metaphysical practices into their methodology. Watts and Lacoux present their viewers with several complex dichotomies to explore within their work: the male-female binary, the fusion of decoration and utilitarianism, and, perhaps most significantly, the intersection between “here” and “elsewhere.” Though the couple’s first foray into collaborative art making was unplanned, their work now proves to be incredibly intentional; their ever-evolving, married artistic voice illustrates the sacred interconnectedness of one’s relationship to the whole.
As a couple that works exclusively together, the masculine/feminine dichotomy materializes instinctively. This combination is most apparent in the couple’s first series, “Sacred Sites,” in which a single piece is the result of the unification of two images of the same sacred site- one painted by Lacoux and the other painted by Watts. The two images may seem identical at first glance; however, upon further study, many subtle differences surface. The differences in line, in lighting, and in tone between the male and the female counterparts function together to create a single, unified energy. In their “Sacred Geometry” series, Watts and Lacoux explicitly isolate each distinctly male and female image. The images are interchangeable, but always presented in masculine-feminine pairs. The two geometric patterns become a diptych. It is this interchangeable union that causes the viewer to recognize that singularly each pattern exists, but it is not until the pattern is paired with its counterpart that it holds significance.
Another more unusual aspect of their work is the overlap between ornament and practicality. Their work is both decorative and practical; it is meant to be both perceived and experienced. The sheer size of each image in the “Sacred Sites” series draws the viewer in; it is at once all consuming. The experience of all the pieces on display in the barn on the couple’s property appears to create another world. While looking at one piece, the viewer feels the energy that Mai and Peter painted into the image- the masculine and feminine energies of each site from the British Isles. This transcendent quality is echoed in Watts’ and Lacoux’s “Sacred Geometry” series.
In “Sacred Geometry,” the geometric patterns are visually appealing and complimented by the vivid color choices; however, their visual characteristics are amplified by the notion that these images are meant to be experienced and used. While innately decorative, the series of geometrical abstractions is, at its core, utilitarian; it is meant to heal. In general, the theory of sacred geometry postulates that geometry holds healing powers. The symmetrical complexities reflect a universal natural order. These images use line, shape, proportion, and orientation to structure philosophical, scientific, and spiritual ideas. Both Watts’ and Lacoux’s “Sacred Geometry” and “Sacred Sites” series transcend the “art as ornament” paradigm; they are images meant to be seen, experienced, and used.
The couple draws significant inspiration from Emma Kunz, the Swiss-born artist, telepath, prophet, and healer. During her artistic career, Kunz drew large-scale images that used line, shape, proportion, and orientation to express rhythm and the change of figure and concept. The aesthetic connection between the couple’s work and the work of Kunz is clear. The patterns, structures, and designs evident throughout their collective work reflect those found in nature; they follow distinct geometrical archetypes, which reveal the inextricable and inseparable relationship of the “part” to the “whole.” Conceptually, the fundamental idea of oneness connects Kunz with Watts and Lacoux. Especially apparent in the series, “Sacred Geometry,” the lines and shapes created by the couple take on distinct dimensions and rhythms. Each mark is part of a larger, interconnected shape and each image is part of a larger series of images.
This metaphysical union of the part and the whole is deeply connected to Watts’ and Lacoux’s work and is apparent in the masculine/feminine dichotomy and the overlap between ornament and practicality. It is further explored in the couple’s creative methodology, which is based in channeling, a form of communication between “here” and “elsewhere.” Through mediumistic channeling, Lacoux and Watts gain particular insight into the natural world around them, as well as a clearer understanding trans-dimensional individuals, such as Emma Kunz. Through the practice of interdimensional channeling, Watts and Lacoux are able to work closely with Kunz, whose intentions and creative aims are voiced and mediated through and by both artists. As a result, this metaphysical concept of oneness and inseparability evident throughout the couple’s oeuvre connects directly to Watt’s and Lacoux’s greater interest in inter-dimensional channeling, and links their body of work to the union between “here” and “elsewhere.” Overall, their work introduces and touches upon several complex, relevant binaries that grow in increasing significance within today’s society.
Stones and Circles 