The Triptych

Description

One of the more unnerving among the family heirlooms Tim inherits from his Uncle Mitch, this triptych bears three disturbing images carved into panels of fired clay. Each picture depicts a section of the human brain, coupled with grotesquely distorted human anatomy or other elements that seem to be staring back, menacingly, at the viewer. The left and right images were found to resemble exaggerated versions of the homunculus, a kind of topographic map of the human nervous system.

The middle panel, however, is filled with jarring imagery hinting at the occult – a third eye, peering out toward a cloudy infinity, perched atop a bizarre rendition of the brain’s lobes. The Triptych appears to be mapping out a kind of supernatural altered state, an ability to see what normally cannot (or should not) be glimpsed by human eyes. The underlying meaning of this dark metaphor is not known.