Hindu Myth

God of the universe sees life as a form of play. Since the God Self is all there is and thus has no one separate to play with, she plays the cosmic game of hide and seek with herself, taking on roles and masks and thus becomes involved in exciting and terrifying adventures, all the time forgetting her true identity. Eventually however, God awakens from the many dreams and fantasies and discovers the truth of God's Self, the one and eternal Self of the Cosmos, who is never born and never dies.

John Casado's work is a Rorschach test, a visual aide to self-discovery. Like a rush of oxtocin, it sidesteps the neocortex and unearths the limbic brain and all of it's instincts: love, fear, survival. This is the deeper self, a place where our countless identities cease to struggle and the God Self can have a little room to breath. Before he was a photographer, Casado was an art collector drawn to the works of Frances Bacon and other modern artists. Then he met Charles & Kent Davis, two of the leading African art dealers in the world. Casado visited them in New Orleans, where they took him on a fantastic journey through the world of African art. The myths and rituals and the fact that this art was free from worldly influences, education or references fascinated him. These carvings and castings have a purpose beyond