The Numinous Elise Adibi | Sarah Schneider

Both painters are very interested in the dynamics of the conversation about their paintings. They capture the metaphysical and psychological, even if their technique is very different. One is exclusively abstract, the other more figurative in language. Sarah Schneider uses delicacy and decay inherent in the structure of her works. Elise Adibi mixes the paints with plant oils which have a life of their own.

A common denominator is their affinty to architecture and their love of writing and music, on which they have collaborated informally since they met in Pittsburgh, USA.

The image of a daisy opening its petals to the sun is a nice metaphor for the creation of the exhibition which is the continuation of a collaboration enabled by openness.

It was prepared by a group show for which the gallery owner was approached by visiting students from the Städelschule.  The idea for the exhibition came from Sarah Schneider, who took part in this group exhibition.

So The Numinous seems to have always been there.

Elise Adibi and Sarah Schneider concocted the following text for their exhibition:

The ancient Romans perceived the natural world as alive. The rocks and trees, oceans and rivers were all imbued with an animating spirit the Romans called numen. The word numen literally means “a nod” or “divine approval expressed by nodding the head.” The Romans communicated with the natural world, seeking a nod of assent before altering it.  Attribution of immaterial spirit to plants, objects, and other material phenomena can be traced back as far as hunter gatherers, a religious doctrine known as Animism. 

The word numinous was invented by the German philosopher Rudolf Otto in 1917. He wrote, I adopt a word coined from the Latin numen. Omen has given us ominous, and there is no reason why from numen we should not similarly form a word numinous.

 Omens are typically warnings of something dangerous to come. These warnings are arriving more frequently and with greater consequence. Rains that ravish coastlines, the drying up of rivers and lakes, fires that burn throughout the year. As more bad news comes in, our planet-destroying economic system carries on with business as usual, a collective deafening against the harbingers of collapse. 

Whereas an omen is an outer phenomenon, the numinous is an inner one, it is a state of consciousness. A numinous experience can be caused by an outer occurrence or object, but the numinous is the emotional experience. The numinous is unique to every human who experiences it, it is not one thing. Otto explains it cannot be taught, but it can only be evoked, awakened in the mind; as everything that comes 'of the spirit' must be awakened.

To awaken the numinous, be open and receptive, like a channel, like a daisy opening its petals to the sun, invite in the presence of mystery into your consciousness. What potential for communication exists, as a way forward through uncertain times? Like the vast underground Mycorrhizal network that connects fungi and trees, or animals that run to find higher ground before the storm, the numinous is a connection to a higher consciousness. 

The pink glow of pollution cast across a darkening sky, precious metals piling high in landfills, the pillaging of distant forests. Is there hope for the animism of our excesses? How to measure the value of what has already been lost? A painting as a starting point for a relationship to the non human. The dust of many stones, the essence of plants, the first person who drew a line along a rock to mirror his sacred enemy. Life forces in opposition, an eternal reckoning and rebirth. 

BIOGRAPHIES

ELISE ADIBI is a painter whose practice has come to include installations, horticulture, filmmaking, architecture, aromatherapy, and writing.

She received an MFA from Columbia University, an MArch from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Philosophy from Swarthmore College. Adibi has received fellowships and awards from the Terra Foundation for American Art (Giverny, France), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the Heinz Endowments, and the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Most recently she has been accepted as Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome in 2025.

Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Full Haus (Los Angeles, CA), Louis B. James (New York, NY), And Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Cambridge, MA), Churner and Churner (New York, NY), Southfirst (Brooklyn, NY), Allegheny College (Meadville, PA), and the Frick Pittsburgh, as well as in numerous group shows, with reviews in Artforum, The Boston Globe, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Blouin Modern Painters, among other publications.

SARAH SCHNEIDER is a painter, writer and musician.

She received a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 2011, Master of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute and College of Art Baltimore, Maryland, US in 2015 and  was a visiting student at Städelschule Hochschule für Bildende Künste (Monika Baer), Frankfurt am Main in 2024.

She has had musical releases on Workshop Records, Pocketmoth, and Moonside Tapes. Her writing has been published by NYTyrant and Galerie 5B.