This work draws its inspiration from the iconic “Gates of Hell”,  Rodin’s decades-long project.

In his initial approach, Rodin based his compositions of the gate panels on Dante’s scenes from Inferno, crowning them with the overlooking figure of The Thinker. Here Thinker's figure becomes a mold base for multiple parts cast in rubber, put together into a flattened body-image.

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When the psyche is perceived as matter (subtle body), the mind becomes an object that can be manipulated, shaped, and undergo semi-permanent transformations through imprints and reactionary forces.  When The Thinker falls into Dante’s river, his body itself becomes the gate, as the mind reflects the psychologically disorienting effects of disjointed objecthood.