A CODE OF CONDUCT OR THE WHITE BOOK OF PROPORTION
The
concern
shown
with
the
path
or
code
of
conduct
-
a
fundamental
tenet
of
Zen
Buddhism
-
has
originated
a
series
of
paintings
gathered
under
the
title
of
A
Code
of
Conduct
or
the
White Book of Proportion (1993).
It
is
an
album
conceived
on
the
lines
of
a
philosophical
divertissement
very
much
to
the
taste
of
the
eighteenth
century,
dealing
in
a
light
tone,
with
wit
and
grace,
with
varieties
of
human
desire under the constraints of moral and social conventions.
Exploring
the
philosophical
premises:
'there
are
no
Gods
or
God
and
women
and
men
are
different',
Pegado
shows
in
these
pictures
a
playful
mood
that
matches
her
inclination
for
the
fruition of the moment, the here and now or the passing of time in human existence.
Playing
the
role
of
the
sociologist,
she
divides
society
into
two
groups
according
to
their
sexual
attitudes:
the
highly
conscientious
human
beings
and
rational
animals.
The
latter
can
be
subdivided
into
four
categories:
the
exceptionally
normal,
or
those
who
have
an
almost
sacred
attitude
to
sex;
the
normal,
who
exercise
sex
according
to
the
existent
pattern
in
a
particular
moment
of
their
lives;
the
extraordinary
whose
lives
are
driven
by
sex
and
the
abnormal or pathological cases.
Contrary
to
what
it
may
seem,
this
is
an
album
in
which
the
combination
of
lines
and
assembling
of
patterns
continue
the
design
that
characterises
Pegado's
discourse.
The
composition
of
these
pieces
follows
a
musical
mode,
capturing
modulations,
which
are
transmuted
into
graphics
of
vivid
expression.
Intricate
webs,
revolving
circles,
tunnels
of
light,
vortexes,
radiant
stars,
producing
wide
fields
of
energy,
fill
in
the
space
as
representations of the emotional state of the subjects who constitute the different groups.
There
are
here
close
connections
between
strings
and
superstrings,
between
individual
bonds
and
institutional
ties,
on
one
hand,
and
the
struggle
against
them
in
the
code
of
conduct,
on
the
other.
A
struggle
between
the
individual
and
authoritarian
morals
of
a
theocentric
character,
or
structured
around
the
idea
of
God,
is
pictured
in
its
complex
and
different
stages
until
victory
shines
through
the
Crystal
Cube
and
the
Hexagon.
Symbols
of
personal
liberation
in
a
fair
society,
they
announce
individual
freedom
from
all
constraints
and inhibitions in a promised land where 'love is above all constructions'.
The
album
closes
on
an
upbeat
note,
claiming
trust
in
human
relationships
and
love
as
the
right of life.
