ABRACADABRA Painting

ABRACADABRA impressed into cracked and distressed plaster. Framed on wooden board. 82 x 52 cm. A new series of works by Dangerous Minds Artists using a newly discovered technique that cracks and shrinks the plaster as it dried leaving these beautiful cracks in the finish. When stage conjurers and magicians come to the finale of a trick and exclaim 'Abracadabra!' the implication is that a mysterious power is being summoned to perform the required magic. In our information age, in which it is possible to look up how virtually any stunt is staged, we don't take the claims of magical powers too seriously. That wasn't the case when the word 'abracadabra' was first in common use. Medieval people believed in magic as everyday fact and any unusual event that they couldn't explain was considered to be the result of some form of enchantment. They used the incantation 'Abracadabra' to ward off such bewitchment and as a remedy for poor health. The word was recited repeatedly, each time with the final letter being removed, until just 'a' remained. It was believed that the strength of the illness diminished as the word became shorter. The charm was also written out on paper and worn in an amulet or sewn into clothing. No one is sure as to the origin of the strange word 'abracadabra'. It is known to have been in use in 4th century Latin but there are several theories that place the derivation earlier.