The i of the Beholder

The theme of this year’s parade centered around Oldilion Redon’s charcoal drawing of the Floating Eye Balloon. Redon sketched the balloon mounting toward infinity perhaps as a response to his childhood experiences.
The artist spent the first years of his life on a family estate outside of Bordeaux in the deep countryside.
As he was a frail and sickly child in a very isolated state, the balloon lifted him from the desolate
French landscape.

The Disembodied Eye is interpreted differently in
a modern context.  Redon aspired to be transported from isolation to inclusion; the modern citizen would prefer the balloon to deliver them from a state of excessive virtual presence to one of sane separation and privacy. Caught checking our make- up in the astronaut’s helmet or the round specs of Confucius, we revel in our own reflections. Vanity is truly rampant.

Cleopatra, the infamous Egyptian Queen, sees great significance in the Single Eye of the Supreme:
the Eye of Horus is a symbol of reunification and divine kinship. Impressions of historical figures are quite common, as it is logical to long for times past (Madon
na of the 80s); but Halloween is also a great reflection of the current social climate (Uncle Sam). This holiday gives us a chance to personify an alter ego, possibly one that begs to be revealed during the remaining
dim days of the year.  It is prime time to pretend.

The Village Halloween Parade began in 1973 when
a local mask crafter organized a neighborhood walk
for his children. Today, the Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world, drawing an excess of 50,000 participants and approximately 2 million spectators.}