Wholeness and Fragmentation - David Bohm

Wholeness and fragmentation has been an interest and theme in my work since reading David Bohm almost 10 years ago.  He was a theoretical physicist and a pioneer in developing quantum theory.  While much of his work is beyond my ken, his writings are surprisingly understandable.  I’ll quote the passage from “Wholeness and the Implicate Order” that struck my fancy, sticks with me, and informs these works:

“...to some extent, it has always been both necessary and proper for man, in his thinking, to divide things up, and to separate them, so as to reduce his problems to manageable proportions...     ...The notion that all these fragments are separately existent is evidently an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion.”

While Bohm approaches this concept from quantum physics, Buddhist scholars have reached a similar standpoint, described among other places in the Heart Sutra, and, while complex, can be summarized in the key portion of that Sutra:  Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form. 

 Interested in more?

“Space is not empty. It is full, a plenum as opposed to a vacuum, and is the ground for the existence of everything, including ourselves. The universe is not separate from this cosmic sea of energy.” – David Bohm.

The holomovement is a key concept in David Bohm`s interpretation of quantum mechanics and for his overall worldview. It brings together the holistic principle of “undivided wholeness” with the idea that everything is in a state of process or becoming (or what he calls the “universal flux») For Bohm, wholeness is not a static oneness, but a dynamic wholeness-in-motion in which everything moves together in an interconnected process. The concept is presented most fully in Wholeness and the implicate order published in 1980.

 He maintains that space and time might actually be derived from an even deeper level of objective reality. This reality he calls the Implicate Order. Within the Implicate Order everything is connected; and, in theory, any individual element could reveal information about every other element in the universe.

Inspirational Artists - Antoni Tapies

The period of his work that I find the most inspirational was his work beginning in 1953 with his use of mixed media.  He was extremely prolific and has an entire museum in Barcelona for his work and enough left over to be housed throughout Spain.  His work is so innovative, imaginative, and beautiful.  He is among my Top 10 most inspirational artist.  More information about his life and work is available at: Antoni Tapies

"Tàpies started as a surrealist painter, his early works were influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró; but soon become an informal artist, working in a style known as pintura matèrica, in which non artistic materials are incorporated into the paintings. In 1953 he began working in mixed media; this is considered his most original contribution to art. One of the first to create serious art in this way, he added clay and marble dust to his paint and used waste paper, string, and rags (Grey and Green Painting, Tate Gallery, London, 1957)."

"The paintings produced by Tàpies, later in the 1970s and in the 1980s, reveal his application of this aesthetic of meditative emptiness, for example in spray-painted canvases with linear elements suggestive of Oriental calligraphy, in mixed-media paintings that extended the vocabulary of Art informel, and in his oblique allusions to imagery within a fundamentally abstract idiom, as in Imprint of a Basket on Cloth (1980).^[6] Among the artists' work linked in style to that of Tàpies is that of the American painter Julian Schnabel as both have been connected to the art term "Matter".^[7]"

Transformation of Materials

I am interested both personally and in my artwork in the transformation of materials.  It seems the entire universe as well as our local subpart, the earth, are in constant transformation of the form and substance of materials.  In my artwork I have focused largely on oxidation, the combining of oxygen with materials, either rapidly through fire, or slowly through rust and corrosion.  (With a relevant tangent into the transformation of clay to ceramics through heat.)

But recently, the practice of Sokushinbutsu has been in the news and it is so intriguing!  In short, it is the act of self mummification.  Transforming your own body as you slowly fast and add chemicals to your self-decimated body to mummify.  

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news/mummified-remains-monk-still-lotus-position-found-mongolia-002623

Here's the reward:  Apparently 100's of monks attempted the process.  If successful their mummified remains were worshiped. 28 were successful.  The others were given a "nice try" reward and their remains preserved. 

Here's the process:  

"The steps involved in mummifying one’s own body were extremely rigorous and painful. For the first 1,000 days, the monks ceased all food except nuts, seeds, fruits and berries and they engaged in extensive physical activity to strip themselves of all body fat. For the next 1,000 days, their diet was restricted to bark and roots. Near the end of this period, they would drink poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, which caused vomiting and a rapid loss of body fluids. It also acted as a preservative and killed off maggots and bacteria that would cause the body to decay after death. 

In the final stage, after more than six years of torturous preparation, the monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would go into a state of meditation. He was seated in the lotus position, a position he would not move from until he died. A small air tube provided oxygen to the tomb. Each day, the monk rang a bell to let the outside world know he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed for the final thousand day period of the ritual. 

At the end of this period, the tomb would be opened to see if the monk was successful in mummifying himself.  If the body was found in a preserved state, the monk was raised to the status of Buddha, his body was removed from the tomb and he was placed in a temple where he was worshiped and revered. If the body had decomposed, the monk was resealed in his tomb and respected for his endurance, but not worshiped."

Inspirations: Thekla Hammond

Thekla Hammond continues to evolve and continues to explore artistic mediums.  I'd call her a painter, but her latest work is a video collaboration with Cheryl Calleri that incorporates video projections onto multiple and moveable panels.  This is the next level of sophistication to her work with painting on plexiglas panels and allowing the viewer/participant to immerse themselves into the work. 

Her paintings are produced in series as she explores her inner world and expresses it through her paintings. Here are two paintings from her series, 'Meditations" 

Exploration

And here are two from her series "Holding it Lightly"

Tenderness

Body Perspicuus

Impermance

Here are a couple of images from her installations on plexiglas panels allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in the work.





Here are some shots from her latest video installations:

Co-Motion

Continua in Light

In addition, Thekla is a fantastic soprano and is a member of two a cappella groups and incorporates singing or instrumental music into her exhibitions on special (very special) nights! 

‘Shinrinyoku’ or ‘forest bathing’

I've been on the Board of the Sacramento Tree Foundation for 4 years, two of them as President, and I've learned a tremendous amount about the value of trees. ( http://www.sactree.com/)

Everybody has their own personal list of the value of trees based upon their personal experience.  I do as well.  But I've learned much more about the health value of trees.  


Just two examples:  

 · Hospital patients with a window view of trees need less  pain   medication and are discharged sooner than patients with treeless views.

 ·        Residents living in apartments with a window view of tress are significantly less aggression toward family members than those whose windows look onto concrete, asphalt or barren earth.  This includes their making fewer insults and threats and other psychologically aggressive behavior.

 (A more complete list is at: http://www.justaskatree.com/benefits_of_trees.htm)

But here is another interesting phenomenon which began in Japan -- shinrinyoku or forest bathing.  As with anything there are guidelines (http://www.hphpcentral.com/article/forest-bathing) but basically the science bears out that spending time immersing yourself in the company of trees reduces stress, improves the immune system, and reduces depression and anger.  

If this makes sense to you, here is the shameless plug.  Even though the Sacramento Community rose to the challenge of planting 30,000 trees in 30 days to celebrate the Tree Foundation's 30 anniversary, we can always use the energy of more enthusiasts -- join us!  

http://www.sactree.com/

Sacramento Tree Foundation on Facebook

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John Cage Watercolors

I had no idea John Cage did visual art. While in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts bookstore recently, I came across "The Sight of Silence: which documents workshops he did at the Mountain Lake Workshop in Appalachian Virginia in 1990 --and the work is fantastic!

Note the effect of the paper laid over 
burning straw 

I so resonated with his process!  He uses randomness, chance (actually using the I Ching to chose the sequence of colors), natural materials (stones for shapes, feathers for applying inks, burning straw to tint the paper, etc.) while refining the right to judge the aesthetics of the final product. 

                                           

                                                            Using natural materials -- stones selected 

                                                   for shape, feathers to apply the inks

He makes judicious use of the enzo which the book defines as:  "a spontaneously painted circular form that is particularly identified with the japans practice of Zen and is under soon as a sudden manifestation of the immediacy of enlighten self-insight"

The results are delicate, ethereal works of art that are so compelling! 

The Circle, the Spiral, the Enzo

One of the most common themes I use in my work is the circle, either complete as if it were a sphere depicted in two dimensions, or in its incomplete, but equally important form, the enzo.  

In Japan, an "enzo" is a brushed-ink painting of a Zen circle that monks make while meditating. The enzo is one of the deepest symbols in Japanese Zen: a symbolic representation of enlightenment, encompassing the universe in an endless, cyclical line. For the practitioner, the act of creating each single circle is a visual koan in which the state of that moment is revealed.

As you can see, I typically embed the image in a context of layers seemingly created by erosion, corrosion, or by sedimentation or layering of the effects of time.

"Artist of the Year"

At the Sacramento Arts and Business Council's  "Prelude to the Season" event, I was named "Artist of the Year"!

Good news comes in multiples..... Show opens and finalist for Artist of the Year!

Today we finished hanging my paintings at the show at the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville, Spirit and Form.   


 These pictures are an overview of a portion of the Gallery. The large painting, "Fragmentation and Wholeness"  is large -- 9 feet by 12 feet. 


You can also see one of the "Clear Light" paintings and one of Meech Miyagi's fantastic sculptures.


The show is now open and the artist's reception is September 17th, 6-9.

But good news does come in multiples.  I have just learned that I am a finalist for the Sacramento Arts and Business Council's award for "Artist of the Year".  I can't express how flattered I am to have been nominated and to become a finalist!

What does the 'Clear Light' look like?

Two of my paintings based upon The Tibetan Book of the Dead --


 From a summary of the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Stanislav Grof:

"Stage one of the Bardo, the bardo of dying, begins at death and extends from half a day to four days. This is the period of time necessary for the departed to realize that they have dropped the body. The consciousness of the departed has an ecstatic experience of the primary "Clear Light" at the death moment. Everyone gets at least a fleeting glimpse of the light. The more spiritually developed see it longer, and are able to go beyond it to a higher level of reality. The average person, however, drops into the lesser state of the secondary "clear light."

"In stage two, the bardo of Luminous Mind, the departed encounters the hallucinations resulting from the karma created during life. Unless highly developed, the individual will feel that they are still in the body. The departed then encounters various apparitions, the "peaceful" and "wrathful" deities, that are actually personifications of human feelings and that, to successfully achieve nirvana, the deceased must encounter unflinchingly. Only the most evolved individuals can skip the bardo experience altogether and transit directly into a paradise realm. Stage three, the bardo of rebirth, is the process of reincarnation."

Spirit and Form: Convergent Evolution

Yet another discovery in convergent evolution, i.e. when two organisms look virtually identical, but in fact are completely different species.  

I first encountered this phenomena at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, where displayed were cacti and succulents which originated in vastly different parts of the world, but had developed the same form and structure in response  to similar environmental conditions.  Other examples include the Tasmania wolf and the North American wolf.  

This most recent discovery was made by Duke University scientists who specialize in lichens.  (I happened to have earned some summer money at my alma mater one summer drafting the hydrocarbon compounds of lichens which helped set up a long term fascination with lichens.  Just to show this is not just a nerdy fascination, in addition to often being quite beautiful, they also serve as an early indicator of damaging levels of pollution) .  The lichens studied -- one from North America and one from Australia -- were thought to be identical, but DNA analysis showed them to be different species.  

There is Room for All of Us!

Terri Gross replayed an interview this week that she had originally done with Ken Kesey in 2001.  In her questioning she asked him about what he had done, i.e the acid, the social experimentation, etc,  but more importantly about what he had learned.  This answer resonated with me: "We suddenly realized that theres a lot more to this world than we previously thought. I think, you know, because I'm asked this question a lot. Its been 20 years or so and people are always coming back saying well, what you think? And I'm - the one of the things that I think came out it is this that there's room. We don't all have to be the same. We don't have to have Baptists, coast to coast. We can throw in some Buddhists and some Christians, and people who are just thinking its these strange thoughts about the Irish leprechauns, that there is room, spiritually, for everybody in this universe."  (painting is 'Sky Light" by Mark Bowles)

"Spirit and Form" -- Exhibit opens in September at the Blue Line Gallery!

I will be having an exhibit of my abstract paintings in a show entitled "Spirit and Form", at the beautiful Blue Line Gallery in Roseville beginning September 9th.  The Blue Line Gallery is in downtown Roseville near City Hall, 405 Vernon Street (phone: 916-783-4117).


The opening reception will be September 17th and I will be there along with my partner in crime, Meech Miyagi, whose three dimensional work is fantastic!  See one of his works in the image above, which is from the invitation.


Please feel free to come by the Gallery either on opening night 6:00 to 9:00, or Tuesday through Saturday 10-3 beginning September 9th.