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."

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.

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.  

"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.