Milk, spoon and table

Peace 3, 2007, 12"x12", acrylic on canvas

This morning. We are having breakfast in the kitchen. My children are eating cereals with milk. At some point, one of them spills a little bit of milk on the dark wooden table, looks at it and starts drawing with his spoon in the milk. He draws a round fish, then pulling the milk, he draws the pond around the fish and then a tree and the sun and some clouds. I am watching, interested to see where this is going. Soon the drawing covers a good portion of the table. His brother stopped eating and is staring at the drawing in process. He did not say anything but I can tell he wants to draw too. He spills a little bit of milk on the table with his spoon. And starts drawing too, his face illuminated. There is only the table and the milk, nothing else exists around him, he is making all sorts of lines and shapes, turning the spoon and trying different possibilities.

When they are done, they start talking a lot, at the same time, very excited. They ask me if we can keep the drawing on the table. They want to see it dry. I tell them that we can keep it until they come back from school. They are extremely happy. When they come back home, it is the first thing they check out. The drawing is now sticky and almost transparent. They agree we can wash it.

The Art of Compassion

Akshobhya (Tib: Mitrugpa)

Andy Weber, The Art of Compassion, San Diego Art Department.

Friday night. I am going to the San Diego Art Department in North Park, to listen to a lecture by Andy Weber and see the exhibition “Art of Compassion”. Andy Weber is an artist who creates images of visualization for Buddhist meditation.

I enter the gallery and bright paintings and prints welcome me. It’s like I already know these images but at the same time they are new to me. They are extremely detailed and the colors very vibrant.

A few minutes later the lecture starts. Andy Weber, with a soft voice, first talks about the actual situation in Tibet. Just a few words - very emotional. Then he starts a projection of images.

In Tibet, the images displayed in the exhibition are called “objects of support”. The images here are not only for decoration or a temporary experience. They are used for meditation, for initiation. They contain Buddhist principles. You start looking at them and you build a relationship with them. They are used on a daily basis. Weber says artists like him, who paint those pictures, paint them to teach, to help people in meditation, they are a port of spirituality. Everything in the painting has a symbolic meaning. It is a tool for self development. Each picture reminds you what the essence of life is.

We are looking at a Chu Len Ma image: image based on the reflection of the image of Buddha in the water.

To draw the picture of Buddha can take a long time and students train for years before actually painting the picture. At the bottom of the image you can see offerings. They are the “entrance fee” to see Buddha. They have deep meanings. One is the visual consciousness. The most beautiful thing in the world one can think about. The second is pure thought. You cannot hide, you cannot play, this is you. Then you see a lute, you offer the most beautiful sound. Then a piece of cloth: the tactile consciousness, the most beautiful touch. You see a flower, the consciousness of smell. And food offering: the most beautiful taste you ever had.

Before starting to pray, you offer all that. It sets your mind. You start your day positively.

Everything, all the information from the world comes through the five senses. So when you walk in the street it becomes a vivid experience.

The world does not change. But we can change. This is how Buddhism works. Changing us. All the Buddhism teaching points to one thing: be aware, look at your body, look at your feelings, observe. What are thoughts? Observe the process: how the thoughts come, stay and go away. Do not judge.

Above the stairs, the snow lions: they represent fearlessness. Fearlessness holds the next platform which is a symbol for spirituality: the lotus. The lotus which blooms on the muddy pond is like the spirituality above the muddy existence. The lotus represents renunciation, feeling unattached. Inside the lotus is the sun. The sun comes in the morning and lights up the day. He is the symbol of wisdom. Wisdom is to see the reality as it is and not as we think it is. Then the moon: the loving kindness.

At last the image of Buddha which represents the meditation experience.

Weber describes several other images, the Mandala of compassion, the wheel of existence. The colors are always bright; they are made that way to stimulate something in the consciousness. They are “positive” colors.

In conclusion Weber says the world peace can only come from inner peace. If we can love, that is the most beautiful gift we can give, that is the Buddhist philosophy. He loves doing his work, he loves the people he meets and works with.

I really loved listening to him, to his calm and soft voice. I did not know all the significance of those images. It is a good thing to share such knowledge. Although in my artistic practice I am trying to find a personal way and to set myself free from tradition, I understand that someone chooses to dedicate his life to a traditional form of art, especially one which is about finding and spreading peace.

San Diego Art Department
Andrea Chamberlin, Director
3830 Ray Street
San Diego, CA 92104

Life without TV

Reading, painting, writing, having long dinners, working my images on the computer, going to see a movie or an exhibition, making a fire in the Mexican fireplace outside on the deck, watching a DVD, listening to music, talking, seeing friends, looking at a landscape... Sometimes I wonder when I would watch TV if I had one!
I feel like I am not sleeping during the day and it feels good.

Miya Hannan: Circularity

The end is the Beginning of the New, 2007
Mixed media on Japanese Paper and Cheese Cloth, each panel 12 x 2 x 2 feet
Shoots, 2007, Paper-mache, Cheese Cloth, Bone Ash, 5-60 x 8 x 8"
Axis, 2007, Bone ash, Porcelain, each pile 5 x 8 x 8"

Friday night. After a day of hiking I still want to go to La Jolla, to the opening of “Circularity” at R.B. Stevenson Gallery.

I always like to go to R.B. Stevenson’s openings; usually I have a good surprise there. I am very interested in discovering Miya Hannan’s work. I enter the gallery and I am immediately attracted by a large installation which takes up the whole opposite corner of the space. Long translucent pieces of paper -- painted and/or printed -- hang from the ceiling. At the bottom of each of them is what seems like the rolled part of the piece, very dark. On the white floor of the gallery, surrounded by the long pieces of paper are white structures and small piles of a white powder. The whole piece feels delicate and light, yet powerful. It is very white and translucent, yet dark. When I get closer I can see that the black parts at the bottom are wrapped in black, painted fabric. Each small pile is topped with what I identify as a vertebra. Then someone comes and explains to me that the little piles are made with bone ash and the whole piece talks about the cycle of life.

Now I look around to discover the other pieces, all of them on the walls, almost none of them framed. All of the pieces are beautifully crafted. It seems to be a mix of drawing, printmaking and painting. I like how the artist proceeds with layers, which works very well with the Japanese paper. The light plays nicely through the paper and everything seem to flow in these large compositions. It is so nice to see this work. Miya Hannan is here and I tell her how I am enjoying the moment and how much her work touches me. She is really nice and attentive. She explains to me how Frances McCormack, her former teacher, introduced her to R.B. Stevenson Gallery and how thrilled she is to have her work shown here. Also she tells me she was a radiologist in Japan - which may explain the references in her work to the inside of the body (drawings of organs, prints of vertebrae…).

Miya Hannan next to Evolutionary Momentum,
mixed media on japanese paper, bone ash, 110x120x12, 2007

I take a picture of Miya Hannan next to “Evolutionary Momentum”, one of my favorite pieces (but I like them all!). At the bottom of the piece there are four small piles of bone ash.

I understand that all of the pieces talk about the circle of life and death but there is nothing sad here. There is no fear. Life and death flow together in these complicated yet calm large pieces of work. There is a real pleasure to look at the work from a distance and then to come closer and discover the quality of each element.

Seeing the work of Miya Hannan tonight after hiking all day on the beach: what an amazing gift!

R.B. Stevenson Gallery
7661 Girard Avenue, Suite 201
La Jolla, California 92037

Hiking From Torrey Pines to Pacific Beach

The beach at Torrey Pines

Friday. Today we are hiking from Torrey Pines to Pacific Beach. A few weeks ago we did a portion of the hike, from La Jolla Shore to Torrey Pines.

When we start at 9:30, the tide is going down, it will be up again at 9:00 pm tonight. We have all day to hike on the beach. We estimated it is around 13 miles long. It is amazing to think that we are “in town” and yet we feel so far away from everything, especially before we arrive on La Jolla Shore Beach. The cliff follows the shore and separates us from the town and we feel completely alone. Birds are walking on the beach, digging with their beak in the sand as the waves go down. We see only a few people.

At the beginning of the hike the cliff draws a large shade on the beach and it quickly disappears as the sun comes up. The swell is rather big today and we see quite a few surfers when we arrive near Scripps Pier. We are stuck a few times, at the bottom of the cliff, waiting for the waves to go down and to let us go through. On La Jolla Shore beach, a lot of people are playing ball, sunbathing and surfing. The day is gorgeous, the air crisp and the wind brings some fresh air. We walk a little bit in town when we cannot do otherwise, we go on the little trail on top of the cliff and we are soon next to the beach in La Jolla where people come to see the seals dozing in the sun and playing in the water. We stay there for a while, watching the young playing with their moms.

Along the way, the landscape changes often, the beach is sometimes large and sandy, the sand white, tan, or almost black. We walk on big rocks or on pebbles, sometimes in squishy piles of warm seaweeds, or on large flat rocks covered with soft tiny plants. Sometimes we have to find a way to continue on the shore, and although we are technically in town, it is quite an adventure and we see very few people on some portions of the hike! There are amazing tide pools before to arrive on the beach at Pacific Beach and we see a lot of colonies of hermit crabs and light purple anemones.

Then we finally walk towards the Crystal Pier, in the calmness of the end of the afternoon. Children are playing, people are walking, kiteboarders are done for the day and all the colorful kiteboards are lying on the beach, points up, drying, looking like funny flying saucers. Garnet Avenue is the end of our journey, we take the bus to go back home.

Is today a sad day?

Freedom #1, 2008, digital print, 24"x24" [50x50cm]

Today is the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
Today violence continued to erupt in Tibet.
Is today a sad day? If I say yes then every day is a sad day, because violence in the world never stops. At the same time I continue to live my life, to create my images, to paint. I understand that my work does not have to be dark because the world is dark. My work can bring some light. It does not mean I don’t care, it means I can do some good through some positive attitude. Being attentive to the flowers blooming in the canyon where I Iive does not mean I do not care for the world.
War and conflicts make me want to be a better person.

Here and Now

A time to heal #2, 2008, digital print, 24"x24" [50x50cm]

It is very important to me when I work on my images (I guess not only when I work on my images!), to be into what I am doing and not elsewhere, living the moment, being very attentive, trying to really see what is going on with the colors, the layers, the transparencies, the light. But sometimes I start asking myself a lot of questions and it is the end of serenity!

Watching

Landscape 17, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 24"x48", [60x120cm]

I started incorporating my family in my work when I realized that one of the most important things happening in my life was happening right next to me. Watching my children grow makes me see the world differently. Interesting stories are unfolding every day. I am trying to listen to them, to really listen to them, which is very difficult. I am trying to shut down my thoughts about “the things I have to do” when they are around, when they want to explain to me something. They are totally in the present. I can see they do not anticipate much what they will do in the future, except of course all the dates we put their heads, like Christmas, Easter or their birthday. When we are doing something together, I really do my best not to talk about something else, or about something we will do in the future. I watch them doing things and they inspire me.

Reclining Figure: Arch Leg

Today in Balboa Park

The other day I was reading an article about "Louise Bourgeois: a Retrospective", actually at the Centre George Pompidou, Paris. I was thinking that a few years ago I would not have missed it – I guess I saw each exhibition of her work in France when I was living in Paris. As the years go passing by, it seems to me that I need more peace, and her work, which in the past attracted me so much – and still shocks me for its violence and its disturbing message - interests me with a different intensity.

Today, as I walked in Balboa Park with some friends and children, in a sunny and bright afternoon resembling a summer day, I stopped in the garden next to the Walters Cafe of the San Diego Museum of Art. There, “Reclining Figure: Arch leg” by Henri Moore was laying in all its roundness and giving attitude and I felt lighter.

I sent the article about Louise Bourgeois to Ivan Sigg to see what he would say about it. He talked about her and her work and also about Henri Moore. Amongst other things, he wrote: “There is a true love for life in his work”. That is may be what I am looking for right now.

A snowy landscape in the mail

Ivan Sigg, ink on paper

Today I had the really nice surprise to receive an ink on paper sent by my dear friend Ivan Sigg from France! The mailman put our mail on a chair, on the porch outside of the house and he put Ivan’s folded drawing on the top. So when I picked up the mail that is the first thing I saw, I was thrilled! I delicately opened and unfolded the drawing and here it was: a beautiful snowy landscape from the mountains where Ivan and his family spent some time recently! And there is also a little story around the stamp !
Ivan’s work, thoughts and energy inspire me. Thank you Ivan!

Merci Ivan de cette belle surprise qui a traverse un ocean plus un continent pour arriver dans notre maison de San Diego. Un rectangle de bonheur! Ton energie et ton travail m’impressionnent!