|
Claude Smith: Sienna 2, detail
Claude Smith: Joy series 2
Claude Smith: Joy series 7 - four panels
Images © copyright
Claude Smith |
|
claude smith
penetrating emptiness
Life is ever fluctuating and impermanent. What
we choose to give our life significance — what we learn, our
desires, beliefs, all that we hold dear — ultimately dissolve. What
remains?
In terms of art, what happens when the picture
is taken out of the painting? What happens when the tyranny of
design, novelty, narrative, and the need for personal expression,
mark-making and rendering is removed? What remains and how do we
enter it?
I ask you the viewer, to let your notions of
what it is to look at art fall away and invite you to experience
what happens when full, sustained attention is given to seeing.
With relaxation of your eyes and mind you may see these paintings
undulate, breathe, change. What you may see is not unlike watching
the twilight sky ebb into darkness, where the constant, subtle
change in light leaves the mind unsure of what it is and isn't
seeing. My hope is to lead you to the point of stillness found when
ideas dissipate and only fluctuating emptiness remains.
The paintings mirror my inner life, serving as
an ongoing journal without words. For me, painting is a means to
access feelings, sensations, and information buried in the
unconscious. It is also a way to reflect the beauty, depth and
richness inherent in nature.
I spend a lot of time outdoors painting,
walking, being still, observing. Any lichen-covered rock or square
inch of bark is a perfect universe unto itself, and blessed with
perfect natural harmony, great complexity, and divine simplicity.
This organic, unselfconscious harmony is created from chaos and
seemingly random occurrences, fully charged with a sense of mystery
rooted in the unknown. All this inspires me, and continually renews
my reverence for life. In appreciating the beauty, fragility,
wildness, mystery and transient quality in all creation, it brings
me to living/painting in the same spirit and asks that I move
through this life with greater stillness, awareness, and compassion.
source: claude smith's website
artisans
art as a mirror of the sacred
meditation
nondual perspectives
berry mank
kongtrul jigme namgyel
albert irvin
kazuaki tanahashi
artisans' gallery
|
