None of us can escape the habit of projecting thoughts and concepts onto reality itself— what Buddhists would call “pure perception”. But if we can access awareness of our inner, deeply ingrained conceptual biases, we can open new windows onto our mind. By contrast, when mind is immersed in uncontrolled emotions and mistaken, often self-preserving beliefs, we’re unable to see clearly: it is as though we are trying to peer through a dirty window.
This contemplative approach to my work involves an attempt to visually describe these obscuring veils from a more spacious point of view, drawing upon both my personal experience and my experience of meditation practice. My work is intended to be intimate and accessible. Usually art that considers itself contemplative is serene and without specific images. The work that I do is contemplative, but not in this way. Viewing these images is a path to looking into the physical and emotional journeys we experience by our own creation.
Art has the capacity to infuse our experience with awareness of how our thoughts and emotions compel us, often blind us to our inherent nature. These abstract contemplative works are made with the view, and along with their carefully chosen titles, invite viewers to move beyond the boundaries of the image into a more contemplative consideration of mind in relationship to the phenomena of what we consider objective reality. In our world, understanding those with a different point of view from ours, asks from us a certain amount of empathy, open-mindedness and willingness to apply logic.
There are often hidden reasons why we might take umbrage at someone or their stated opinion. If we find ourselves reacting with unexpected animosity (or even passionate agreement), it helps to figure out why, and to remember that we are human rather than machine, and that it’s okay to feel emotions. Yet actually, do we want our ever-changing moods, emotions, hopes and fears to lead us around? Is there another way to relate altogether?
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