Yet another wanderer who after traveling from an early age settled in Rome, Italy, within the marvelous mandala of a lemon tree growing in the courtyard between home and studio. Italy has offered many graces: restoration of farm houses, the projecting, planting and cultivating gardens in the Umbrian hills and the heart of Roma, curating both international exhibitions and personal exhibitions, the birth and raising of an Italian son, the many paintings, drawings, poems created, not to mention the glorious food and company kept and of course the artistic patrimony—Piero della Francesca being the beacon that brought me to Italy in the 80’s. Truly I am grateful to my adoptive home. Now my days pass in the spacious spontaneous activity of painting within a silver or dark blue ground and writing words arising on a field of whiteness.
The paintings, painted in oils on linen canvas are rather large—2×2 and 3×3 meters square and naturally take a great deal of time remaining unique, one of a kind. The videos however, are able to be offered in an open hand—fly little bird fly—to be viewed by all. Their movement allows for the transforming, dissolving of forms and ground creating a spacious reflecting mandala that attempts to mirror the motivation of the original intent of the painting.
In collaboration with a video developer, musician and composer, these humble efforts attempt to reflect the unfathomable teachings that I have been blessed to receive. They have been used in phases of dying, meditation, dance, music performances and in quiet of mind. As they are shared by all, they transform in whatever is possible.
Fly Little Bird Fly.
Photo by Reimund Bertrams, Germany.