Making art is just like sitting zazen. Although it involves body action and conscious activity, it brings me to a state of mind stillness. High concentration. Reading rising thoughts, trying to stay present, coming back to the work. The work replaces the breath. The work becomes the center and endlessly brings me back to the moment.
These artworks are Photograms. A Photogram is a photograph realized without a camera. In the darkroom, all lights on, I meticulously place hundreds of precut plastic shapes on a large piece of glass. Concentrating on dead spaces between the plastic shapes, I create straight vertical and horizontal lines as well as geometrical forms.
When the installation is ready, I turn off the lights. I slide the photosensitive paper underneath the glass and expose it to the enlarger light. In total darkness, by placing the glass on a different position on the paper, I overlap the exposures and create movement, depth and tension in the final piece.
This is all about balancing control and discipline with letting go. We can read it in the final image. All these geometric shapes interacting together are becoming almost liquid in a very fluid movement and rhythm.
This search is present in the art process, in sitting zazen, in my extended Zen practice and in my entire life.
|
|
|
