The nature of Buddha is everywhere. It resides in a blade of grass as it turns from green to brown back to green. It
dances with reflections in the water of a sparkling mountain lake as each cloud glides overhead. It is even in our tears as they fall and evaporate into some new thing. And, it is in the hard, laid-up stones of the monastery wall.
Gallery Presentation
This photographic series began several years ago. I did not travel to exotic places or climb high mountains. This was an internal journey and it has taken these years for me to find my “reality” in each subject: to hear the lamentations of Magdalene and the innocent speech of rain as it cascades down the sweet face of a simple monk. To witness the encrusted 12th and 15th century statues of the Buddha in quiet passages while meditating, in sacred attention to a singular moment … presenting a view through the windows of time and even outside of time. I waited until I could hear the stories of the rocks in the walls, see the hidden landscapes within the grasses and the waters, observe the subtle suggestion of Siddhartha carved into tree bark.
I am most appreciative for the three muses who visited with me during the development of this body of work. Philip Glass’s soundtrack composition for the movie Kundun sustained me for many, many hours in my studio. Not so obvious though were the other two: Beethoven’s last known and profoundly stirring work, Missa solemnis, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run album of 30 years ago with its image-rich lyrics, erotic energy, and the steadfast clarity of a lone saxophone’s notes threaded like haiku throughout the last track on the album. The combination of these three composer-musicians helped me with patience and deliberation, to be brave and show up, and to dream enough. But now is the time for me to release these images
with their songs, their stories, their whispers and dreams and time for you to walk with the Buddha.
from the tao:
this is the way of heaven:
do your work, then quietly step back.
NOTE: EACH IMAGE IS A GICLÉE PRINT ON WILLIAM TURNER WATERCOLOR PAPER.
THEY ARE IN LIMITED EDITIONS OF FIVE.
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