Taoist Void and Buddhist Smile

Around the globe today, Asian philosophy is being applied to the Western intellectual conceptions of art. The Taoist-Buddhist perspective for understanding ourselves challenges rational thinking as a primary path to truth and knowledge. Works of art are complex products of our minds. We are the creatures of our culture, as well as of our own personal histories. I would like to use my recent work "Spiral Series" as a vehicle to trace the inspiration that frequently materializes in my work and to have better understanding of myself and my art. Sumptuously painted in a technique consisting of painterly drips and splatters held in check by subtly controlled washes of glaze and exacting tromp l'oeil objects, my meditative paintings exemplify the theme and style indicative of my most recent body of work, the "Spiral Series." This series evolved out of a 2002 transitional painting entitled Beauty of Complexity. The compositions and imagery in my painting are meant to not only be spiritually up-lifting but also to be practical in the sense that my imagery can help to guide me through my life experiences. I incorporate Chinese Taoist and Ch'an Buddhist symbols in my paintings because for me these symbols have taken on a special spiritual significance due to their place in Chinese history. In a sense, these symbols enable me to create art works that hopefully serve the dual purpose of helping myself and my viewers to simultaneously better understand the natural world and our position in it, while also feeling a sense of spirituality that transcends that world. As a bicultural artist I am used to working with both Western and Eastern symbolism and concepts. When I look at my work more deeply, I realize that I have internalized the influences of Taoist-Buddhist philosophy as a means for understanding my place in the world. After I began my "Spiral Series" I noticed that these influences about Taoist void and Buddhist transcendental thought began to assert themselves into my work. In this paper I will explore the Taoist-Buddhist iconography behind my metaphysical paintings. In my analysis of my work I will also discuss how I reconciled the problem of merging Western rationalism with a Taoist-Buddhist conception of absence and presence, or void.