'Ancient Satori'

Only available for collectors residing in or around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I will personally transport the piece for your personal viewing and then if you love it, to purchase! 
Contact me for a private viewing or to purchase.
Medium: Mixed Media - Sand,Daler Rowney Acrylic, Emulsion Paint, Plaster of Paris, Wax, W&N Oil Paint, 
Stones, Liquin Fine Detail, Copper on Masonite
Protected with: Winsor & Newton All Purpose Matte Varnish
 Size: ( 18" x  24") , ( 20" x  30") , ( 18" x  24")  respectively
$  3, 4 0 0 USD 
Comes Framed

This was a mixed media painting I did back in 2003..

You could say this was one of my first pieces with 'Time' being the main focus of its inception. Thankfully I wrote a few things down in my ideological wanderings... Here's an excerpt.....

"Ancient Satori (satori in Zen meaning - the realization of the very foundation of existence. - the awakening to the innermost spirituality of mankind. - in other words 'Enlightenment')"

"....question the foundations that we have based our belief of the history of man and the universe. Then finally ...the zen conclusion of casting away all knowledge and thoughts which are the products of our ordinary consciousness, as perhaps being the path to finding the real Truth."

Taking inspiration from zen symbology and how one of zen nature 'non thought' was as the stillness of water, if one was to stir that stillness, even with the tiniest thought, as with a small stone that hit the waters still surface, it would cause ripples that grew larger and larger throughtout. 

"The way of zen cannot be found by our ordinary dualistic knowledge. Not only that, but all knowledge and thoughts which are products of our ordinary consciousness are to be completely cast away. When this is done, there is the fact of actual experience, where one is awakened to no-mind, or so called 'Nothingness'." ~ an excerpt from 'A Flower Does Not Talk' by Zenkei Shibayama

So the pool of the mind should stay still without stones (thought and knowledge needed to be cast away in order to attain that awakening to 'Enlightenment'..."

For me this intrinsically tied in with the meaning of the slightly unraveled copper 'scroll' placed with the skeletal remains in my painting. Papyrus scrolls inscribed with spells from the 'Book of the Dead' were commonly buried together with the mummified corpses of the deceased in ancient Egypt. This was done in preparation for their journey in the afterlife. However instead of instructions for eternal life so carefully inscribed by Egyptian priests, I impressed in to the copper a short poem by Zenkei Shibayama-
Picture
    Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away; 
                                               Yet here now, at this moment, at this place,          
                              the whole of the flower,           
                                          the whole of the world is blooming. 
                   This is the talk of the flower,          
                      the truth of the blossom, 
                                                                                        The glory of eternal life is fully shinning here.                                                
                                                                                                         
                                                                                           ~Zenkei Shibayama
  

How Ancient Satori' came about...
  1. After sawing and priming my masonite boards,  3" tall Plasticine edges were made at the bottom of the first two. Plaster of Paris was then poured with the stones in place, after having made a rough textured surface for the plaster to adhere to.. 
  2. The 'water' ripples on the rest of the pieces were masked out.
  3. Removing the Plasticine edges, the skeletal structure was then carved out and the inscribed copper 'scroll' was attached...
  4. After the plaster was dry, it was given a deep soaking wax finish and polished to a sheen. Burnt Umber + Ultramarine W& N Artists Oil Paint was then rubbed in for an aged look.
  5. As I wished the sand to be a certain hue, it was painted with acrylic paint in a deep reddish ocher,  drying carefully to minimize any clumping.
  6. Once the sand was completely dry, thick impasto textured strokes of white acrylic paint was then applied over the masking and everywhere the sand needed to adhere to. Then quickly before the paint could dry, the sand was sifted over the surface for the finest sandy finish.
  7. After all was dry, the masking was removed, revealing the white ripples underneath!

 Check out how I made 'Ancient Satori's custom fit frame at Making a Custom Fit Braced Picture Frame.
Picture
Estimate size *

* Image is an estimate size of the unframed painting compared to an average person ( 5f 7" )


If you have any inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact me.

'Ancient Satori'

Click image for a closer look!...
​
$ 3, 4 0 0  USD
Comes Framed
If you are in or around Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
Contact me for a private viewing before purchase.
*Please be aware that even though every effort has been made to display an accurate representation of the work in digital form, your monitor's colour representation may differ slightly from the original painting in real life.

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