Vessels - Holding Patterns
A photograph I had taken in Red Bay, Labrador, Canada in 2011 inspired this work. It was on a cold mid spring day and I saw this clothesline between two buildings on which flapped a pair of frozen jeans. In the background across an inlet sheltered from the sea lay a derelict ship on its side. I thought it must have been an old fishing trawler that was used by the Basques who had frequented this place as a whaling station for over 1000 years.
The photo captured what I sensed instinctively: I didn't hesitate, pulled out the camera and took the shot. I saw both the jeans and the derelict ship in the background as vessels. The two buildings on either side were also vessels as were the two empty boxes lying just under the clothesline.
I knew without a lot of thinking that there was so much going on here that I couldn't immediately pick up: something far more profound upon which these objects rested. And so as I stared down this photo, I asked what are vessels if nothing but a capacity to hold something? That something could be a thing, a person, an idea, or reflect a number of other qualities that are more abstract like courage, commitment, creativity, love, survival. Whatever being held is a pattern that can be discernible with some reflection. And, the holding itself is also a pattern. It has a certain quality to it even though the essential meaning remains the same whatever the form.
Another representation that I knew or at least sensed was the notion of recycling, but on a deeper scale. Yes the forces of nature were recycling the derelict slowly over a longer period of time. And yes the jeans would inevitably be worn out and sent back to the earth or turned into something else and then sent back. But I also sensed a more abstract notion of lives being recycled as well as all those abstract ideas. It is the returning to the various currents and entropic cosmic forces that pick every thing up as it deteriorates and moves it along. This carries into a new definition, a new manifestation: the qualities of one life become the seeding of the new, then carries over from generation to generation, passing to passing.
From this billows a new expression in all its rawness ready to be shaped into some new application. The end result of which can only be known at its passing on. A teacher once told me that there is very little difference between karma and genetics. One exists in the currents of cosmic forces, and the other in its physical manifestation and application. They both subtend the emerging new.
In an instant, I strangely sensed all of this and knew that the picture was important to me and that I would use it somehow, some time later. Now. In the painting I included a pair of socks and a t-shirt to make it more complete. It's interesting how the objects we see in everyday life can be transposed through reflection into deeper meaning and insight. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's the insight and meaning that is transposed into the object. Whatever that may be I leave to those who might view this work
Finally, there are two other vessels here that haven't been mentioned. One is the earth itself, and the other is the vast cosmic space in which everything takes place. For me in this work the energies that they hold could only be represented by a fascia thin colour and a sense of radiance.
All is being held and holding.
The photo captured what I sensed instinctively: I didn't hesitate, pulled out the camera and took the shot. I saw both the jeans and the derelict ship in the background as vessels. The two buildings on either side were also vessels as were the two empty boxes lying just under the clothesline.
I knew without a lot of thinking that there was so much going on here that I couldn't immediately pick up: something far more profound upon which these objects rested. And so as I stared down this photo, I asked what are vessels if nothing but a capacity to hold something? That something could be a thing, a person, an idea, or reflect a number of other qualities that are more abstract like courage, commitment, creativity, love, survival. Whatever being held is a pattern that can be discernible with some reflection. And, the holding itself is also a pattern. It has a certain quality to it even though the essential meaning remains the same whatever the form.
Another representation that I knew or at least sensed was the notion of recycling, but on a deeper scale. Yes the forces of nature were recycling the derelict slowly over a longer period of time. And yes the jeans would inevitably be worn out and sent back to the earth or turned into something else and then sent back. But I also sensed a more abstract notion of lives being recycled as well as all those abstract ideas. It is the returning to the various currents and entropic cosmic forces that pick every thing up as it deteriorates and moves it along. This carries into a new definition, a new manifestation: the qualities of one life become the seeding of the new, then carries over from generation to generation, passing to passing.
From this billows a new expression in all its rawness ready to be shaped into some new application. The end result of which can only be known at its passing on. A teacher once told me that there is very little difference between karma and genetics. One exists in the currents of cosmic forces, and the other in its physical manifestation and application. They both subtend the emerging new.
In an instant, I strangely sensed all of this and knew that the picture was important to me and that I would use it somehow, some time later. Now. In the painting I included a pair of socks and a t-shirt to make it more complete. It's interesting how the objects we see in everyday life can be transposed through reflection into deeper meaning and insight. Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's the insight and meaning that is transposed into the object. Whatever that may be I leave to those who might view this work
Finally, there are two other vessels here that haven't been mentioned. One is the earth itself, and the other is the vast cosmic space in which everything takes place. For me in this work the energies that they hold could only be represented by a fascia thin colour and a sense of radiance.
All is being held and holding.
RSS Feed