Year of the Buddha 2014-2015 Year of the Buddha is a series of paintings inspired from visiting a small island just east of India, the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka. This is where I experienced a life changing connection with colossal size sculptures of Buddha, the Gal Vihara. Gal Vihara is a large granite rock temple from the 12 century. Carved into the face of the rock is a shrine of four larger than life buddhas. One of these images I stood in front of which seemed like for hours was the reclining Buddha. It is the largest statue in Gal Vihara and also one of the largest sculptures in Southeast Asia. It depicts the parinirvana of the Buddha. These images were so peaceful and compelling to me that the experience never left my spirit. I knew there would be a time when I would attempt conveying that same compelling experienced through my art. It took me 8 years from that visit to maintain an inner peace that would allow me to finally paint this series. That time is now: Year of the Buddha. All of this series will be painted from May 2014 until May 2015. After that time I will paint no more buddhas. Painting one image over and over is teaching me how to push myself creatively to keep the paintings interesting. If it is possible for a painting to reach parinirvana then that is my goal.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 20:33:58 +0000
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