A Fragment from the May studio notes...

May 26, 2006.
Oakland, noon.
The key is there…
Do you know the names and meanings in a Tibetan thanka? Do you know the names of the gods and their stories in a New Guinea sculpture? And what does the calligraphic frieze say around the drum of the dome of the Shah Abbas mosque in Isfahan?

Now that I know for sure that what my art is about is what I had suspected so often before, I know I can’t tell you what my work is about because it would only—like a visit to the sausage factory—spoil your appetite. And then, to tell the truth, you would not get your own thing out of the work as I have got mine.

So, don’t ask the meaning of my work: what meaning you will find lies in your own eyes, your own body and heart.

Late afternoon.
See the large plum tree shining in the late afternoon sun blazing white through the windblown leaves… go ahead and make it, show the irresistible power of life.

 

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