9.06.2014

Visionaries Group Show at Blue Door Gallery

Several of  my Plant Spirit pieces are in the current show at Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers.


Sept. 6 thru Oct 11, 2014

Blue Door Gallery
13 Riverdale Ave, Yonkers, NY
914.375.5100

7.17.2014

New Work: Plant Spirits

I've been working on-and-off on my series of Plant Spirit images for several years, posting some earlier versions previously on this blog. Ultimately, once I have enough "inventory," I plan to produce a set of divination cards from these based upon journey work to commune with each particular plant spirit.

Below is a sampling from the current batch / current versions of images. The latest versions will also get posted to my Shaman Dreaming site under the "Plant Spirit Medicine" viewer link.

Black and Blue Sage

Honeysuckle

Peony

Redwood grove

Salvia Divinorum



Reworking Stuff

Even with digital work sitting around the studio (actually, filed on the computer), there comes a point when one just has to "face the music" and rework images that have grown to be bothersome - not quite what was envisioned, somehow awkward & improperly resolved. The digital equivalent to taking out the palette knife and scrapping away part of a painting...

With that in mind, I thought I would offer up two examples from the Plant Spirit series which show how the earlier work was modified into a better result. Or at least I think so. Mostly this consisted of simplifying the primary colored energy fields. I still haven't decided which version of Mugwort will be the "official" one. (You can add a comment below as to which version you prefer and why, if you'd like. I'd be interested in hearing your opinions!)

Mugwort - current version (?)

Mugwort - current version (alternate)

Mugwort - earlier version

Brugmansia - current version

Brugmansia - earlier version


New Work: Pachamama

While working on new Plant Spirit imagery, I've been listening to some podcasts by Dr. Bruce Damer recounting his new myth about the 'Great Mother' and the evolution of our Earth's biosphere - a hyper-conscious intelligence embodied within and emerging from the neuronal net of plants (root brains), bacteria, and mycelia fungi. (His podcast is called Dr. Bruce's Levity Zone - or you can subscribe via iTunes. Look for episodes from 2013, esp. those recorded at Symbiois festival or at Burning Man.)

Out of this, I began playing with a few elements imaging Pachamama (Great Mother). A couple of examples below.




Rorschach Re-Imagined: Native American GIFs





Nicholas Galanin (b. 1979, Sitka, Alaska) is a conceptual artist inspired by, and extending, generations of Tlingit creativity. His work strikes a balance between the traditions of his heritage and an incisive contemporary approach to manifesting ideas visually.

To coincide with the exhibition "Your Feast Has Ended" at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, Galanin collaborated with Seattle-based artist and designer Christian Petersen on a series of animated GIFs that "deal with the ideas of psychology and interpretation" and how ideas (symbols) transform over time. The traditional Native American imagery created by Galanin transforms into the ink blots of the Rorschach test.

Original article: Rorschach Re-Imagined: Artist Nicholas Galanin’s Native American GIF Psychology

1.30.2014

Fractal Foam of Being

I started playing with a fractal app for the iPad. Shades of 1980s! As I fooled around, I happened across a few interesting rendering settings that made me think of quantum energy fields. That got me wanting to create an image of emergent space filled with manifestations of Tara, Medicine Buddha, Mahakala, Dakinis and other protectors.

So this is the first image I came up with. At low rez (screen rez) it's hard to see the fine detail in the various "atoms" of Medicine Buddha who follow the sweeping curves of the fractal spaces. But there is a sense of pattern and energy exchange / flow in any case.

Can't wait to get this printed out LARGE (30"x36") to reveal the full details!


Green Tara in Field of Self-Manifestation

Mudras

I've started to play around with various iPad graphics apps trying to see what might work for my imagery. I fell in love with 'Percolator.' I've been using it to create starry energy fields / auras around a figure, especially focused on CUs of the hands while in a meditation or yoga pose. Thus, the notion of the current MUDRA series.

I printed a number of them on this wacky silver 'holographic' paper which creates an interesting low-fi visual where black prints clearly but any color becomes a shimmery coat over the silver sparkle, seen best as certain angles. Well, I can't reproduce the effect directly via .jpgs. These have to be seen in person. (They are being shown in 'Photography Takes Over 2014' at the Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson - opening Sunday Feb. 2, 2-5pm.)

I have included a few of the 'base' images below (on white background).






And here is a colorful variant on one of these that I particularly like:




Terence McKenna Quotes

Over the last few months I have been collecting a few short snippets from various recorded McKenna talks (as posted on the Psychedelic Salon).

Here are four of them:


#1 - The felt presence of immediate experience is all you'll ever know...



#2 - Reclaim experience. Do not give your authenticity away!



#3 - What is the Primary Datum? Being Here Now!



#4 - The Plant Teachers as a gateway on the Path.