Landscape with Tibetan Deities

Landscape with Tibetan Deities, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 96" (4 panels, 48 x 24 each)

White Tara II

White Tara II, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 38".

Exhibition: Women to Watch 2011

Five of my Tibetan Deity pastels were accepted into the exhibition Women to Watch 2011, organized by the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. 

The exhibition opened at the Arts and Science Center of Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff, and was on view between Jan. 14 and March 19, 2011.

The exhibition is currently on view in Bentonville at 109 NW 2nd Street through June 18, 2011.



At the Jan 20 reception in Pine Bluff. 

Exhibition

Shadakshari II was accepted into the First International Peace Art Exhibition sponsored by the Harmony for Peace Foundation, Southeastern, PA.  The jurors were Julien Robson, Curator of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Senju Hiroshi, painter; Dr. Joe Zammit-Lucia, conservation photographer; and Mark Di Paolo, Director, HFP Board.  The exhibition will be installed at the Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W. 22 St., New York, NY, between June 3 and 5, 2011.









Shadakshari II, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 38 x 32"

Exhibition: Common Grounds, March 28 - June 27, 2011

Twenty-five pastels from my Tibetan series are on exhibit at Common Grounds, 412 W. Dickson Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas through June 27, 2011.  These pastels depict various Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and goddesses revered in Tibetan Buddhism.  This exhibit has been scheduled to coincide with the talk being given by the Dalai Lama at the Bud Walton Arena on May 11.  The Common Grounds, Gourmet Espresso Bar and Restaurant, is open daily between 7:00 am and 12:00 midnight.

The Medicine Buddha

The Medicine Buddha, 2011
acrylic on paper
30 x 22 inches (sheet)

The celestial Buddha known as Master of Healing, the Lapis Lazuli Radiance Buddha (Skrt: Bhaishajya-guru vaidurya-prabha tathagata) is one of the most important figures of the Mahayana Buddhist pantheon, appearing in various chapters of the Lotus Sutra. 

The Medicine Buddha is blue in color, which refers to the color of lapis lazuli, which is the name of his pure land or paradise located in the east.  He is related to the cosmic Buddha Akshobhya as both are depicted as blue and both reside in the east.  The Medicine Buddha is also related to Gautama as both are depicted in plain dress with no jewelry ornaments, and both are shown holding a begging bowl. 

The Medicine Buddha is shown with his left hand in the meditation mudra holding a begging bowl made of lapis filled with amrita.  His right hand is extended in the gift giving mudra while also holding the myrabolean fruit which is noted for its healing qualities.  To the Medicine Buddha's right and left are bodhisattvas representing the moon and the sun.  While the six figures in the upper area could be indentified as members of the Medicine Buddha's assemply, more probably they, plus the Medicine Buddha in the center, refer to the ritual associated with the seven Buddha brothers, described in esoteric texts popular in Tibet and Nepal (Raoul Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha, Boston: Shambhala, 1989, pp. 92-5)  At the bottom of the picture are depicted the 7 precious jewels:  the 7 possessions of the chakravartin:  elephant, general, minister, queen jewel, wheel (chakra), and horse (white in color).

While Buddhist medicine makes use of various physical healing methods, illness is primarily considered to be any state that is not enlightenment, and medicine is the dharma.  Healing is the gradual elimination of the 3 inner poisons of lust, anger, and delusion. 

Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna, 2011
acrylic on paper
30 x 22 inches (sheet)

Nagarjuna's life is shrouded in myth.  He was an Indian mahasiddha, who lived sometime around the 1st c. AD.  He is noted for writing a tremendous number of texts, the most important of which is the Prajnaparimita Sutra (Discourses on the Perfection of Wisdom).  The story is that Nagarjuna obtained this text from the nagas, the snake gods who live deep underwater.  For this reason he is shown with snakes around his head.  Arjuna, the second part of his name, means white; hence his skin is white.  He is shown with a treasure vase, indicating the importance of his contributions. 

The Prajnaparimita Sutra is the foundational text of Mahayana Buddhism.  In depictions of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, he is shown holding it in his left hand.  Another widely-read text brought forth by Nagarjuna is the Root Treatise on the Wisdom of the Middle Veiw. For more on the miraculous life of Nagarjuna, see Glenn Mullin, The Flying Mystics of Tibetan Buddhism, Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2006, pp 29-32, 102-7, 133-4. 

James Churchward, in his book The Sacred Symbols of Mu (1933), reports that the Nagas were the earliest settlers in India, highly educated and cultured, who were overcome and chased north by the Aryans, who then established the Brahmin caste  (p. 274-5).