TRIMURTI

TIRTHAYATRA – Mixed Media on Illustration Board – ©2020 keven lock

The Sanskrit word “Trimurti” त्रिमूर्ति translates into English as “three forms”. In Smarti Hinduism, Trimurti is understood to refer to the supreme triple forms of Brahman which are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma adoring Kali
Anonymous/Unknown author – Public domain

These three aspects of Brahman are understood to manifest the creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe.

MANIFESTATION/SACRED RIVER
Mixed Media on Paper – ©2019 keven lock

Hindu Shaivites venerate Shiva as supreme and hold the view that Shiva manifests all of the actions of creation, preservation, and destruction.

Sadashiva
Christian Haugen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0

I have found contemplating Vedic concepts of the Trimurti to be rich with inspiration for my own art making.

In his excellent book, American Veda, Author Phillip Goldberg writes that India’s visual arts have been a minor influence on Western contemporary art as opposed to the huge influence Indian music has had on the Western scene.

Mr Goldberg further reports that Art Historian Debashish Banerji maintains that “it is because Indian painting has mainly been representational” unlike “Western trends toward abstraction and minimalism”.

My own research has shown me that this is quite true. Nonetheless, I’ve been hugely inspired by my Vedantic practice and also by abstract Tantric paintings from Rajasthan.

“An Egoless Practice”: Tantric Art

On my own path of art making I strive to discover and present imagery in a manner that emulates the oft quoted sentiment of jazz great John Coltrane: “I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words.”

OBLATION – Mixed Media on Paper – ©2020 keven lock

Thanks for looking in!
Kev

Knock, Knock…

Knock Knock Image 1

I’ve been gone for one year, four months and about 10 days. Anybody notice? I’ve been away drawing triangles. And doing some other stuff. Went to Santa Fe (Meow Wolf!). And Monterey. Dropped a ball in Times Square. And I built a Time Machine. That is to say ANOTHER Time Machine… Maybe more on that later.

But to the point, I’ve been drawing triangles in my practice. It’s what I was blogging about over a year ago. Art as Practice.

I realized that I wasn’t practicing so much as I was writing about practice, so I quit blogging and started to practice more in earnest. It paid off. I’ve got a lot of new art and a habit that I practice.

Who’s there???

I'm Back

Thanks for looking back in!!!

Kev

TRIANGLES: A LOVE STORY

PORTAL – SUMI INK & WATERCOLOR ON PAPER – 6″ x 4″

The mandala/coloring book craze hit right around the time I was contemplating moving my art making to the center of my spiritual practice, so I gave it a look. The coloring was relaxing, and reengaging with crayons was excellent, but the mandalas I encountered were mostly generic designs that I didn’t connect to.

My previous interest in mandalas was sparked by having been privileged to observe a team of Tibetan monks create a sand mandala at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where I was in residence in the early ’90s. So, still intrigued after having checked out the coloring books, I started looking at, among other things, yantras.

Yantras are ancient Tantric mystical diagrams created to represent various deities or cosmic powers. I found them interesting to study and satisfying to draw in a variety of ways. In the center of many of the yantras I explored, I encountered… triangles.

TRIPURABHAIRAVA YANTRA – Public Domain

At first I thought it was love at first sight.

© keven lock

But then I realized that triangles had been in my life all along…..

COLOR THEORY CLASS PROJECT – 1977

There many ideas about what triangles symbolize…

Triangle: A polygon having three sides.

40″ x 30″ ACRYLIC/MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS

Cool.

Thanks for looking in!
Kev

The Rain

Oil Pastel On Paper

SO GENTLE A THING

So gentle a thing, the rain,

yet quenches the fire’s thirst.

The eternal cycle

of birth and desolution,

and earth the grave,

and the womb.

Oh Mighty Gods,

we are but ants

beneath the toes

of Brahman.

ॐ

CATARACT – Oil on Canvas – 2011

My mind has been much on the fires here in the PNW.
Thanks for stopping by.

Kev

Art As Yoga

SHIVA MEDIUM RETOUCHED Sized

“Spirituality is often a wordless, silent subject and art is a trustworthy passport to this still place.” – Michael A. Franklin – Artist and Teacher, Naropa University

Yogas, the Vedas tell us, are mental, physical, and spiritual practices. They were brought to light thousands of years ago by seers from the ancient Indian subcontinent. Yogas are aimed at achieving a clearer perception of reality and uniting the human spirit with the Divine.

There are many, many different schools and approaches to yoga. The Bhagavad Gita alludes to three: Karma yoga (action), Bhakti yoga (devotion), and Jnana yoga (knowledge).

Reflecting on my own journey of combining my art making and my spiritual practice, I feel the most in common with Jnana yoga. The practice of Jnana yoga seeks the union of the Self (Atman) and Ultimate Reality (Brahman) through knowledge.

My practice encourages me to study and seek inspiration from various visual manifestations of the Divine including yantras (Tantric mystical diagrams) and Tantric paintings, such as the small, exquisite abstracts from Rajasthan.

Yantra - Tantra

Also, in the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patanjali presents yoga as the suppression of the active mind. For me, this means getting out of my own way to allow myself to create an energetic and unrestrained arena of art making where I experience a liberating alternate consciousness and sense of union.

Since beginning to work in these modes, my experience of art making is more productive, more satisfying and more grounded. It has also led me to evolve a more original and (to me) meaningful vocabulary and has intensified my commitment to my spiritual journey.

24″ x 24″ Mixed Media on Canvas

Thanks for stopping by! Please post your thoughts!

Kev