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.