Although difficult to fathom, it is generally accepted as fact that all things are made up mostly of empty space with small particles moving quickly within that space defining the object. While contemplating this idea, it seems logical to conclude that we have more in common than not with any given material form around us.
I believe that in the same way atoms are surrounded by space, activity and thought are surrounded by stillness. This stillness and space together are the ineffable universal sacred. They are also, at the very same time, the ordinary particulars of the mundane world in which we live. Just as it is difficult to conceptualize the space existing within solid objects, this stillness is not easily apparent. Even so, surprising moments occur in which every day objects or situations seem to speak wordlessly of something vastly larger than themselves. Every mundane part of the world discusses the whole. The quiet mind experiences this wordless dialogue. This series of paintings is a very humble attempt to articulate the experience of this dynamic and to evoke that vast stillness experienced in the original instances of inspiration. The title of the series, The Stillness Between, refers to a quote by Zen priest Katagiri Roshi. “The moment between before and after is called Truth.”
Since this experience can only occur in the present and can only be inaccurately referenced afterwards, it quickly became apparent that the act of painting and the paintings themselves are their own realities very separate from the experiences they represent. At first, this caused me to question the whole intention behind this project. But alas, a painter wants to paint, and impossibility doesn’t completely negate the striving. The realization actually had a freeing affect. By making me acutely aware of my inability to ever reproduce reality, it allowed me to feel more comfortable with my technical inaccuracies and own creative sense in the new reality I was creating.
