NEITHER CONSCIOUSNESS, NOR FORM, NOR FEELING, NOR PERCEPTION, NOR AWARENESS/ watercolor and wax resist on paper/ A PICTOGRAPHIC ABSTRACTION BASED ON MY STUDIES OF CALIFORNIA INDIAN ROCK ART/ a tribute to prajnaparamita

          

              Neither Consciousness, Nor Form, Nor Feeling, Nor Perception, Nor Awareness

              1984
              by Eric Whollem
              watercolor and wax resist on paper
              Collection of the artist
              9" x 6"
                      Copyright by the artist

An Esoteric Work

When an artist creates a work, he often names it based
upon those things that were being imprinted on his mind
at the time of the work's inception. This could be music,
landscape, events, or philosophical ideas, as in the case
of this work.

In the 1980's I was studying texts on Prajnaparamita, the
Buddhist goddess wisdom. The string of apparent negativities
in the title of this work, are not negativities at all, but sign
posts for enlightenment.

The Prajnaparamita texts of Mahayana Buddhism are
related to the oblique expressions of Zen Buddhism. The
idealism of Buddhist thought is often expressed in expressions
of "emptiness," called Sunyata  in Sanskrit or Mu in Japanese.
This "emptiness" could be interpreted as an expression of 
detachment. In the peace of meditation, all thought, even
awareness is obliviated.

The great eye that floats upward in this painting could be
seen as the Third Eye. The cross form in the middle of it
is the mandala of the inner life of the spirit.

*

Meditation, metaphysical art, mixed media painting, abstract art.