Friday, August 14, 2009

seaside sketches....the zen of temporary art

temporary art as meditation...

i am not able to take my usual morning walk because of my broken foot...but i can sit by the sea and let the water soothe my foot and my soul...this morning i started sketching faces with my cane...

i named my sketches the zen of temporary art... for the present, i will be doing temporary art as meditation...there is something very fulfilling about sketching in the sand...i am aware of the impermanence and it will only last for a short time...yet it feels so freeing...as i continued i felt myself become very present and centered...peaceful and lifted...

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. He painted the Mona Lisa with her mysterious smile and his legendary interpretation of the Last Supper. He didn’t [produce] a lot of paintings because it took him so long to paint a 'great' painting; he was very careful and precise, and was always looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was copying him. He even went so far as to "mirror write," writing everything backwards, which was easy for him since he was left-handed. Though most of his research and discoveries were great, he did not publish them, but we still have accounts of his great genius. -myhero.com

da Vinci did not know if his work would last...does any artist really know...temporary art is very gratifying for an artist because you can always return another day and create again... NYC has Temporary Public Outdoor Art Guidelines for goodness sake...


i have always been fascinated by Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (below)...

Spiral Jetty, 1970. Robert Smithson, Great Salt Lake , Utah
prisonphotography.wordpress.com

the Spiral Jetty is Robert Smithson's monumental earthwork at Rozel Point in the Great Salt Lake, Utah...completed in April 1970 it is 1500 feet long and 15 feet wide...composed of basalt rocks, mud, water and salt crystals...it juts out from the shore and coils into luminous red water...it is temporary because it has disappeared and then re-emerged from the lake over the past decades.




how do i get paid for this art?

in sand dollars of course...

have a blessed day...




2 comments:

Rebecca is Thrilled by the Thought said...

I've always wanted to see Spiral Jetty, but never make it out there for one reason or another (even though I'm only about 30-45 min away!). I wonder if it's visible right now...

Unknown said...

I love this post! and but of course...in sand dollars!