Turtles

This painting depicts the fissure of the moment of breaking from the material world and achieving spiritual ascension. A tumultuous multicolored sky and celestial terrain symbolizes awakening, the neo-surrealist style taking imagery from the natural world and pairing it with imaginative narratives. Birds ascend, and a hole breaks in the consciousness of humankind.

The four monks represent the ancient Chinese maxim: See no more, hear no more, touch no more, and smell no more. The turtle with chains symbolizes enslavement to earthly desire, and the idea that we must release ourselves from this material desire, and its attendant dangers, such as greed, and the dark side of our humanity. The painting imagines the moment when we learn to find happiness within. We are released from dependence on desires of the outside world. In this moment, we can fly high, much like the winged turtles and their spirits. Stylistically, this work is related to twentieth century Surrealist practice, particularly in the pairing of naturalistic skies with displaced creatures, hybridity, and evocative super natural events.

Oil

60”x 40”