One Last Lichtenstein Before I Move On

I have the basic art book on Roy Lichtenstein, an avant garde jewish-american artist well known in the 1960s for his tongue in cheek interpretations of comic art.  I've decided to start making original works instead of copying classic works of others. 

However, one landscape that stoned my imagination in the book I had to copy.  And the name of this landscape is simply, 'Cloud and Sea', and it is indeed simple art.  Here is my version below.

Cloud and Sea 

My version is in grayscale and is just as minimalistic and zenlike as the original in the book.  My emerging style features wobbly but coordinated black lines, grayscale toning, large solid blocks of color, and assertive visual storytelling.  I'm not tooting my own horn.  People see value in my art, and I have a formal education in graphic design.

Moving on, I plan to take more photos with my smartphone, and use these pics as references to future drawings and designs.  I also plan on making videos for YouTube featuring slideshows of my art and music and how it constantly improves.

Life is good for me, and gets better as I unravel the mysteries of the self.  

Man is heaven and earth in miniature.

Iconic Pop Art

In the 1960s, artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein created simple, iconic art that through parody and light-heartedness poked fun at and reinvented what art was at the time.  They were pioneers, just like Chuck Berry and Elvis were pioneers in music in the 1950s. 

Today, I did a replica of a Lichtenstein work, Red Barn II which was done in color in 1969.  I found the image in the Roy Lichtenstein basic art book I bought at Barnes and Noble a couple of years back. I think my image is simple and more like manga since it is in grayscale and lacks much detail.  My version is good too, and has a minimalistic style with wobbly lines and efficiency of line and effort.

Hope you like it.

The House of the Rising Sun

Visit Japan

This image I got off Pinterest is a replica of a vintage travel poster advertising travel to Japan.  Japan is a series of islands off the eastern coast of Asia, and the sun rises in the east every day.  So some people call Japan, the House of the Rising Sun.

The thing I like about Japan, besides sushi, judo, and minimalistic art, is their ability to weave complex zen culture and modern technology into one harmonious civilization.  They are the most advanced Asian nation, and east Asians are pretty advanced to begin with.

Zen Buddhism did not begin in Japan, and the founder Daruma, was not Japanese.  He wasn't even Chinese.  He was an Indian Buddhist monk named Boddhidharma, and he came to China in 500 AD or so to spread Buddhism in China.  Chan Buddhism, the predecessor of Zen, started when Boddhidharma, or Daruma, came to China and found Taoist monks to be overly meditative, and lacking physical strength, stamina, and focus.  He single handedly invented Chan, or Zen Buddhism, Kung Fu, and Qi Gong.  These three things alone were a great innovation and boon to not only East Asia but to all mankind.  Boddhidharma was considered to be the avatar of the boddhisatva of compassion in his time.  

Chan, or Zen, Buddhism combines Chinese Taoism and early Indian buddhism into one religion that focuses on the here and now.  Attaining enlightenment so one can be happy and free right here and now, regardless of wealth, honor, fame, or children.  A Zen Buddhist who attained sartori, or enlightenment, is happy regardless of his circumstances, because he knows he possesses nothing, and even his physical body is merely a tool or vehicle for his mind/body/spirit trichotomy.  Everything is transient, so cling to nothing.  Zen Buddhists are different from other types of Buddhism, with altruistic intents, complicated philosophies, grand temples, and secret practices.  Just meditate on the emptiness of reality and the moment will come.  The moment of zen is when suddenly, in a flash, all things are revealed to you and there is no more need to return to the cycles of birth and death.  It all is just a game.

Kung fu is  martial art that imitates the movements of animals in attack and defense, and the shaolin monks have gained tremendous notoriety for their strength, stamina, agility, speed, and physical training since then.  

Qi Gong is related to tai chi and kung fu, it is a practice for maintaining the health of the human body, and may be the greatest thing the Chinese culture has to offer the world.  Health is our real wealth, and a Qi Gong master can maintain his own perfect health and heal others, sometimes even just with his cheerful presence.

So Boddhidarma, or Daruma, as Chan later spread to Japan and became Zen, was known as the father of the religion Japan would cling to, while China later would abandon.  At one point, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucionism flourished in China, but later religion declined with the advent of Communism.  Japan latched onto Zen Buddhism and it flourished, unadulterated and unperturbed, until now.

So when people think of Japan, they may think of Toyota cars, Sony electronics, sushi, a liberal and quirky culture, or even practical, rugged martial arts like karate, judo, and jujutsu.  But I think about Zen Buddhism, and the spiritual legacy and strange paradox of a modern nation with roots in the philosophy of IndoChina.