Robzentaur1's Blog

Selling Art: what does it really mean?

robzentaur1 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:54:28 +0000

What does it mean to sell your art? Are you happy that someone liked it enough to send you money? At least you are past poor Vincent. You’ve sold something while still alive. Is there a deep feeling of satisfaction? Do you allow yourself time to let any of that feeling sink in or are you on to the next thing? Try staying with that feeling of accomplishment for a few minutes or a day or a week. Experience it. It is a part of you, regardless of what you accomplish..

Not selling my work bothers me on an ego level but on the absolute level it is nothing at all really, no… really. I often do have the urge to reach out, to communicate, to say something meaningful. I love seeing the map on google analytics that shows where people are that view my site. That’s real communication, since a lot of them don’t even speak my language.

I recently sold a large print and several smaller ones from my website and shipped them off today. I know that this particular buyer sees some of my work as visual depictions of her inner spiritual experiences. My prints will hang on her wall for the rest of her life. This brings a deep sense of connection with the buyer. Satisfaction arises. Stay with it, its OK. Connecting, Oneness, this is the essence of my art.

I have been riding a wave of energy lately and am wanting to put that energy to work.When I launched my art website three years ago I wanted to reach out to people and connect with others on a spiritual level, not just sell prints to corporate art buyers. I have found many people looking and downloading free copies for their virtual art collections but not many buyers of my prints. I have recently ramped up my output on this blog and created a facebook page as well. The facebook page is a little more personal than the blog and may eventually serve as a source of potential buyers. I have no works in brick and mortar galleries at this time. I participated in some group shows in Rochester, NY during my years of living there. With my recent move to Vancouver, I plan to get out and connect with local galleries. In the meantime I am also upgrading my SEO (site optimization) for the main website in an attempt to generate more viewers. Keywords will be changed and content will be modified. I am planning to add a spiritual surrealism gallery as well, since some of my recent best work falls into that category. MyArtistEgo thanks you for visiting.

Rene and Me

robzentaur1 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:35:23 +0000

Homage to Rene Magritte

This is on the heels of the previous post relating to my choice of artist brand or logo. In the Asian art tradition it is customary to create a stamp to go on each print or original. work. The Inglis apple core logo is my digital stamp or “chop.” I created this work before my website got launched in Nov ’08, over three years ago. The idea behind the title “Homage to Rene Magritte” was to honour a man who amazed me with his work as far back as the Sixties. Yes I do actually remember the 60′s. Having read through Taschen’s excellent book on Magritte I came to realize that he had a vision of realtiy that was very plastic, and very childlike in the best sense. Yes, a train could emerge from a fireplace. It could really rain bowler hatted men. And a single apple could eclipse a room. Depends on the position and perspective of the observer. He had a very Zen-like view of reality, although I doubt he would want to put any label like “Zen” on his work. I’m not sure he even liked the term surrealism. His painting of a pipe, titled “This is not a pipe” completely rips off all the labels. As Frank Zappa once sang “Lick my decals off, baby.” Right on Frank and Rene and Zen, too. Because the great Chan (zen) teachers, in their infinite compassion and deep wisdom really want us to let go of all concepts, to see the shining non-relative completeness of everything.

So this is my humble attempt to do something Magritte-esque (another label, non?) A rain of apple cores. If you visit the website you will se an animated version of this work. Enjoy. And please, whatever you do, don’t label it good or bad.

If you are interested in the deeper significance of the choice of an apple core for my artist logo please see the previous post: Inglis, Ego and the Applecore Logo. Thanks for showing up on MyArtistEgo.

Inglis, Ego and the Apple Core Logo

robzentaur1 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:06:03 +0000

Inglis Core Logo

I would like to officially set the record straight on my use of the apple core in my logo. It began in 1968 when I did a pencil of a very beautiful young woman I had met in Yorkville village, Toronto. I was experimenting with the “I” in Inglis and wanted to do something catchy. I think the Beatles had already done their apple thingy so it was post Beatles. But this one and the full sketch I did in 1973 was definitely pre Apple corporation. If you want to see the pretty lady go to the www.artbyinglis.com link at bottom of this page and look in the portrait gallery, first thumbnail. Then if you want to download a larger freebie simply click the link “purchase in store”. No, you won’t have to buy anything, Its the non-flash image in a slightly larger format.

All that said I want to hold forth on what this little Apple-y Core signifies for me. You probably know that an apple represents knowlede of good and evil in Genesis, first book of the Bible. I am not a Christian in traditional sense and this isn’t the place for religious debate on morality tales. However, I have been practicing Zen or Chan meditation for 35 years. Zen aims at actually experiencing the realm beyond concepts, such as good and bad, self and other, birth and death. Hence the symbol of the applecore being gradually eaten away. Letting go of deeply held concepts take time.

The other meaning to consider here is that of the “I” process, or the seeing into the emptiness of the self concept. The “I” in Inglis is also slowly returning to no-thingness. The core is disappearing, yet there is no core, no apple, no I. Whoa, radical. Yet this has profound significance for my life.

My new Chan teacher says there are two basic approaches to life and to meditation. One is from “Self centered, discriminating attachment” (the I, Me, Mine approach) and the other is from Pure Awareness”. These are his exact words. Pure awareness is very real and can actually be experienced, folks. Yup, its about that which is reading these words right now. Point here instead of there and you will see no-thing, no face, no label. Not even a logo. Here you and I are One, vast and clear and absolutely free!

I hope this gives you a taste of the importance of my choice of Logo, or Brand. It will also be seen on my new astrology website, soon seen on all great browsers everywhere. Thanks for visiting My Artist Ego. My illusory ego is temporarily stoked and thanks you.

Awaken

robzentaur1 — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:26:12 +0000

Awaken Six

This is one of many mandalas from the Ajalon show (see previous 2 posts). It symbolizes awakening to Pure Awareness or enlightenment in the Zen sense. The circular pattern was “hand” drawn using a CAD program, then the linework was enhanced with Corel Draw, then hand colored with Corel Painter 10. Who knows how many hours went into this one. Hundreds. A high definition digital copy on a CD for your monitor or a high resolution giclee print, any size, of this beautiful mandala can be ordered if you contact me through my website at www.artbyinglis.com Of course, the Inglis logo will be much reduced.

Yes Awaken ~ Ajalon part 2

robzentaur1 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:58:04 +0000

Well its been a year and a half since this show but the memory is still clear as day. I am in the back of the beautiful old theater in Gettysburg running my digital paintings created especially for this show….176 in all, sequenced to the music. Onstage are my friends. Ajalon, progressive rock group extrordinaire, playing Awaken by Yes as their encore. One of the most amazing pieces of truly spiritual prog rock music ever created. The shivers go down my spine as Johnathan Sindelman starts the opening arpeggios. Then Jennifer Newberry’s clear voice is heard….”high vibrations go on”. And so it begins. Well, enjoy it for yourself. Part 1 above. Yes, I will do more of this kind of work. If you are a musician of any genre and are interested in a dialog, please contact me through my website athttp://www.artbyinglis.com. Thanks.

Awaken by Yes ~ Ajalon cover

robzentaur1 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:44:35 +0000

Well its been a year and a half since this show but the memory is still clear as day. I am in the back of the beautiful old theater in Gettysburg running my digital paintings created especially for this show….176 in all, sequenced to the music. Onstage are my friends. Ajalon, progressive rock group extrordinaire, playing Awaken by Yes as their encore. One of the most amazing pieces of truly spiritual prog rock music ever created. The shivers go down my spine as Johnathan Sindelman starts the opening arpeggios. Then Jennifer Newberry’s clear voice is heard….”high vibrations go on”. And so it begins. Well, enjoy it for yourself. Part 2 above. Yes, I will do more of this kind of work. If you are a musician of any genre and are interested in a dialog, please contact me through my website athttp://www.artbyinglis.com. Thanks.

Form and Emptiness

robzentaur1 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:36:32 +0000

Seed within seed 7

This painting could be considered Op Art for the new millenium. I wrote this in 2004 around the time this work was created:

The computer is a fascinating art medium with rapidly expanding possibilities. The images shown here were created using a CAD design program, a graphic illustration program and a paint program with thousands of gradated colors. This work (as well as the other mandalas on my website) evolved as part of an experiment in pure geometric form and color, based on the circle.

In Buddhist cultures circular art evolved into highly formalized expressions of spiritual states or realms. In China the first mandalas appeared, depicting realms of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In Zen the circle appeared as an Enso (Japanese) a spontaneous ink-brushed circle, symbolizing timeless perfection and wholeness. Tibetan Buddhist monks have developed a unique ritual, creating intricate and beautiful sand mandalas. They then return form to emptiness as the sand is whisked away after completion. Most artists would be aghast at the notion of destroying their work after months or years of creative effort.

In the movie “Pollock”, about the pioneering abstract painter, there are some amazing scenes in which the artist seems to be dancing as he creates his images. He is squeezing pure color directly from tubes onto the canvas and moving paint with brushes, sticks, and hands. His motion becomes part of the final product. Of course, creating digital art is much less physical. One sits, relaxed, yet focused. Hand motion, using a graphic pen on a digital tablet, instantly becomes a shape or color or line on the screen. One can zoom in or out, seeing the whole or concentrating and working on a tiny section.

In creating these images the final results were not predetermined, although many choices were made along the way by the “artist”. The programs and computers were developed and produced by countless people. So in the act of creating these images was there a single artist or doer? Or only a “doing”?

Digital art can appear or disappear at the mere touch of a button. Hundreds of hours of work gone in a flash, yet available when the hard drive “wakes up”. A print can be made which has a certain lifetime or the image can be displayed on a screen. However the “original” is really just………. ones and zeros. Form? Emptiness?

Indra’s Net

robzentaur1 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:32:04 +0000

This has been one of those ever unfolding works although I feel it is near completion. What is Indra’s Net or Web? In Buddhist teaching, all things are interwoven or “interbeing” and each individual “thing” is supported by each other thing. In this painting we see humanity, symbolized by the two female figures, emerging from the Earth, our physical home. Our place in the Universe seen from a scientific perspective is that each one of us is a tiny human in a vast impersonal mechanical cosmos. Is that true? If you go outside in a clear night and look up at the Milky Way what do you actually experience? Are you a tiny “thing”? Or are you clear open capacity for all those stars? Check to see, don’t take my word for it. In some mysterious way we contain all. Zen calls it the One Mind which is No-mind. So in the painting, the two women are shown larger than the various earths, because each of us contains the whole. The background pattern represents the interconnectedness aspect. There are several Earths because we each have our own vision of reality. Which is correct? Mine or yours?

Indra's Net

Zen and Art

robzentaur1 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:37:29 +0000

I just returned from a three day Chan (Zen) retreat on Vancouver Island and today is my processing day. I can feel the creative energy beginning to build from the retreat and will be doing some marketing work tomorrow as well as sending off some prints to another happy customer. If you are an artist my advice is the more clarity you have in your mind, the better your art will be. I understand that much art flows from angst and pain. I am talking about a different level of functioning here. Pure awareness is what we are made of. That needs to come up and find form if you are really an artist. Its very simple and has nothing to do with the needs of the ego. Pure awareness gives rise to both the ego self and all forms in the world. Yes this can be experienced, not just conceptualized. When you put your digital pen or your brush to canvas or screen, something miraculous is happening! The big question is “Do you see it?” or are you busy making other plans while you paint. Many speak of being in the moment these days, but how many really are? Being in each moment of creation is nothing but the blazing clear light of timeless awareness. That’s all. I have nothing more to say on this.

LionHeart Unfolding

robzentaur1 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:26:09 +0000

As I work on LionHeart I am always moved to look and relook at each virtual brushstroke. “No too thick, OK thats it, different hue of gold, too bright, tone it down, just so.” This dialog runs through my mind at a subliminal level. Where does it finish….I really don’t know. When is it done? Sometimes I know, sometimes I don’t. Just keep the flow. Stay focused.