formlessness, 8.5"x 11", watercolor/acrylicon Yupo paper, 2012 Recently I have been reflecting on form and formlessness. This thought is the result of what I am experiencing in my life at the moment, as well as reading the Tao Te Ching. I am really interested in understanding what is underneath it all. The biggest of pictures of this existence. I am diving into Stoic philosophy where universals laws are said to exist within the infrastructure of the world we all live in, and with which all things within it live accordingly. So with form, this painting was inspired by that idea where all form comes into the universe from non-existence, only to leave form and return to non-existence. It is the cycle of birth-life-death. And whether it is your existence, an object, a relationship, an idea, a feeling, whatever... all things participate accordingly. Knowledge, philosophy more specifically, is powerful in this way to have a rational relationship with life itself in an accepting, rational manner. How often do we find ourselves in situations where the sh#t hits the fan, and we are left in a confused traumatic emotional state, unsure what to do. How culturally, we are raised to live in accordance with one side of the story, fleeing from the rest of it. And yet, one side to the story isn't a story at all. And so again, with form, to have the awareness of the inevitable and not to fear it, but rather find contentment in it for there is no other option other than to reject it and suffer the consequences of disharmony. And so this painting is that visual expression, of 'us' as form/formlessness born out of the cosmos and returning to it. enjoy