I believe art is medicine and it allows us to be our ultimate self. As a kid, my connection to visions and drawing shapes led to painting them. Learning that the work has a long lineage to regions throughout the world has changed my prospective in life and art. Patterns like food and music connect us to thousands of cultures that date back before pre-colonization.

Painting has become my medicine through meditation. Each brush stroke pays tribute to countless lives that have no monument or recognition in contemporary life. This practice of meditation will pay tribute to ancestry around the globe.

Art has giving me freedom, and my life’s path has been a journey to be grateful of. The goal is to apply positive energy in every second of creating work. I hope that it captures the feeling, and helps someone step outside themselves to experience the moment together… even if there’s only one of us present in front of the work.

Like temple food there is temple art. We aim to make people happy and be happy in the process….to put positive energy into the work. My biggest influence to date is a monk by the name of Jeoung Kwan.

Here’s a quote from her that is profound, and I’d like to share her same wisdom and inspiration with you all. I wish you a happy and healthy life….

“Creativity and ego cannot go together. If you free yourself from comparing and jealous mind, your creativity opens up endlessly.

Just as water springs from a fountain, creativity springs from every moment.

You must not be your own obstacle.

You must not be owned by the environment you’re in.

You must own the environment, the phenomenal world around you.

You must be able to freely move in and out of your mind. This is being free.

There is no way you can’t open up your creativity. There is no ego to speak of. That is my belief”.

-Jeong Kwan

Photos by Ian Lundie