Peace, digital pigment print, 35.5 x 40 inches
The print entitled Peace comes with great concern over the current events in the Middle East, and the unceasing violence around the world. Leon Golub was a teacher and a mentor when I studied at Rutgers for my MFA. He remains one of the most sensitive, powerful and deeply awake artists that I have ever met. He was not afraid to confront issues in his art and criticism. I used his book Leon Golub, Do Paintings Bite, selected texts 1948-1996 as a source for this print, and find it to be an essential text for anyone interested in art, artists and modern painting. Leon’s painting for me functioned similarly to Paleolithic cave paintings, he warned us, confronted us and presented so many important issues (personal, national and global) that we confront in the world and light of day.
I juxtaposed the images and information from Leon with the image and texts of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji, who is an Internationally recognized teacher of meditation and advocate for Peace and non-violence. Sant Rajinder Singh convenes two annual conferences in Delhi, India—the Global Conference on Mysticism in September and the International Conference on Human Integration in February. He has stated that, “Peace begins with you.” “When violence meets non-violence, blood will be shed.” And “Through meditation we can find inner peace and bring about outer peace in the world.” As human beings we have a choice in how to deal with inner and outer stress in our lives, and both meditation and vegetarian diet have been proven to promote peace on an individual level, and wellness of body, mind and soul.
Metropolitan Museum art history timeline: Lascaux
Leon Golub biography
Sant Rajinder Singh website
