.. Education:
Berlin University of the Arts
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Berkley San Francisco
Solo- and Groupshows:
James Cohan Gallery, New York
Sikkema, Jenkins & Co. Gallery, New York
ARTISTS SPACE Gallery, New York
Sushiden Gallery, Rockefeller Center New York
Flusso Gallery, Broadway New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York: Invited for the viewing program
Gikogan Museum Printmaker Biennale, Nasu Japan
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
Sharja Art Museum, United Emirates
Bonhams & Butterfields Auctioneers, San Francisco
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Denver
Plainsart Museum, Fargo
German Consulate General, New York
Art for Healing Collection, San Francisco
FBK Berlin
Auswaertiges Amt, Berlin Germany
Galerie der Kuenstler, Munich Germany
Member:
ADC Art Directors Club New York
BBK/IAA International Association of Art..
My way into the art - and out - and back in :)
I always loved art and any kind of artistic expression.
My mother was a gifted painter - so paint and brushes
were normal household item and I used them whenever I could.
Later at the age of 11 I visited my elder sister, who was studying
graphic design in Kassel, the town of the well known
documenta exhibition. She was helping with the exhibition
preparation behind the scenes. So I could get my first glimpse
into the contemporary art world.
Watching Christo at documenta
Most impressed I was by the 5,600 Cubicmeter Package by Christo.
I could watch the master closely wrapping 5,600 cubicmeter air.
and that time it was obvious: I wanted to work in the art world later.
After high school I tried to get into art schools in Hamburg and Berlin.
One had to pass a test, they accepted about 10% of the candidates.
In Hamburg I was rejected - in Berlin accepted :)
Berlin - Berlin
So I started at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin.
My major was studio arts. Because I was not sure if one could
make a living in the arts, I choose psychology and philosophy
as a minor - so I could work as an art teacher.
Already as a kid, I had the burning question: what is all this
life about? What is a human being? Is this universe eternal,
what happens after death?
I could no believe: we live in this magic situation, full of question
marks, but everybody seems just to be interested in soccer?
So I tried to find my answers in the studies of philosophy.
At that time the existentialists like Sartre and Camus were in fashion.
They defined the the human in his freedom to commit suicide.
Well ... this was not really the answer I was looking for :)
so I had to move on.
In the art classes we did a lot of live drawing with nude men
and women. We learned the anatomy, the bone and muscle
structure, to understand better how to draw.
Death - a fiction?
My girlfriend at that time was studying medicine.
In the first years they study dead bodies and I pledged, if
I could not come with her one time. I never saw a dead body before
and I also was interested in the anatomy.
So - she gave me the white dress of a student and I spend some
hours in the anatomy hall. I could watch how several corpses were
put into pieces - and everything was very interesting for me.
To my wonder I didn't faint :)
Later on my way back - in the subway - I watched people.
And my view had changed. I had a kind of xray vision and could
imagine the structures they had under their skin.
This view kept active in the life drawing classes and I
painted kind of living corpses, more the inside structure,
than the outer appearance.
Combined with my studies in the western philosophy
my view of life came to a crisis.
What is this game all about? We are kind of living corpses.
70, 80 years - than falling into pieces.
What is this body?
I could not find any answer in any book.
Nobody i knew could give me a satisfying answer.
Zen - and the Art of Art.
The big sift came in reading the book:
"Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis" by Erich Fromm
This book was my first contact with eastern thinking
and as the title says, it was the perfect link from my western
brain to the concepts of eastern philosophy.
My whole view changed.
We are not just a pair of bones in a meat suit
but an energy - living and watching our temporary body.
Life was fun again :)
My paintings changed completely.
While before, I painted corpses black in black,
I now tried to depict the energy - in radiant colors.
Painting nude bodies, on canvas just as clusters
of energy, playing with each other.
Often the strokes looked like japanese calligraphy,
even this was not my intent at that time.
I developed a deep love for eastern philosophy.
I got aware, that my art changes radically, once my
view - my philosophy changes.
Actually I never painted what was there - I just painted my
inner filter - my inner glasses.
I wanted to learn how to see reality.
S taring into reality
My first attempt to do that, was to stare at things for hours.
I noticed how my view changed constantly.
sometime the whole room got dark - even my eyes were
still open. I also looked at my face in the mirror for hours
It can bee scary what one sees - constantly changing faces ...
All this experiment happened before I knew anything
about mediation.
I started looking for teachers who could help me.
I found that there are Zen monasteries in Japan with teaching
masters. They also use calligraphy as a teaching method.
As my paintings anyway started looking like calligraphies
I thought: this is it. My desire to find an enlightened master was born.
At that time my sister, the one from the documenta, was living in an
ashram in India.
My focus was Japan not India, so I was not very interested about it.
Some months later when I met her at my parents place, she was
dressed all in red with a necklace of her Master Osho.
I was a starving student :) so she gave me $10,- that I could go to
the Berlin mediation center and buy a book about her master titled:
" My way - the way of the white cloud"
Somehow this fitted in my studies of eastern philosophy and I
finished it in one go. It was one story, that again made
a big shift in my life.
To be continued ... come back to read, if you like ... :)
www.leeladhar.com