Forests of Meditation

Forests of Meditation

I began to perceive the limits of the visible.  Everything is held in, and partially veiled by, everything…  I realize that the real can be deceptive and obscure the truth.

 This is the words of Dinh Thi Tham Poong, a female Vietnamese painter.  Tham Poong became conscious of seeing with her “mind’s eye” by being exposed to the surrealists’ philosophy and paintings.  In fact, the Tham Poong’s work in which the landscape and the people of her hometown are nested inside one another seems to indicate something more universal that exists beyond our ordinary world.

Under the title “Forests of Meditation,” this exhibition from the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Collections is divided into two sections.

• Towards the Shining World
• Forest Dwellers

The first section, “Towards the Shining World” shows various types of “lights,” which tend to be forgotten in today’s urban life; for instance, the light of stars and the Moon, or that of several fire – the lights that have attracted us since the dawn of time.  Through the works in this section, we will experience a sense of wonder or fear as well as a certain sincere feeling that can only be called a “prayer,” which we feel by touching the mystery of the world or by facing unknown aspect of nature.

The second section, “Forest Dwellers” takes us to various “forests” growing inside the artist’s mind, such as the work that reflects an image of the wandering-self, and the fantastical piece in which the boundary between real and imaginary blur.  In these forests, we may meet a gigantic elephant wandering in the trees, a god or a spirit with multiple arms, a lady fixing her eyes at a line of ants, or a fully-energized red dragon.  Standing in the trees with quiet mind, you will meet what might live inside your own forest.

Ready?  Let’s explore the forests of meditation.