COMPASSIONAN ART SHOW WITH A MISSION
Opening Friday, April 18th 5-11pm
and shown Saturday, April 19th 1-7pm
at Shanti Yoga Studio
with the cooperation of
Rolling Mirror Massage and Wellness Center
235 Central Ave
Whitefish, MT
(through the door and up the stairs)
Please join us to celebrate the beginning of a unique art project designed to inspire a little more compassion on this earth. This will be the premier viewing of a series of eleven limited edition giclee prints created by me, Glenn Phillips. Each print features images of statuary depicting Juichimen-Kannon, an eleven-faced bodhisattva associated with compassion and wisdom. This 6th century Japanese deity usually has a head crowned with nine faces and topped by the Amida Buddha. With so many eyes and ears, he or she perceives the whole world’s suffering and seeks to alleviate these pains with compassion.
Working on this series of images, I could not help but to contemplate compassion and see it as more than just empathy. Compassion requires action. One cannot be compassionate without compassionate acts. Learning this, there was no way to avoid donating a portion of any profit from these images to a compassionate charity. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans FrontiPres (MSF) seemed, to me, the most appropriate charity.
MSF is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in nearly 60 countries. A private, nonprofit organization, MSF was founded in 1971 (the same year I was born) as the first non-governmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of people it assists. On any one day, close to 27,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals can be found providing medical care in international teams made up of local aid workers and their colleagues from around the world. In 1999, MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Their executive director Nicolas de Torrente’s quote regarding their mission, "We find out where conditions are the worst - the places where others are not going - and that’s where we want to be," nicely reflects ideas associated with this bodhisattva.
I’ve titled each of these images with a quote relating to compassion to encourage more contemplation on the subject.
As the edition is limited to eleven giclee prints for each image, I will be taking orders for either the 22"x34" or the 34"x45" size, stretched or unstretched, EnduraChrome prints on fine art matte canvas. These prints will continue to exhibit at the Shanti Yoga Studio and Rolling Mirror facilities until each edition is exhausted. I will display and take orders on-line following the show’s opening.
Keeping with the number eleven theme, the pricing sheet and donation will break down in multiples of eleven as follows:
22"x34" unstretched $440-$132 donated to MSF
22"x34" stretched $550-$165 donated to MSF
34"x45" unstretched $770-$231 donated to MSF
34"x45" stretched $880-$265 donated to MSF
*Stretched canvas prints cannot be shipped
**Unstretched canvas prints can be rolled and shipped to you (buyer pays shipping) and the canvas stretched at your local framer
Knowing that there are a total of 121 prints and using a little math skills, one can see that I’m hoping to raise somewhere between $15,000 - $25,000 for MSF.
Also knowing that most folks cannot afford these prices, I’ll have a postcard set of the images for $11 and unframed collagraph prints for $22 and $33 in the hopes of making it affordable to help. A percentage from the collagraph prints will not only go to MSF but also the Stumptown Art Studio, as they are actively encouraging my art by loaning me the etching press for these prints.
This event is not something I could accomplish alone and I feel fortunate to live in a community, both locally and globally, and in a time where I have access to the natural, renewable and valuable resources found in people who care to help me. Thank-you to everyone who inspires me in my search for a better way.
"I believe in a better way." - Ben Harper
THE IMAGES
The original images for the giclee series arose from a garage sale purchase of two sets of Post Cards of Eastern Art published by the Society of Friends of Eastern Art. Two images in the set that particularly stood out for me happened to be statuary of the same deity, Juichimen-kannon (Ekadasa-mukha) both dating back mid 700 A.D. Two different unknown artists connecting with me 1300 years later.
Using a scanner, my Wacom tablet and Photoshop, I used one of the images for a burned CD cover a couple of years ago. The images floated around my head and my computer for a while, until -thanks to my brother, Keith- I discovered giclee printing.
Many thanks to Caltara and the folks at Giclee Print Net, for getting beautiful images off my computer screen and on to people’s walls. The first three giclees in this series were exhibited in my last show in October and can be viewed in the archives of my blog. Two of the three prints sold.
Encouraged, I spent more time in front of a computer and added Google to my pallette. Research and development produced more images of statuary depicting this compassionate bodhisattva.
I’m not sure in many cases of whom to give credit to for certain images I employed in this series(Google: "Juichimen-kannon" and I’m sure you’ll recognize some of the images in these web pages and learn something also). I do believe that an artist involved in creating these exquisite statues would understand and encourage me. They’d see that I’m just trying to do a good thing with my art (see artist statement).
Certain images and ideas arose out of this creative state. The idea to use my art to raise money for charity. The way the number eleven kept coming up while working on this and the way it was reinforced (Google: "the number eleven"). The eleven images themselves, huge files slowing down my computer as I worked the many layers in Photoshop, often I’d click and walk away and make lunch, thinking about compassion (Google: "quotes on compassion" and you’ll find the quotes I used for the titles of these images). I’d come back and look up "compassion" in Wikipedia. One could say the world has conspired to help me.
These eleven images, this show and fund-raising event evolved from a period of creativity that began in the 6th century and continues in the 21st. It is my hope that this does not sound either pretentious or phony, I’m a human being hoping to become an example for myself, my children and other human beings with questions about what to do with their own gifts from God. I hope to inspire a little more compassion and hope for life on this amazing planet.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Inspiration for my art starts with my eyes, anything my eyes see, in a way, belongs to me - in a way, that vision also belongs to everyone else. The vision produces a vague idea and then my hands take over. At times my hands work unbeknownst to me, my mind wanders and thinks about other matters while my hands busy themselves producing a vision beyond anything I could have imagined - it’s a form of communion and meditation for me. I feel the need to share this with others and was encouraged, by my wife, to do good for others using this gift.
I was discouraged by my wife to name this show "compassionism". "That’s not even a word, Glenn."
While I agree with her, this made up word does convey some sense about what I’d like to do with this vision. I never thought I’d be a part of any sort of "ism" but I think this may be my fledgling attempt at starting a "compassionist" art movement. If this sort of art encourages and inspires people to treat people better, if this sort of artist can be an example to others searching for a better way of living, well, then I think I could get behind this movement.
I’d also like to explain the strong connection I feel to past artists. The unknown artist who created the Venus of Willendorf c. 28,000 - 25,000 B.C. is connected to me in the sense that, this person like myself, could not help but to create this piece of art. I can imagine that this artist, like myself, didn’t fully understand how or why this all came about but didn’t question it either. I believe I’m connected to all artists in this way and if I appropriate certain images and use them in whole or as compositional elements for my art, I have a certain artistic right or license given to me by these artists to do so. I’d like to tip my hat to the many photographers who document the art that ends up in my art.
I’ll certainly entertain questions regarding any of the ideas presented here in the comments section of my blog but please realize that between now and April 18th, I’ll be very busy preparing for this event. Honestly, I’m not ignoring you - I might not have the time to give a sufficient answer, yet.
Thank-you for your consideration,
support and compassion,
Glenn
