LIFE AS MYTH
JOURNAL
JOURNAL 2007
Following a white hart
Exploring myth & meaning
SUMMER 2007
Seeking the Ox
LIFEWORKS
ATLAS
SUMMER 2007
A PURE LAND
The Pure Land of Bhaishajyaguru. Water-based pigment over a foundation of clay mixed with straw. Yuan Dynasty. ca. 1319. Sackler Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York.
New York is full of places that restore the spirit. For instance, the parks are quite beautiful here. Riverside and Central Parks are the best known and the most sprawling. But there are smaller parks throughout the city, beautiful green gems that break the city rhythm with the comfort of a park bench, the chatter of a fountain, the unexpected intrusion of grass and trees.
Nature is a great healer and she has many temples. But art is a great healer as well and in a city full of museum-temples, the Sackler Gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a personal favorite. My first visit to the Met in October 2003 is not particularly vivid in my mind. But somewhere in my cluttered remembering there is a place for one specific gallery, the Sackler Gallery, a vast open room with veils of white light and a massive weathered painting.
Since that first visit, I have photographed the space many times. I have even used a sketching pad as I tried to duplicate the relationship between space and afternoon light. Yet, to date, I haven't captured what the experience is like.
