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Laser Buddha

 

 

Mongolian Shaman with Mask and Artifacts

 

 

Mongolian Shaman with Ear Ring

 

 

Mongolian Shaman with Drums and Crystals  

 

 

Mongolian Shaman with Uan Dynasty Silver Plate

 

 

Tuva Shaman with Falcon Head Dress

 

 

Korean Shaman with Crystals

 

 

Shiva Dancing in Chicago

 

 

Blu Ray Buddha With Necklace

 

 

Kwan Yin In Cyber Cloud

 

 

Kwan Yin Prayer Kite

 

 

Chinaberry Buddha With Mirrors

 

 

Buddha In the Light With Hildegard Music Spheres

 

 

Tara Trilogy I

 

 

Tara Trilogy II

 

 

Blue Buddha Warrior

 

 

All The Ming's Horses

 

 

Sendai Warrior With Gaman Frescoes

 

 

Blue Ray Buddha

 

 

Ancestors of the Light

 

 

Zen Pony With Dreamscape

 

 

Goddess of the Eternal Flame

 

 

Sisters of the Dance

 

 

Green Tara Rising

 

 

Reflection

 

 

Tara and the Blue Stunde

 

 

Quartz Crystal Meditation

 

 

Sendai Portrait

 

 

Mongolian Shaman Bride

 

 

Amethyst Puja

 

 

The Visitation

 

 

Genghis In Green

 

 

Buddha With Bells

 

 

Flora Goddess Excavation

 

 

Buddha With Orange Dots

 

 

Sadhu In Space

 

 

Archeological Poem - Homage to John Donne

 

 

Mongolian Hunter With Eagles

 

 

Fishmonk With PTSD Brain Scan

 

 

Buddha on the Blue Line Metro - Los Angeles

 

 

Beauty and the Box With Chinese Pony

 

 

Buddha Dreams

 

 

Chief Seattle With Ear Rings

 

 

Mayan Stargazer With Planetery Map

 

 

Ascending Angel

 

 

Billie (Lady Day) Holiday

 

 

Miles (Buddha Man) Davis

 

 

Maya Angelou and Friend

 

 

Maya Angel-Goddess

 

 

John Lenon With Tonal Spheres

 

 

Angelic Ancestor in the Tatras

 

 

Kite Master - Hide and Seek

 


Broken and Healed

The compositions in these series' are similar in structure, but differ in color and narrative forms. The process is highly subjective and depends on the viewer's reaction to the forms both visceral and emotional. My search for the elusive colors of pain and the rightful ownership of healing has proven comforting, and at the same time ignites personal memories of physical injuries and emotional abuse.   I urge the viewer to participate in the healing process and experience the possibility of acknowledgement and forgiveness.

Ron Kowalke


[Curator's note: This Broken and Healed series below embodies the artist's evolution in coming to terms with serioius psychological and physical injuries befalling a beloved family member. In this case the art is both an exploration, and the actual agency of, emotional recovery.]


Broken and Healed - Series 1

 
  Matrix   Broken Raw  
         
Broken and Healed - Series 2

 
  Broken Raw   Healed  
         

Broken and Healed - Series 3

 
  Broken Raw   Healed  
         
Broken and Healed - Series 4

 
  Broken Raw   Healed  
         

Broken and Healed - Series 5

 
  Broken Raw   Healed  
         
    ~~~~~~~~~~    


Ron Kowalke 'transitioned' in March of 2021, having lived and worked for many years in Kailua on the island of Oahu.  He was also Professor emeritus in the Painting and Drawing Program at the University of Hawaii.


Artist’s Statement:

NOTES FROM THE SECRET LIVES OF BUDDHIST TERMITES: "LASER BUDDHA" PAINTING

I have visited the great masters with a sense of awe, honor  and respect. I’ve answered the door of contemporary strangers knocking fiercely, hoping for integrity, sans politics, transparency, invention and profound musings.

I am inspired by the genius of Piero della Francesca, mystified by the Rorschachs of Max Ernst and the wondrous magical cubism of Walter Murch. 

The “Laser Buddha” painting was born partly from those metaphysical sparrings of Meister Eckhardt, Joseph Beuys, Rumi, Hildegard von Bingen, Karlfried Gras von Durheim.  Those, together with genealogical speculation and research in progress, suggest that the DNA bloodline of my maternal grandfather is related to both Chinese and Mongolian ancestry.

Prompted by the wizardly world of physics and visually entranced with the elegant art of the Himalayas, I plotted a strategy born of honoring both the spiritual resonance of the Dalai Lama and the cumulative sorcery of quantum physics.

Mounting the primordial “body electric” including our planetary system and sundry string, nano, and delusional theories of creation and evolution, the intriguing thought of the Buddhist philosophy of “living” matter suggested the surreal proposition that spiritual energy is equal to measurable physical energy.

Thus, the notion that a prayer wheel turning in Katmandu is equal in importance and substance to the recent “collider” event at CERN.

I pose the question of termites feasting away on a wood carving of a 15th century Burmese Tara figure.  Does the spiritual energy of millions of devotees equal that of an atomic bomb testing in the Bikini Islands, or an improvised explosive device in Baghdad?

Do the termites inherit the “manna” of the digestible wood or the altered state of wishes, dreams, plea’s, hope, forgiveness and confessions? Prayer flags waving in the Himalayas; is each flutter a prayer or possibly a call for peace or an ornament servicing the faithful.

Blatant curiosity lead to the Buddhists tradition of “relics” and “pearls” left by monks after cremation and en route to Nirvana? Certainly not the  bones of saints or faith warriors of the incense breathing and Gregorian chanting of my youth in Chicago.

The notion of transformation from flesh and bone to jewel like “artifacts”  left by the deceased holy one to be enjoyed for benefit of devotees ignited my curiosity and converted my sense of visual symbols, esoteric pictograms along with questions of spiritual metamorphosis.

The “Laser Buddha” painting was the catalyst for exploring other “eastern” caves of  mystery and intrigue which gave birth to a Kwan Yin meditation series along with Garden Buddhas, Hologram images and the Land of the Shaman expeditions.

Blu Ray Buddhas and Dancing Shivas in the making. 

August 12, 2010

(Curator's note: Lazer Buddha is the first in this intriguing series.)

 

Artist's resume:

Ron Kowalke was born on November 8,1936 in Chicago, Illinois. After graduation from Chicago Vocational High School, he spent two years at the School of the Art Institute and the University of Chicago. Following his graduation from Rockford College with a B.F.A. in 1959, he studied painting and sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where he received an M.F.A. in 1960.

In the 60s, Ron taught art at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, and at the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1969, he joined the art faculty at the University of Hawaii where his is a professor in the Painting and Drawing Program.

Ron Kowalke's work is included in permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Public Library, the Library of Congress, the Honolulu Academy of Art, the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. His career includes participation in more than one hundred solo and group shows. Kowalke exhibits in the United States and in Europe, including Germany, France and Poland.

 

Other work by this artist:

Spirit Guides: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kowalke/

Windows Of Fire: http://wof.travislum.com/

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