grounds

Yesterday I made grounds. Grounds are amazing. When I first started making them, I thought I was putting something off. Or waiting for something. Or preparing something.

Now I know better. A ground is a thing. It's full, pregnant. It's itself. It's everything in the world.

There are some little-known Indian miniature paintings that, in contrast to the general Indian thing of being fecund and teeming and full, are mainly ground. Pure space.

This is a triptych, three separate canvases. The first canvas is simply a golden field.


You can find everything in the Indian tradition. You want gods? You can have gods. You want no gods? You can have no gods. You want literal gods? Plenty of them. You want gods that are symbolic of universal forces? No problem. You want yourself as a separate worshipper? Sure. You want yourself as an integral part of all that is? Easy. You want to separate yourself out from daily life and go on an internal journey? Loads of different pathways for you right here. You want to be in the thick of it, with colour and perfume and sensuality and money and music and dance and joy? Welcome.

Also, you don't have to choose between these binaries. You can have the whole damn lot if your psyche can handle it....

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