Jesus, Jazz, and Buddhism

My art is an inquiry into the meaning(s) of spirituality with a special interest in the idea of personal transformation. I use both abstract and representational imagery, combining an image of the human form with color and pattern. It is a way to speak metaphorically about my experience of simultaneous physicality and non-physicality. I'm interested in the ways in which we negotiate these two aspects of our being.

I am very much inspired by language. I can be inspired by an overheard phrase, such as "...light as a feather now..." spoken by a yoga instructor, an entire poem, or a single word such as “presence." The root meanings and synonyms I find in my thesaurus act as a springboard for my imagination. 

In the studio, I conceive of my working process as a kind of material transformation. By layering marks, colors and patterns the image changes and becomes new. Something is buried and something is revealed. The choices I make are largely intuitive. The actual physical contact I have with the work is important to me so I paint, draw, cut, puncture or stitch into my prints as way to add more layers. The painterly mark has a way of shaking up boundaries and definitions. I love to undermine the apparent authority of a photographic image with painterly marks. It’s a way to express what can be felt but not seen.

Buddhist Commentary: "As I look at her face, I see many pulsations of energy.  Some people think of a human being as one thing.  A photographic image can give this impression.  But Melissa Gill shakes up boundaries and definitions.  She takes me back to Buddhism, with its idea that we are composed of events, of dharma-moments.  Or to Whitehead, with his idea that we are composed of energy-events, pulsations of feeling.  Whitehead and Buddhists tell us that these pulsations are in our bodies and also in our minds.  Some of them are flashes of insight.  Some are flashes of fear.  And still others are flashes of love.  Whoever thought people are just one thing has not looked long at faces."

Buddhist Commentary: "As she bows, I see the many flashes gathered into the unity of a single activity, a kind of prayer or bow.  Sometimes prayers are addressed to divine beings.  But I see this woman as bowing to _______.  There are so many names for this; I will call it the opening.  Melissa Gill tells us that she is interested in personal transformation: in how novelty comes into our lives, originating from the opening.  The woman who lowers her hands is not precisely the woman who raises them a moment later.  Every breath is a bow. Every moment an opening."

Buddhist Commentary:  "I see her body and then, when it turns to her head, I see her mind.  I am reminded that in Buddhism body and mind are not two, but also not one.   As she looks down with her eyes, who is the she who is looking?  Is she her eyes?  Well, not quite.  Is she apart from her eyes?  Not quite, either.  I am told that, as the photo was taken, she was looking at her dog, who had just run in front of her, distracting her for a moment.  I am reminded of Joshu's famous koan: Does a Dog have the Buddha-Nature?  Joshu's answer was mu.  Maybe that's the secret.  Maybe the she who is looking is the Buddha-nature.  And maybe the she of the dog is the Buddha-nature, too.  Mu literally means no.  But you know Zen.  Every no is a yes, too.  As Melissa Gill puts it: "Something is buried and something revealed."  That's what I see when Melissa Gill buries a face with layers of markings and stitchings.  With every burial there's a revelation.

能感觉到但是看不到
梅丽莎·盖尔的表述

我的艺术是对精神内涵的一种观察，尤其关注个人转变的想法。我使用了抽象和具有代表性的图像，把人类的形式同颜色样式结合在一起。这是对我的肉体和非肉体经历的一种比喻说法。我所感兴趣的是我们讨论这两种形式的不同方式。

语言给我很多灵感。偶然间听到一位瑜伽教师说的“……现在像羽毛一样轻……”这样的一个词组、一首诗或者像“存在”这样的一个词都可以给我灵感。在我的词典里所发现的本质和近义词就是我想象的弹跳板。

在画室里，我把自己的构思过程看成物质的转变。通过做各种标记、使用不同的颜色和形式使形象变化成为新的形象。埋葬了一些事物同时新的事物也诞生了。我通过自己的直觉做出大部分选择。我和工作的实质性接触对我来说很重要，所以我通过刻画、剪辑、拼接作品等方式来进行修改。线条的标记可以重新塑造边界和定义。我热衷于用绘画的标记来破坏一照片表面上固定的东西。这是能感受到但却无法看见的一种表现形式。

佛教释义：“当我看着她的脸庞，我看到了很多能量元素在跳动。一些人认为人作为一个事物存在。一幅照片能够清晰地给我们这个感觉。但是梅丽莎·盖尔重新塑造了边界和定义。她把我们带回到佛教，她的思想是我们是由不同的事件，各种佛教中的境界组成。在怀海德看来，他的思想是我们是由具体的事物和感性的冲动所组成。怀海德和佛教徒告诉我们这些冲动既在我们的身体里也在我们的精神里。其中一些是洞察力的闪现。一些是恐惧的闪现。一些是爱的闪现。那些认为人只是一个具体事物的人并没有用足够长的时间来观察人的面部表情。”

佛教释义：“在她鞠躬的时候，我看到很多闪现聚集到一个简单的主体，一种祈祷或者是膜拜。有时候祈祷者都指向神形象。但是我看到的是这个女人所膜拜的_______. 它可以有很多名字；我把它称为未确定的。梅丽莎·盖尔告诉我们她对个人的转变感兴趣：来自于未确定的新奇感是怎么进入我们的生命中。这个放低手的女人和一会儿又把手举起来的女人不是一模一样的。每一次呼吸都是一次膜拜。每个瞬间都是未确定的。”

佛教释义：“我看到她的身体，然后当看到她的头的时候，我看到了她的心灵。令我想起了在佛教里身体和心灵不是两者，也不是一体的。当她眼睛向下看的时候，这个看的女人是谁？她是她的眼睛吗？不一定。她与她的眼睛分开了吗？也不一定。在拍这张照片的时候我得知她在看自己的狗，这只狗刚刚从她前面跑过去，让她分神了。”领我想到了心印：一只狗具有佛的本性吗？赵州的答案是穆。或许这是秘密。或许她所看的是佛的本性。或许狗身上的她也是佛的本性。穆本意是没有。但是你知道心印。没有也就是有。像梅丽莎·盖尔所说那样：“埋葬了一些事物同时新的事物也诞生了。”当梅丽莎·盖尔用标记覆盖了一张面孔的时候我看到了这点。每一次埋葬都是一个新的启示。