with my dad in his nyc appartment.
on this day in 2005 my dad, roy tarlow passed. his love and energy is always with me. his deep explorations of spiritual truths is an inspiration.
scroll musings:
these are some recent paintings, experiments really, on japanese paper. i had a profound moment with a student earlier this afternoon that made me go deeper with my inspiration for these paintings and how they relate to my larger body of work. i had a chance to look back at some highlight moments in my life thus far as an artist when i posted and perused the digitized images you can see on this page:
in the moment with the student i speak of, i asked him about the topic of his project: gravity. it was clear to us both that he was not passionate enough about this topic to do a really good job at the may showcase. so i asked "what are you really passionate about? passionate enough to work on the project outside of school, to go really deep and to do it with enthusiasm?" he pondered for about 2 minutes, then looked me in the eye and said "speaking." i asked him to elaborate, and it became clear to us both that this was his new project. i turned him on to a few youtube videos of TED speakers i knew would inspire him to begin answering the question:"what makes a really good speaker?" this was one:
https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement#t-22632
and he was off and running. so, in looking at the work on my landmark works page, i asked myself a similar question. i can see that the human figure in an everyday activity or an enigmatic pose, often in an an architectural setting, definitely runs through my work. while there is certainly a strong love for the organic forms revealed by rocks, water and trees, and for the calligraphic marks they inspire, in the end those human figures are where i sing my song most clearly. so i'm running all this through my filters during this 3 day trip to edwards. our contacts with these amazing 10-11 year olds is giving new dimensions to my musings. i'm not pushing for a quick answer, if there is one; just musing. at seven, we'll attend a memorial service for one of these kids, a jewel who succumbed to cancer last week. a reminder that there is something much larger taking place as we walk, semi-conscious, through our span of days.