Under the Compass– Now at West End Gallery
Inward is not a direction. Inward is a dimension.
-Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
This is a new piece from my show, Persistent Rhythm, that opens a week from today at the West End Gallery. The painting is one of the smaller pieces from the exhibit, 10″ by 10″, on wood panel and is titled Under the Compass.
The words above from contemporary Indian Yogi Jaggi Vasudev came to mind when I was looking at this painting in the studio because as much as the perceived compass in the sky suggests an outward journey, I saw it more as being about an inward one, about aligning the who and what and why that defines us individually with the direction and energy of a greater universal power.
We can search and expand outwardly all we want but until we truly know our way around our inner selves, that search will prove fruitless. We will be the same dissatisfied beings, just in a different setting.
I am seeing the Red Tree here in a moment of this realization that the inward journey has a dimension all its own. And that dimension has rhythms and movements that can take one in all the directions of the known compass.
And then some.
Can I explain that further right now?
No. I could try but I would probably just muddy the waters even more. Sometimes you get caught between these inward and outward dimensions and you appear a bit confused to others. Words can’t describe nor keep up with the ribbons of thoughts and sensations that whirl around that vast inward landscape.
See? Muddier.
I suggest we just be quiet for bit and look at the painting without thinking. Here’s a composition, Floe, from Philip Glass off of his 1982 Glassworks album that seems to capture the rhythm and movement of those inner sensations, at least to my ears. You might hear and see it altogether differently.
This painting and the rest of my Persistent Rhythm show is now hanging in the West End Gallery in Corning, NY. The exhibit officially opens next Friday, July 19, with an opening reception that runs from 5-7 PM. If you can make it there, look for me– the confused looking guy.
Redtree Times 
The most interesting aspect of this painting (at least for me) is the slightly canted appearance of the topmost compass point. Even its few degrees off true north makes it look as though it’s being affected by some unseen force: one more powerful than even the natural forces that a compass usually measures.
I’m glad you noticed that. When I start one of these sorts of skies, it is never meant to represent a compass or clock or anything. I just like the visual aspect of these points in the composition. I think if I tried to make them perfect and precise compass, they would lose something. Maybe it would be that more powerful force that you mention? I don’t know. On another subject, hope you’re doing well down there.
I’ve had power through the whole thing, although the internet was MIA a good bit of the time. Yesterday, we helped a friend move back into her house on the west end of Galveston Island. She had recent surgery and can’t lift more than ten pounds, so a little help was needed!