Tag Archives: Buddhism

“Sumeru” – Illustrations from Nick Pedersen

February 19th, 2014 | Space

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Nick Pedersen is a multi-media artist from Salt Lake City who currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. The “Sumeru” collection consists of dramatic black & white landscapes illustrating the mental journey that is undertaken in Zen Buddhist training.

In a conversation with My Modern Met, Pedersen describes the themes behind Sumeru:

“The character symbolizes the ‘self’, who is exploring the depths of the mind to discover its true nature. This body of work is called “Sumeru” because in Buddhist mythology there is a mountain known as Mt. Sumeru that stands at the center of the universe and is surrounded by nine impenetrable mountain ranges. This central mountain is symbolic of ultimate truth, and it is said that all the secrets of the world can be found at its peak. My images show all the trials that are faced in the attempt to scale this mountain, which is metaphoric of the existential drama of searching for personal truth.”

Here’s hoping that you may find some of that “personal truth” in your journey.

-RSB

Robot Buddha from Wang Zi Won

March 22nd, 2013 | Robot

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Wang Zi Won from Seoul, Korea envisions a future when humans and robots merge into cyborgs. I tend to agree with him, and I discussed my thoughts on the issue early last year.  The work above represents a spiritual role in our Cyborg future.  Shin Seung-Ho (via Colossal) discussed the artist’s philosophy here:

“The artist considers it important to escape from human bondage in order to achieve harmony between men and machines. He thinks this harmony can be achieved through the process of religious practices and spiritual enlightenment. In Buddhism, the Bodhisattva of Compassion helps people attain enlightenment, Arhat is a spiritual practitioner of asceticism, and Buddha is a being who reaches the highest level of enlightenment. Through them, the artist intends to follow the path of enlightenment, breaking away from anxiety, agony, and pain. The artist has no intention to emphasize religious connotations through these Buddhist icons but to reflect his own or our own existence between utopia and dystopia.”

I’m curious to see the role religion takes in our future. Organized religion, at least, seems to be slowly disappearing in favor of philosophy and logic, but as long as the greatest questions remain unanswered, I think it will always play a part.

Here’s a video showing some of the art in action:

-RSB