Forward to the Past.

I foumd this image on the net and I like it a lot. It's really bizarre, but so innocently authentic - and i love alphabets too.

The Atlas Mountains

Oxbøl

When I was drafted to three weeks of retraining in the army I declared myself conscientious objector and had to serve instead six weeks in Oxbøl camp.
Oxbøl was a camp for 10,000 people created by the German army during the occupation and was now after the war being dismantled by conscientious objectors. We had to dig up old roads and separate the stones from the gravel. We were supposed to produce a certain amount of cubic feet per day, but since we were only there for a short time the staff didn’t enforce the rules strictly on us. We did some work because it was winter and we were outdoors, but mostly we were leaning on our shovels, talking and smoking cigarettes.
Oxbøl was far away from any town and in our free time we had only the entertainment offered in the camp. I chose the pottery workshop and soon became friends with the teacher, a young objector named Henning. I passed all my free time there and was assisting when the pots were fired. This was done in an old fashioned kiln fired up with wood and it was an all night project. Every ten minutes the kiln had to be stoked and in between Henning and I sat in the candlelight and drank red wine, the only ones in the camp awake and snug in the cold night.
After such a night I slept in and coming from the shower with a towel round my waist I met one of the staff. “Why are you not at work?” he asked. “Because I don’t have any clothes on,” I said, and because my answer was confident and prompt he accepted it in spite of its absurdity.
I had a big surprise one evening on a walk with Henning. Suddenly he stopped me, turned me towards him and kissed me. “Are you happy now?” he said. I was more like stunned, I had no idea he was gay and I was not in love with him. Anyway we were friends and he was a nice boy, so I didn’t object and conveniently we had the workshop all to ourselves!

18th Dunun Village

Click to enlarge!

More Graphics

I like to design new alphabets - this is inspired by Tibetan writing.

Flyer

Another example of graphic work.

Graphics

One of the things I like to do is graphics, posters and layout for pamphlets and books. When I came to America in 1977 and hooked up with the people from Vajrapani Institute I did all their programs, prayer books etc. Here are examples of my work:


This is a sketch for a poster. The bell symbolizes the wisdom and the vajra or thunderbolt (laying under the bell) symbolizes the method or skillful means. Together they make the path to enlightenment:

Fred

Colored xerox from 1980.

Hugo and Uzi

Love or murder?

Françoise

Miles (as in Miles Davis)

In each series of pictures painted there is usually one that stands out and seems inspired and satisfying to the artist.
This is the one from my 'cubist period' that I love best. It is from 1960.

A Quote

In Buddhism, knowledge is regarded as an obstacle to understanding, like a block of ice that obstructs water from flowing. It is said that if we take one thing to be the truth and cling to it, even if truth itself comes in person and knocks at our door, we won’t open it. For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.
(Thich Nhat Hanh, ‘Being Peace’, Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA, 1987, p.42)

From an Old Letter

When I was travelling in the East I had plenty of time to write long letters and decorate them.

A House with Eyes

This painting was painted sometime in the mid sixties and I had completely forgotten it, but found it in the cellar of a friend. I got it back and cleaned it up, and another friend said he would like to have it on a wall.
His children complained and said it would give them nightmares.
What do you think?

Some Pictures from Denmark

Two Danish boys:
The lake in Sorø:
The monastery church in Sorø:
On the ferry from Hundested to Rørvig:
My friends Steen & Kirsten have transformed their old farm house into something special:
Steen & Kirsten's farm:
The bridge to Sweden: