Tag: fine arts
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Nature’s Calligraphy: The Art of Seeing
We see how we think. What occupies our mind directly shapes our vision. In this post, I share a series of photos of ducks and swans that document my artistic shift from visual abundance toward minimalism. By observing waterfowl in their natural environment, you can trace what was driving me at the exact moment I…
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Visual Response to “The Last Rag” by Soundeagle
Can you translate the “ragged time” of a contemporary piano piece into a visual language? Following a casual comment on a previous article, I took on the challenge of graphically interpreting soundeagle’s composition. Moving away from traditional calligraphy, I chose to take the word “rag” literally—creating an aesthetic of use where soft, faded layers of…
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Light as State of Being: Light in Painting and Contemporary Ink Art
“Light as State of Being” explores the depiction of light in painting – from the academic studio through the Impressionists to my own attempt to make Ur-light and cosmic light tangible in images.
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When the World Shatters
This article explores the systemic collapse of our modern world, where the high art of diplomacy is being replaced by the “right of the strongest” and international institutions are systematically undermined. From the razed olive groves in Gaza to the manipulation of global financial markets through leveraged options, the text examines how greed and the…
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Dot and Emptiness: The Essence of Chinese Art
An article about the significance of Dot and Emptiness in Chinese artistic traditions. This theme reveals the essence of Chinese painting after my lecture from January 9, 2026
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Before I Gotta Go: Minimalism, Dreams and Surreal Ink Painting
“Before I gotta go…” is an article about a new series on dreams, marking a deliberate departure from minimalism in favor of abstract depth. It introduces the concept of the “Oneiric Divide”—visualizing not the story of a dream, but the raw energy it leaves behind—and offers a glimpse into my upcoming dialogue on “Dot and…
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Don’t let the old man in
Don’t let the old man in is more than just a song title; it is a directive for maintaining an open spirit against bitterness. This article explores that mindset by contrasting striking political imagery with the artistic independence of my 2025 Yearbook, proving that staying young is a matter of attitude, not age.
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Tao and Zen again: Applying Eastern Philosophy to Contemporary Ink Painting
Tao and Zen, along with minimalism, became my focus during a forced pause due to illness. This short article shares how fever dreams led to abstract works that explore the tension between Yin and Yang—an attempt to artistically grasp our world, which has been thrown off balance.
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Autumn Reflections
Autumn Reflections explores the connection between poetry, calligraphy, and painting through a series of original semi-haiku.
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Terra Dystopia
Terra Dystopia, a new series of artworks, serves as the starting point for an essay on the core characteristics of a dystopian society, questioning how many of these once-fictional traits have become our reality.
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The Abundance of Modesty
Delving into Daoist philosophy and the pictographic wisdom of Chinese calligraphy, this article unpacks the ancient proverb that “Modesty Brings Abundance” (謙受益). Grounding this profound concept in personal experiences, the author reflects on how the humility of an “empty vessel” allows one to receive a true overflow of friendship, knowledge, and spiritual wealth.
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Cracks in the Silence
A deep dive into the La Gacilly-Baden Photo Festival under the theme ‘One Planet, Many Perspectives.’ This review journeys from the rituals of Papua New Guinea to the paradoxes of modern development, exploring powerful photography that confronts our world’s greatest challenges and finds a path to understanding, mindfulness, and ultimately, hope.
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On Giving, Taking, and What Truly Matters
From a Cambodian tuk-tuk driver to quantum physics, explore the profound layers behind the Dalai Lama’s simple advice: “Be kind.” A journey into the power of giving and true connection.
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Would You buy a used Car from this Man?
“Would you buy a used car from this man?” This isn’t just a provocative question; it’s the title of what is likely my first, and probably last, article focusing on political topics. Breaking my own blog’s golden rule, I dive deep into the unsettling power of images and words, and how they actively sculpt new…
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State of the Art 2025
State of the Art 2025 is my contribution this year to an ongoing series of “self-portraits.” For years, these pieces have documented my creative journey, reflecting the current status of my work.
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Spring Potpourri
Spring potpourri. Embrace spring! My latest post shares moments of peace found in nature’s embrace, as well as delicious seasonal delights.
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Nothingness in Color
Nothingness in Color continues the thought experiment that began with the journey to the Zen master—evolving beyond monochrome, embracing color, and preserving the essence of minimalism
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The Gift of the Green Snake
The Gift of the Green Snake is an article about an unexpected gift and the resulting images.
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Goodbye to the Winter
Explore the artist’s journey from winter’s darkness to spring’s light through abstract paintings. Learn how black paper challenges traditional Chinese painting concepts.
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Depression: A Journey Through the Long Winter.
Depression: A long winter is behind me. It felt endless, stretching on and on. While snowfall isn’t guaranteed every year, one thing I can count on is my winter depression. Let’s take a closer look at some works from this long winter.
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Meditation of the Zen Master
Explore the meditation practices of the Zen Master in this insightful article. Gain profound insights and discover the beauty and tranquility of Zen.
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Journey to the Zen Master
This is the second part of a three-part article on a Journey to a Zen Master. We encounter the living space of the master.
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The Journey to the Zen Master
This article explores an imaginary journey to a Zen master, represented through a series of paintings. It delves into philosophical reflections on Zen, using a combination of western and eastern artistic techniques to illustrate the transition from the real world to a spiritual one. The journey begins at a busy train station and gradually leads…
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The Dao of Annual Planning in 2024
New Year’s Resolutions and Implementation Annual Planning and Dao: Today’s article focuses on a personal topic that I hope my valued readers can benefit from. It also includes reflections on topics such as SEO and AI, which were cut off during the year and are now revisited at the end of the year. When discussing…
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Emperor Hui Zong: When Rulers Still Loved Art
Emperor Hui Zong, a significant ruler of the Song Dynasty but also a remarkable artist and a patron of the arts.
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Discovering the Beauty in the Ugly
Exploring Aesthetic Sensibilities Through Photography. Discovering the Beauty in the Ugly – or at least discover something attractive in the ugly: In our last article, we delved into the concept of wabi-sabi and I shared some of my work. Thanks for the positive feedback! Today, we will go a step beyond wabi-sabi, using photos from…
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Blind Drawings: Artistic Expression in Darkness
The Blind Drawings series is an experimental collection of over 20 charcoal works, mainly depicting female nudes. This series reflects my exploration into how sensory limitations impact artistic expression.
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Theme and Variations
In the series “Theme and Variations about a Blossom in Autumn,” the delicate image of a fading blossom takes center stage, offering an allusion to the graceful aging of a young lady.
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Daoist Aspects in My Paintings
Today’s article is divided into two interconnected parts. The sequence of images, all recent works, illustrates my approach to the concept of Nothingness.
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What is Reality? What is Nothingness?
What is Reality? Embark on a journey through the realms of reality. Uncover the historical beliefs and scientific progress that have shaped our modern understanding.
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Visit of the old Zen Master and other Nonzens
Visit of the old Zen master is nonsense because there is no Zen master that I know. So I can’t visit one, so no one can visit me.
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Summer Inventory
Summer Inventory. As a good businessman should, I conduct inventory twice a year. During this process, I find items I had written off as lost or even things I never realized I owned.
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Can We Hear a Painting?
Can you hear a painting? The idea of paintings creating music has captivated artists for centuries.
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Emptiness, Space, and Depth
Emptiness, Space, and Depth: The Spring Collection. Selection of recent Artworks. Studies, sketches, paintings.
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break on through
The Doors, known for capturing exploration and the human desire to uncover the unknown in their music, embody the theme of breaking through to ‘the other side’. The 1970s era of experimentation with mind-altering substances, influenced by psychedelic art, has shaped graphic design. The artist, recently participating in exhibitions in London and Sao Paulo, reflects…
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Delving into the Realm of Seals on Artwork
Article about the fascinating world of Chinese seals. From a carver and collector. And above all, an enthusiast.
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new yearbook is out
surprising stats and tensions. New yearbook is out. To keep things interesting, this blog article comes with two extras. I’ll start with the extras first, and for some reason, the main text will come at the end. Contrary to my previous habits, the main text takes up a few thoughts on current events. These days,…
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Wu Wei a Key Term. Daoist Talks (X)
Chinese Painting and Wu Wei. Wu Wei is a key concept in Daoism. It is an idea that originated in ancient Chinese philosophy and is of central importance to Daoism. However, the term is not always easy to understand, at least for Westerners. But understanding it can help us in many ways, not only in…
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day dream job
and some remarks. Day dream job: Little boys, especially those of preschool age, often aspire to become firefighters or police officers. However, I’m not sure about girls’ future career aspirations. I’m also not sure what my vision was as a 5-year-old. Probably a demolitionist, since my father was one at the time. When I came…
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between cold and heat
We have an old joke: “Should you take medication if you have a cold?” “Absolutely! If you don’t take any, it will take 7 days until you get well again. If you take some, you’ll be back on your feet after 1 week.” Well, it took me more than 2 weeks to stay in bed…
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a kinda yin-yang too
Not many would immediately recognize the yin-yang aspects in the two images I present today. As an extra there is a short video about the presentation of Zen images.
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When the let-go period is over
Presentation: I have chosen a work that probably does not immediately cause a “love at first sight” feeling to everybod. Plus a book presentation video.
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works on meditation
Works on Meditation: According to a study experts estimate that the mind thinks between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day. Of course, many thoughts seem very important to us. After all, they come from us.
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Elements of Rhyme
Elements of Rhyme pays homage to Dominik Alexander, an impressive living writer with the courage to innovate and a penchant for quality and individualism.
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Gaining by letting go
Gaining by letting go is again a formulation that could come from the field of esotericism. I have previously indicated that this is not an area in which I am proficient.
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What game shall we play today?
About knowing and believing. Quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger: “Sciences are good at measuring something, but cannot say anything about our being”.
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environment and nature topic
From time to time I dedicate myself to the topic of the environment in my paintings. This is also the case in this picture, which addresses the topic of environmental destruction in a special way.
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Interview for TV and Stream
Interview for TV and Stream: Earlier in the week I had a TV crew over at my house. A portrait was shot of me, which will be broadcast on Chinese television and on the streaming service.
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a poem about one of my paintings
A poem about one of my paintings by Dominik Alexander – and an extra poem by him.
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Daoist Talks (VIII) Ego versus Self
Daoism distinguishes between the ego and the self. The ego refers to the individual’s sense of self, which is often shaped by societal norms, cultural values, and personal experiences.
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the magic sea
Magic Sea Opera: Even if the idea that I would like to present today might sound unrealistic or at least utopian at first, I would by no means see it as unfeasible. Namely, the idea of an opera as a total work of art, in which the visual part is the actor
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The children’s book of my last post
The children’s book of my last post is not a project in progress, it’s just a play around. If you want to play, play with us! Now that I have started with the topic and my last post on it received such positive feedback, I would like to write a little more about it. Thanks…
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new horizon
A few weeks ago I came across a meditation where you should practice the following: Sit on a high level and imagine the wide horizon in front of you. Easy. But then: “Imagine the wide horizon BEHIND you”. And then the horizon left and right. That changed a few things for me.
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Criticism: Not amused with the Emperor
A few criticism examples by Chinese artists over time. Most of my blog posts deal directly or indirectly with art in the broadest sense. This is insofar as I attach great importance to dealing with Asian philosophies and art history in the broadest sense. I don’t touch on political issues, although this post might suggest…
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state of the art 2023 – a step further
I have been painting a self-portrait every year since 1976 and call this ongoing series State of the Art.
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ginkgo leaves in autumn and winter
Ginkgo leaves. Theme and four variations. In late autumn the leaves like gold lie in the meadow. In winter, a few leaves always manage to peep through the light snow cover.
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Winter is here – with its gifts
Even if it’s difficult to predict something these days and even if a lot doesn’t last: my winter depressions are as certain as the back taxes. Nearly. The tax-back payment is more reliable in terms of time.
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Daoist talks (V) Dao and Zen in Arts – analyzed by AI
What AI says, answering my question: The Role of Dao and Zen in Chinese Painting
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Because it’s Wednesday again…
This and That and Everything: I’ve started 2 new series, one spilling over into the other.
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New Works for Old Series
A series that is particularly close to my heart is gestural expression. However, my progress in doing so is heavily dependent on how busy I am with calligraphy.
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Jean Michel Basquiat Exhibition in Vienna
There are exhibitions that give me impulses and make me want to paint myself. However, Basquiat is of such greatness that afterward I ask myself whether it makes any sense at all to continue painting myself.
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The Dreamweaver’s daughters cast their nets
The Dreamweaver’s daughters cast their nets and the Wolf hour are my last works on the dream cycle.
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two book covers and one dragon
Introducing two cover designs and a new dargon painting.
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An old sketchbook ….
An old sketchbook bought in Paris 40+ years ago is finally put to good use. And some thoughts on that.
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Too young to die – too old to rock’n roll + scam alert
No, it’s not the title of my autobiography and no advertising for Jethro Tull. Much simplier.
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minor, major and a video
bookmarks video: I wanted to present another video in this post, but as a balance to the more abstract works that I am presenting today, this relaxing video with my bookmarks seems to me to be quite suitable. I have already listed many of them on: bookmarks. In this video I used the recently presented…
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Gold, History, Friends, Sinology and Luxury
An artist’s week in the most livable city in the world: Vienna. About artistic and cultural events.
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only one picture this time….
solid gold: It’s not that I haven’t painted a lot lately, but I’m making slower progress than usual. Some of the work is almost finished and then, only small things are missing, I break off.
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dreamtellers
The Surrealists really turned my world around. First was André Breton who opened the door to this world for me. Then came the painters like Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico etc.
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how we (I) see
Many years ago I read an article about viewing habits. A certain audience was asked the question (sort of): “Do you think we all see the same thing when we look at something?”
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Ophelia 2022
Ophelia 2022: When most art lovers hear the word Ophelia, they probably think of one of the most famous Pre-Raphalelite paintings. Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais.
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front page in Chinese newspaper again
The 光明日报 guangming daily has published a quite detailed report about me, and that on the front page. Last year an article about me, with a focus on calligraphy, appeared in this important newspaper,
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teaser for next exhibition
I’ve been needing a few short video clips for my work for a long time. With a little effort I was able to get something going myself, but then the result was too boring for me and I left this task to someone else.
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metaverse (V)
After my last post (metaverse IV) Schrödinger, his cat, you and I basically agreed that IS and NOT-IS can exist at the same time.
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metaverse (IV)
day & night and Schrödinger’s cat [1] I am very pleased that my postings on this topic are so well received and thank you for the general interest!After this posting today, one more on this topic will follow, but it will be easier to understand. Today it gets a little more complicated. When I present…
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metaverse (III)
the beginning and the end Short preliminary remark If I just started with my thoughts, there would be a certain danger of someone shouting: “Hey, that’s not scientific!” Two preliminary remarks are therefore permitted. All our thinking is based on previously thought and mostly we deal with premises. Such as A $100 bill has a…
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Metaverse Project Started (II)
prologue and reflections After my last 2 postings on Kabul and Pyongyang (in the broadest sense also a kind of metaverse 😊) I would like to come back to my personal metaverse today and in the following postings to come. In the first post on this topic metaverse, I presented initial attempts to devote myself…
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My Ukraine contribution
The picture stands on its own and the title underscores the theme: ” Голубь мира над Киевом”. (Peace Dove over Kiev).
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studies for oil paintings
This week I did some studies on landscape, seascape and organic theme. 3 representative works are presented today.
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state of the art 2022
As I posted in an earlier post, I used to paint a self-portrait every year and named the series “state of art”. This portrait is from 2022.
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my kind of metaverse (I)
In February I started playing around with an idea, but I don’t know if it will become a series yet: It’s dedicated to the metaverse.
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Flyer for my Beijing Exhibition
Flyer for my exhibition in Beijing this spring. Honoring 50 years of cultural exchange between Europe and China.
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Cats in Chinese Painting
Let’s play a little game again: Let’s imagine there is a competition with 3 cats at the start. The “best” cat should be chosen. Which would get your vote: 1, 2 or 3?
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What a dot can do
Reflections on a dot in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. About the meaning of the smallest part of a painting.
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diffuse light
When I started thinking of light in fine arts again about who influenced me it was, Lyonel Feininger came to my mind.
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snow and ice and corona
As I mentioned in my last post, January and February are not my favorite months, especially when it comes to painting. But I try to use the time, make drafts, do some calligraphy, play with ideas and try to improve my painting technique.
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watching the night
About winter depressions. Since this topic has been with me for decades, I would like to present a few examples that have emerged over the years. A useful tool to cope with this is the artistic reflection on this topic.
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new works in abstract surrealism
When it comes to painting, I’m most creative in the evening and after-hours. I can turn off the day’s events and concentrate fully on painting. However, I have to be careful not to work too long. It often happens that I start with enthusiasm and vigor and fall in love with a job right from…
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triptych variant
I presented a tryptich a few days ago. As is so often the case, the underlying idea has not been shelved for me and so I wanted to see how a variant could look like. So I created another work to replace one of the triptych.
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waltzing corona
My first painting this year is this triptych. I will take this as an opportunity to present my point of view, because if I can manage to explain the essential points clearly, you may look at Chinese art from a different perspective in the future.