Tag: Zen and Daoism
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A Conversation with a Skull
In this post, I share one of my favorite Daoist stories: Zhuangzi’s “The Death’s-Head.” It offers a clear, direct perspective on life, death, and the burdens we carry. To accompany the text, I included several of my own skull paintings that reflect my thoughts on form, emptiness, and the natural balance of yin and yang.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Wabi Sabi and the Aesthetics of Imperfection
Wabi Sabi, a term relatively unknown in the West until recently, holds a special place in my heart. This article reflects my personal approach to Wabi Sabi, illustrated with my own works painted this year.
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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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Selection of New Works
Selection of new works: A small selection of recent works in different techniques.
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Between Calligraphy and Painting
Who Sows Calligraphy will Reap Paintings. Between Calligraphy and Painting: In order not to get too boring, this article will be the last one for some time in which calligraphy sets the tone. We have already heard quite a bit about this high-quality art form by now. A few more aspects will be addressed today…
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Superior Haiku by Ashley
calligraphed by Friedrich. Superior Haiku by Ashley: This article is about a haiku (俳句 or hokku) [1] and the creative process of turning it into calligraphy. The wonderful poem is by Ashley. A short video shows the creation process. In the extra-part there are details about calligraphy. Many people know Ashley because of his beautiful…
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red dao and black zen
newly painted calligraphy. red dao and black zen: This article is about creating my series “painted calligraphy” [samples] with more details this time. Which can be a bit boring if you’re not fundamentally interested in the topic of calligraphy. I recently received a call from someone who had bought some of my paintings many years…
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Birthday present from Confucius and
one of the best love poems. Birthday present from Confucius: So I’m 70 years old now. So what?! Really – so what? How should I react? Emotional? Annoy me that I’m an old fart now? But I was an old fart last year too – and the year before. Don’t even think about it? This…
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old and new works
and thoughts and concepts. Old and new works – mostly new. And it’s about more than a few brush strokes. When Chinese people see my calligraphy, especially the one written in the traditional style (portfolio), they usually shower me with praise and emphasize that they could never do it that well. The second part of…
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About being happy – reflections and thoughts.
About being happy through the centuries. About being happy was not planned as a topic. But I promised a co-blogger, M, whose work I particularly admire, that I would write a few thoughts on the topic of being happy. Which of course can be seen as arrogance and I would therefore like to apologize for…
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2024 How do you set it up?
2024 – to defy or embrace? When I say that I welcome the New Year optimistic Daoistic, it may sound surprising given the world situation.
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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 Here and There
and the Fever-night-creeper between here and there: The topic of this post first came about in reflection on dreams and waking up. One could consider “Here” as the normal state and “There” as the dream world. When we awaken, we are still surrounded by fragments of dreams, and we are between “There” and “Here.” Where…
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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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and the beat goes on
recent artworks. recent artworks: It’s not that there’s nothing to tell, nor that I don’t have enough new pictures to show, but I’m quite busy with a few projects. These projects require a lot of time and attention, so I’ll be posting less frequently in the near future. As someone who writes posts here, you…
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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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not nothing this time, but
I actually wanted to write a post called “More Nothing” or something like that. However, my marketing director convinced me that giving my readers more nothing every week was not a recipe for success.
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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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Summer swan song – or the bitter croaking of ravens
The summer holidays are just around the corner and the last article concludes for the time being on the basis of 2 pictures with the theme of emptiness.
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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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about letting go
Flow and letting go. New series of abstract images on the subject of omission.
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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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Cucumber cutting, abstracting and –
A few quick notes on our world of perception, from slicing cucumbers to the feeling of diving. And about abstraction itself.
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Bada Shanren Fish – Daoist Talks (IX)
Ziran is a fundamental concept in Taoism that can be understood as “naturalness” or “spontaneity.” It refers to the inherent nature and self-so of all things, emphasizing the importance of following the natural flow of the universe rather than resisting or attempting to control it.
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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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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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Dao in Chinese Poetry. Daoist Talks (VII).
Dao in Chinese Poetry: Two masterpieces of classical Chinese poetry with a Taoist structure. Li Bai and Du Fu.
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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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Project in the home straight – almost
I mentioned some time ago that after the Theodor Storm book, I was invited to illustrate another book by Prof. Wolfgang Kubin.
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Daoist talks (VI) Principles of Dao in Painting
Daoist talks (VI) Principles of Dao in Painting: Chinese painting of the last 1000 years has been shaped primarily by Daoist ideas.
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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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How an idea takes root and persists
Poetry from the sky: Something has stuck in the back of my mind: characters that float down from the sky like leaves or something similar and write a poem at the same time.
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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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Daoist talks (IV): Liang Kai The Story of Eight Eminent Monks
Liang Kai is best known in the West for his painting of Li Bai. Only a few know the scroll of “The story of eight eminent monks”.
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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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Daoist Talks (III): The Cosmos in One Dot
Mindfulness in a dot After a lot of theory, we want to highlight practical aspects today, but first a summary of the last post: Everything is Dao, from the smallest dot to the universe; thus, everything is imbued with Dao, especially the counterplay of yin and yang. These are not opposing forces but depend on…
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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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three strikes
Three strikes: Today I would like to present 3 newer works and will not write much about them. The first is a play on Zen thought. In the sense of what was said above, it remains without further explanations.
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Daoist Talks (II): The Basics
Our main topic will be Daoism in Chinese painting. Understanding the essential aspects of the Dao should help us to understand Chinese painting better and more profoundly.
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Daoist Talk (I) Supplement
Existence of the non-existence. The sound of one hand clapping. An afterword to Daoist talks (I)
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Daoist Talks (I): Two Daoist stories and a Daoist painting
Daoist Talks (I): Two Daoist stories and a Daoist painting. A first step into the world of Taoism in Chinese painting.