 FIVEPACK · oil on canvas, 90 x 30 cm, 35 x 12 inch Click here for the story of FIVEPACK |
FIVEPACK · oil on canvas, 90 x 30 cm, 35 x 12 inch Click here for the story of FIVEPACK |
 | notes: five-pack There is a small story that goes with this lithograph. A few years ago, when I was living in Zurich, I painted a 700-year-old bronze Thai Buddha head that had a prominent place in my studio. I painted it in the middle of winter. It was raining constantly, and I was listening to a lot of jazz at the time…particularly Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. This Buddha head was a very special Buddha head – one that exudes tranquility, strength, gravitas, grace and the lightness of being, all at the same time. It soon became apparent to me that I could not capture it in a single image, and so I painted it five times in different colours and decided to call it Five-pack. I wanted to capture the very essence of the bronze head, but also wanted to play with it a little bit. The colours that I used are the colours I associate with Southeast Asia: the lush green tones and rich red earth colours that so define rural Thailand. I like to imagine that Five-pack also reflects a little of my mood at the time – the endless jazz and the endless rain… But I am very happy with the result. I am particularly happy that the painting conveys some of the deep sense of peace and calm of the original subject and that it serves so well as a visual mantra – or object of meditation. The painting was very popular with people that I knew in Switzerland, but I did not want to sell it then, and in fact still have it. Instead I took it to Lichtdruck AG in Dielsdorf, Switzerland – one of the premier addresses in Europe for fine art lithography – and had them print it in a limited edition of five hundred prints. These are individually numbered and signed, and printed on 270 gram Buetten Rives paper using a manual ten-colour Granolitho technique. The lithographed image is the same size as the original and measures 105 cm x 45 cm (41 inch x 18 inch) including border. I still have some of these very special prints for sale. Please e-mail me at angelakis@shaw.ca for details. 
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