Art Night

European art developed very differently from Zen or Japanese art.

Zen, I'm going to sort of use them interchangeably because they developed alongside each other.

European art and artistry is influenced by individualism.

and individual expression is very much prized in our European style of art making.

We speak about talent as the phenomenon that separates individuals from one another and sets them up in a culture of competition.

And so speaking very generally, that leaves European-style artists oftentimes in a very isolated position.

And the romantic idea of the isolated artist who is off on their own creating is very typical of our European art culture.

And it developed, European art developed as European capitalism developed.

And in capitalism, of course, one of the main principles, as we all know very well, is competition.

So that helped to sort of exacerbate this phenomenon of the isolated separate individual artists making separate individual progress in their artists, in their art, and oftentimes it does actually lead to individual excellence.

We have many great European-style artists, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Giotto, Rafael, Caravaggio, and for us in the United States, Edward Hopper is one of my favorites, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, my favorite painter of all, it's a secret, but I'm going to tell you guys, is Francis Bacon, and I'm addicted to Francis Bacon.

I've been trying to kick that habit for 35 years, and I keep coming back to him.

So European art is based in the market.

It has monetary value.

And that monetary value is stressed as very important.

Usually the monetary value now is more important than the actual content of the artwork.

Your art is successful only if it sells.

Art influenced by Zen is based on the Bodhisattva ideal.

And as many of you know, because we've explained it here many times, The Bodhisattva ideal is what is central to Mahayana Buddhism, which is our school of Buddhism.

And a Bodhisattva is someone who works towards enlightenment but vows to stay in the world of the suffering until everyone can be enlightened together.

So art influenced by Zen is art that's based in sharing.

It's in interconnectedness.

And that ideal, that bodhisattva ideal, obviously is about sharing and being interconnected and seeing interconnection as one of the main principles in the practice.

Art influenced by Zen values the everyday, the mundane, and even the common.

European art developed very differently from Zen or Japanese art.

Zen, I'm going to sort of use them interchangeably because they developed alongside each other.

European art and artistry is influenced by individualism.

and individual expression is very much prized in our European style of art making.

We speak about talent as the phenomenon that separates individuals from one another and sets them up in a culture of competition.

And so speaking very generally, that leaves European-style artists oftentimes in a very isolated position.

And the romantic idea of the isolated artist who is off on their own creating is very typical of our European art culture.

And it developed, European art developed as European capitalism developed.

And in capitalism, of course, one of the main principles, as we all know very well, is competition.

So that helped to sort of exacerbate this phenomenon of the isolated separate individual artists making separate individual progress in their artists, in their art, and oftentimes it does actually lead to individual excellence.

We have many great European-style artists, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Giotto, Rafael, Caravaggio, and for us in the United States, Edward Hopper is one of my favorites, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, my favorite painter of all, it's a secret, but I'm going to tell you guys, is Francis Bacon, and I'm addicted to Francis Bacon.

I've been trying to kick that habit for 35 years, and I keep coming back to him.

So European art is based in the market.

It has monetary value.

And that monetary value is stressed as very important.

Usually the monetary value now is more important than the actual content of the artwork.

Your art is successful only if it sells.

Art influenced by Zen is based on the Bodhisattva ideal.

And as many of you know, because we've explained it here many times, The Bodhisattva ideal is what is central to Mahayana Buddhism, which is our school of Buddhism.

And a Bodhisattva is someone who works towards enlightenment but vows to stay in the world of the suffering until everyone can be enlightened together.

So art influenced by Zen is art that's based in sharing.

It's in interconnectedness.

And that ideal, that bodhisattva ideal, obviously is about sharing and being interconnected and seeing interconnection as one of the main principles in the practice.

Art influenced by Zen values the everyday, the mundane, and even the common.