FABIO KOHLER is an artist and musician. Here he explores the mystical aspect of creativity, and how meditation helps him to engage more deeply with the subjects of his artwork.
Doing a portrait is a challenging task. The face proportion has to be precise to within millimeters. Otherwise, the person will not be recognized or something will feel wrong. But this covers only the visual part. The next challenge is to catch the particularity of the person. This is similar to the process, “from thinking to feeling,” or in this case, “from seeing to perceiving.”
One fine day, my Chinese teacher commissioned me to paint a portrait of herself. Our student and teacher relationship was based on artistic exchange and mutual admiration. During her classes she would sing Chinese songs or demonstrate Chinese traditional dances to the students. I went several times to see her flamenco dance performances, in the same way she attended my musical concerts where I played percussion. This interaction definitely had an impact on the final drawing.
When I personally handed her the portrait, I asked her to show it to her husband. The moment he saw the drawing, he said, “非常好!”(meaning “very good” in Chinese). But what I could read in his eyes was, “What an amazing person I’m married to.”
This episode reinforced my belief that on a conscious level the mind of the artist is occupied in formal principals (shape, proportion, light and shadow, texture, etc.), while their inner being is accessing the energy field of the person portrayed.
The same process happened while drawing any spiritual person. Once you draw the human form of those souls, you start feeling the vibrational field of the person portrayed. And those vibrations are reflected through the portrait. When I showed a drawing of Jesus that I had made to Daaji, he said, “Look how compassionate these eyes are!”
If you look carefully at this drawing of Jesus, you may notice that it was based on a photo of Babuji. Babuji’s eyes were strabismic. He himself used to say that while one eye was looking outside the other was always looking inside.
While the artistic process is flowing
outwards, culminating in works of art, the
practice of meditation leads inwards. Both
activities combined may be very
complementary.
This can also be applied in the process of art. While the artistic process is flowing outwards, culminating in works of art, the practice of meditation leads inwards. Both activities combined may be very complementary. Personally, I feel deeply absorbed when I’m doing an artwork. At the same time, the practice of meditation itself helps me to access a subtler and deeper level of artistic expression. It’s like the material wing and spiritual wing; in this case the artistic and spiritual wing combined make the bird of creativity fly high.
For me, the mystical experience is the greatest reward of being an artist.
For more artworks and to commission a work of art, visit: www.fabiokohler.com
Artwork by FABIO KOHLER
Fabio Kohler
Fabio is an artist and musician. He grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, graduating in stage design from UNIRIO. Currently living in Freiburg, Germany, he teaches drawing and percussion in learning institutions ... Read More
