Winged Way

Winged Way is a vehicle of the Dao. Winged Way was incorporated (literally: ‘gave bodily form to’) on 8/8/08 in order to create a single container for my artistic, conceptual, and spiritual practices, and to establish a platform to present the work of others that parallels my own.

My work has several strands that weave together, informing, reflecting, and expanding on one another. Essentially, I have a material practice, and a philosophical/conceptual practice, and spiritual practice.

The material practice takes the form of sculptural paintings, and of wordsongs. The paintings are informed most strongly by Byzantine, Classical Chinese, and Modern traditions. In this context I am interested in effective material re-presentation of the parts of our human experience that are immaterial. The wordsongs are informed by bardic, haiku, and gospel traditions. (Listen to “Down Down,” a wordsong.) I am interested in the potential for sound and meaning to create transformative experiences.

The philosophical/conceptual practice addresses the ways that meaning and value come into being. It takes the form of participatory performances like Transmutation, the Auction, and the Gift Network. (I am currently looking for gallery or museum in which to perform the creation of a single painting over the course of 1-3 weeks, during which I would fast and meditate and paint. This performance would bring together contemporary traditions of endurance and exposure - from Joseph Beuys to Chris Burden - with older spiritual traditions.) My conceptual practice explores the complex dance of community and individual narratives that invest objects, words, and experiences with meaning and value.

The spiritual practice in-forms the other two. In my artistic and conceptual practices I want to embody and transmit immaterial human experience. I study and practice Classical Shamanic Qigong, a Daoist tradition of Inner Alchemy, under Master Zhongxian Wu.