20 SPRING 2019
REPORT
You have to pay attention to everything, in sequence,
moment by moment. Well, that is Zen Buddhism,
and I found some comfort in that in a strange way.
The rhythm and pattern was fascinating.Another encounter during this time bolstered
your commitment to Buddhism.
Yes, I was taking an anthropology class from a man
named Jack Fitzwater at UNLV. He had been in the
Korean War as a young Marine of 18, and he had
brought with him only one book, the Bhagavad
Gita. They were shelled every single day and he
saw lots of death and destruction. He was there for
18 months and he had a battlefield enlightenment.
I don’t know how he did, but he recognized my
experience at 18. He looked at my artwork and
kind of adopted me and became my Zen mentor.
The first book I published was his in 2007, Nawari
Koans. We stayed friends until he passed away.With wife and mentor by your side and business
humming, when did you start to change your
method of making art?
I was still painting on the side, continuing to work
on it. The business converted to Macintosh in
1987, and getting into the ’90s, I really started to
learn Photoshop and Illustrator, two programs
I really loved. I started taking more photographs,
mainly of Las Vegas signage, because I was here
in this town and needed to be involved with what
was going on. I shot the Neon Boneyard, pictures
of motels and signage, and of course, the desert,
which is so inspirational. What’s key is that Las
Vegas taught me that there is unity in polarity.Do you think that learning to make art enabled
you to understand that concept even more?
Absolutely, and one of the key examples was my
difficulty with shortening exercises. Look at my
hand, which looks so much bigger because it’s
closer. As a student, I was having difficulty and the
teacher said, “Don’t draw the leg, draw the negative
space that surrounds the leg,” so concentrate on the
nothing and you’ll get the something.What does the Buddha mean to your work?
A goal of my work is to show people you can
discover your own true nature and it’s not linked to
a particular culture whatsoever, and you can find
enlightenment without going through a particular
kind of cultural portal. Another fascination of
mine is pareidolia, which is looking at random
visual information, like seeing a pod of whales in a
cloud formation. The mind wants to turn that into
something, and everybody has that capability.What a beautiful thought, to appreciate that
capability we all have.
And out of that idea of pareidolia, I started
making mirror images of trees and plants, and
faces would appear. I was always intrigued with
this idea and used it in a surrealistic way in my
paintings. When I realized I could accomplish this
more quickly with Photoshop, I saw I could really
progress. I could do things that were very difficult
before, like achieve symmetry.Because of your business, I imagine the
transition to digital was easier.I was scared to death of it, but that discomfort
didn’t stop me. Again, I understood that some
discomfort was part of life, and that I was actually
growing from the experience. It wasn’t going
away, so I just played with it just like I played with
drawing and paint, and it became just another
tool to express myself.Discomfort doesn’t begin to describe what you
and Lynn went through when she was sick.
I was preparing to launch Shimmering Zen at the
London Library, and Lynn, so sick, almost dying,
just insisted. She said, “You’re going to do it,” and,
despite what was she was going through, helped
me all the way.I know she is recovering successfully from
stem cell therapy. You used that experience in
Molecular Space X, didn’t you?
It’s very emblematic of that experience. Spacious
but with a molecular feel, it reminds us that we’re
all part of each other and all part of the universe.
As creators of the universe, we recreate it moment-
by-moment; we can expand our consciousness
through many means, and art is one of them.
That’s part of my philosophy of life. You can’t
know good without bad, light without dark,
and light can make the darkness comforting.
Ironically, watching Lynn’s pain really intensified
the joy of what we shared together, and, without
a doubt, sweetened the pot.http://www.jamesstanfordart.com
http://www.shimmeringzen.comAbove left: Double Sign, Digital montage of Las Vegas vintage neon signage Above right: Revelations, Acrylic on board, 1970