BY JAKE KOBRIN
"I wanted to create a painting that would radiate peace."
When I first came to Bali in 2016 I started this painting. I participated in a medicine ceremony in Bali. And during the ceremony a voice told me, your art can heal people, you need to make art that is truly beautiful. Your art can bring peace to this world.
This is your dharma. This painting is titled Equanimity.
The state of balance and peace of mind. To me this painting is about the war of the mind against the heart. The ocean of love meets in the heart. It melts away anything our minds can throw at it. The dragons are our minds, our fears, our doubts, our stories, our egos. But she is equanimous. She pays them no mind. She rests in the heart. I started this painting in Bali and it was destined to be finished here. This painting has journeyed far with me. I worked on this painting at Boom festival in Portugal, under the solar eclipse in Oregon, and onstage at Bali Spirit Festival.
It took me 3 years to finish this painting.It's the largest painting I've ever made. Hundreds of hours went into it. I couldn't finish this painting until I had really gone through it. I needed to live this painting. I had to make the journey across the void between my mind and my heart. In the heart is the space of being, the space that is always unmoving, invincible from inner or outer turbulence.
I'm not always perfect, and the dragons still rock me sometimes. But I have tasted this peace. I know it is possible. And this is what I wanted this painting to communicate. The heart is universal. It is not your heart, it is THE heart. It is not your center, it is THE center. Rest in the heart, rest in the heart...
May we all be equanimous, may we all find peace...
All images courtesy of @jkobrinart
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