Please note shipping on this will be applied after purchase.

Artist Statement on the pieces:

Born to See and Love Is are deeply personal pieces about my father’s journey through a difficult life, his death and my relationship to him and reaction to his death. The symbolism contained within the work, however, speak to a broader audience through universal shared concepts of overcoming earthly adversity, rising into consciousness, the soul’s ability to continue to grow through death’s journey and the connection we can maintain with those who have passed on.

•

Born To See: My father grew up in dysfunctional family with 14 children, he enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War as a way to escape his controlling father. The night before he shipped out he got a tattoo of a skull ripping out of the Ace of Spades, a symbol used to terrorize the Viet Cong. It said “Born to Lose”. In Viet Nam he became a decorated first machine gunner. Eventually he tripped a booby trap which blew his eyes out of his skull leaving him totally blind. After 2 years in hospital, he became a junkie, then got clean. He went on to get married, become a father, earn a PhD in Psychology and after 20 years as a psychologist became spiritual counselor as well. Seven years ago he was diagnosed with liver cancer from dormant Hep C contracted during his heroin days. He beat it for 5 years never doing chemo, but eventually succumbed. He was my best friend. Together we wrote the words for his grave in Arlington : In the dark he saw.

The repeat pattern in the background has two phoenix pulling a eye from a lotus, symbolizing not only the bombs which took his sight but the rebirth he pulled from that experience. He saw himself as a phoenix. The snakes symbolize wisdom and create a Claddagh, an Irish symbol of love, loyalty and friendship with the heart and the crown.

The main image shows a human emerging from a golden lotus, the symbol of both rebirth, achieving enlightenment and a real flower beyond our normal perception. The lotus rises out of the primordial waters under a universal sky. There are 3 seven pointed stars in the sky because 3 is my number but the seven pointed star is a symbol that resonates through many religions as a star of the known universe and creation. The flying eyeball emerges from the third eye with wings of flame representing both knowledge and the phoenix. The white lily is a flower associated with Western funerals and innocence. The words relate directly to my father but also what is meant to happen to us all on our earthly journey. We are all born to learn to see.