Fantastic Garden

acrylic on canvas & applique, approx. 70 x 81cm (framed) / 51 x 61cm (artwork)

While exploring the massive yet remote archaeological site at the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul, I could not help but reflect on the mysterious disappearance of such a large and developed civilization. Just before sunset, I climbed to an elevated limestone patio to watch as a tumultuous skyscape churned on the western horizon. The ruins of a great city were spread out before me, and every man-made structure wore a blanket of moss, leaf, vine and bromeliad, as if measured time had stopped while the natural world had carried on. From this magickally charged moment sprang the conceptual premise for “Fantastic Garden” - What if, some day, our modern civilization also fades away? Will people from a future time stumble upon the moss-covered relics of our culture? Will clock towers be mysterious monoliths? And churches, sprouting trees and moss - will their campanile crosses be seen as compasses, as homage to the four origins in space?

In “Fantastic Garden”, the cross in the sky, and the tumultuous skyscape itself, are actually what I saw from that limestone platform...with little to no exaggeration; I painted them from photos I took at the time.

Another side note: The mandala in the upper left corner is a small-scale reproduction of my painting “Triune God Mandala”, before it received its 2008 facelift.