John Sarra

Water Garden
John Sarra

Traditional Chinese gardens were created according to the tenants of landscape painting as a place set apart from the distractions of everyday life.  They are to be a place where one might experience the world in miniature as a way of mastering the overwhelming complexity of visual experience, and as a means by which to transcend the physical world in order to engage with the divine.  Chinese gardens are often described as being built rather that grown.  The making is an art, and the immersive experience of the made space serves to inspire the creation of art in other forms.  This is a persistent pattern in my work—the development of worlds within worlds, each generating residual objects which in turn inspire a new cycle of thoughts and forms.  There is a necessary translation that takes place between inspiration and creation, between the intangible thought and the tangible form.  The act of translation/creation is a forum for surprise and discovery, and I pursue those elements in order that my artwork might present itself not as an illustration of known quantities but as a set of singular and contemplative events in the world.

Artist's Website: www.spaceb.com
www.gottheiner.com
Email: info@johnsarra.com

All work copyright © 2009 by the artist