256. The Tourist Does Art #12

Naples it is estimated to have at least 448 RC churches - twice as many as in Rome - and most of these are crammed into a tiny area of just 17 square kilometers ... and accordingly the city is now a declared UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now obviously I haven't been into all of them - in fact, after visiting just a handful, I was so "blinged-out" that I gave up and said "enough-is-enough-already" ... !!! ... Also most of the museums and galleries of ancient art are full of religious paintings and artifacts - all very beautiful of course - but there is a limit to how much Renaissance and Baroque depictions of the Holy Family and the Crucifixion etc a bloke can take in ...

But as I was in such a religion-focussed city, I thought my artpiece for Naples had better also reflect a spiritual  theme ... and then one day early in my stay, when passing a second-hand book stall,  I spied this little pre-loved red classic - and bingo - the theme was set ...

 

Roughly translated from Italian -

The Thoughts of the Buddha

 

My workspace in the apartment is an old Italialate sideboard - just the right height and width for working on - and with the attached mirror covered with my winter scarf so I didn't have to watch myself at work - I got creating ... and ended up with this little piece ...

The Thoughts of the Buddha

260 x 190 x 30 mm

 

 #75. As the boat carries the man - so also conscience and mind and body 

are in mutual causal dependence. ( a very rough Google translation ... !!! )

The book contains about 2000 such thoughts from the Buddha, and I have used just 180 of these to make each scrolls ... and then used torn strips of pages to cover the cardboard structure ...

I found this miniature statue of The Laughing Buddha at another street stall ... and according to my research, the happy little fella standing and holding a bowl above his head symbolizes the receipt of good fortune ... the owner of this statue shows that he or she is open and ready to receive all good things including good fortune and great abundance of all kinds … sounds good to me - so I thought I might keep this artpiece to help me along my way ...

My stay here in Napoli is just about up and the wanderer must wander on to a new location and a new adventure ... so in my next blog I'll do a quick look around the city - hope you'll come along ...