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This painting was the first in a series I did named for "Koans," Buddhist riddles which are designed to help you break free from conventional thinking and open your mind to the possibility of illumination.

What I love about the "Koan" series is their simplicity. There are no extraneous lines, no clutter. Just as the goal of meditation is to clear the mind of distractions, my goal in this painting was to eliminate anything that was not needed. I was in a very meditative frame of mind when I painted it. I think its simplicity makes it beautiful.

This is an exercise in "pure painting," that is, painting that is not meant to "look like" anything. It is abstract expressionism.

However, even a painting that is not representational can convey a feeling or mood, and I think this is one of the happiest paintings I have ever done. It suggests to me free spirits joyfully dancing in a golden light. My first thought was to call it "Jubilation!"

Instead I decided to name it after the famous response Mahatma Gandhi once gave to a journalist who asked him to summarize his life's philosophy in a few words.

His answer? "Renounce and enjoy."

In 1950, the communist Chinese invaded the country of Tibet. By 1951 they had routed the small and ill-prepared Tibetan army, and began a brutal program of oppression and "re-education" that continues to this day.

I was born in 1951. So, for my entire lifetime, there has been no "free Tibet." The Dalai Lama was forced to flee the country in 1959, and he has not been allowed back since. Since 1959, the population of ethnic Tibetans has declined by over one million - while the population of Han Chinese has almost doubled.

I've done a numbered series of paintings I call "Tibet," that echo, in an abstract way, the billiantly-colored and intricate Buddhist iconography of Tibet. (This one reminds me of Buddhist prayer flags.) They are also, in a small way, a protest against the brutal oppression of the Tibetan people and culture by the Chinese.

Questions? Comments? Just want to say hello? Please e-mail me at: Lance@PorterArtGallery.com, or give me a call at (907) 235-5559.

All the best!

Lance Porter

Copyright 2008, Lance N. Porter