Original artwork description:

Are you familiar with the concept of Nostalgia?

With few exceptions, most immigrants and transplants understand this emotion, sometimes in agonizing depth. From Greek algos "pain, grief, distress" + nostos "homecoming," "to reach some place, escape, return, get home." Considered before the advent of psychology as a physiological malade, the term described the feeling of loss and longing specific to Swiss mercenaries on long bouts away from their beloved homeland.

A rooster’s crow at the contemplation of the first morning ray is at once morning and creation, stilly held in a field of silence. Wherever it is that we will unescapably return, on our infinite migration, one owes it to the self to pause along the journey, to remember the soul's homeland. This pause is decidedly experienced alone, for the souls journey and its relationship to the unknown is a deeply personal one.

As an immigrant artist, my work fortifies me to my mama land. I am primarily compelled in painting the distant landscapes of my past that are the closest things to my quiet inner world. My private love and refuge. Though a characteristic of the Palekh style, the black background is very useful as a physical space. It encapsulates the character in a vastness that I liken to the deep sea, outer space, the psyche, or infinity depending on the piece.

Materials used:

Oil painting on panel

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