MONTHLY JOURNAL
OF L. CARUANA
Beginning Sept. 2002

JOURNAL FOR 2004
(going back through the months)

The IN PROGRESS section has been updated with the latest images of my painting The Face of Kali.

       I've been busy writing a chapter for Philip Rubinov Jacobson's book project Eyes of the Soul. As a result, I've been in contact with a number of interesting artists: Michel Henricot, Claude Verlinde, Pierre Peyrolle, Ellen Lorien, Michael Maschka and Jan Machalek. It is an eye opening experience to view their work and discuss their perspectives onto art...

      Check out Blueberry, one of the most interesting films I've seen in a long time - shamanic and visionary. A propos...

FEBRUARY 2004

      I was recently contacted by Daniel whose fascinating site on Visionary art, entheogens and shamanism should definitely be viewed... www.lila.info

       The next issue of The Visionary Revue is nearing completion and will be on-line soon... In the meantime, I sit before my easel and immerse myself in colour...

      Finally, I've begun correspondence with Jane Andrews of England, whose work will no doubt amaze and amuse you... www.janeandrews.co.uk

JANUARY 2004

       A fragment from my journals:

       'A friend of mine told me of a story by Genet which I have to try to find sometime. She said it was about a tightrope walker who was absolutely dedicated to the intricacies of his art. Everything he did was absolutely death-defying, which made the public gasp in horror.
       But, remaining true to his art, he gave up public performance, and walked the rope alone within the confines of his Parisian apartment. I don't remember the scenerio exactly. I think she said he kept a gun nearby, and would shoot himself if he ever fell off the wire that was only a few inches off the floor...
       But somehow, something rings true in this story. Whether or not the audience gasps in horror at his death-defying leaps, the artist himself is always putting his life on the line.'

       If anyone knows the title of this story - send word!

       My Manifesto of Visionary Art was cited in an interesting article by Sylvia Thyssen for Erowid on the Boundaries of Visionary Art - whether it is of the 'outsider' variety, or more 'fantastic realist'. As well, four of my paintings are now featured in the Gallery of the Vaults of Erowid. This site offers fascinating insights on Entheogens in our culture and art.

       Voke - make contact!

JOURNAL FOR 2003
(going back through the months)

DECEMBER 2003


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL
Celebrate the solstice,
the birth of Light and Life
in the guise of a child...


       My Christmas gift came by e-mail. I was chosen Artist of the Month at 60s and Further a website with an amazing attitude, spreading warm vibes and good karma across the mind lattice.
       My wife Florence and I join in wishing everyone much joy, a meal carefully prepared to be shared in celebration, gifts, and a pleasant remembrance of childhood...


MADONNA AND CHILD
From The Face of Kali, a work in progress.

NOVEMBER 2003

       I took a strange and unexpected journey through an abyss of dispair and self-doubt over the last month. It wasn't fun. Now, I've at least managed to forge myself a pair of wings and hover above it. Still, the view is pretty frightening...
       I've updated the GALLERY with new images from my paintings The Sacrifice and The Pearl (a detail is offered on the right). And - this site is now offered in a French version!
       ...Voke - what's happened to you..?

OCTOBER 2003

       This is my favourite time of year - walking under grey clouds and melancholy skies. The last few weeks were spent looking inwards. But I feel much refreshed and look forward to Autumn with new hopes and visions.
       I've updated the IN PROGRESS section with new photos of the paintings presently in my studio.
       Thanks to David Heskin of newskinstudio.com for showing me some of the best Visionary art I've seen in a long time...

SEPTEMBER 2003

TIPS FOR THE VISIONARY ARTIST (no. 9):

       Shadow is a dark light falling up!
       To see this, turn your painting upside down, and imagine the sun is a black hole casting its dark light over the forms in shadow.
       Now, turn your painting right side up and see the shadows as you never imagined them before: a black light rising from below.


       Shadows have been much on my mind the last three weeks. It's been a period of distraction. I just can't concentrate on the tasks at hand. My only consolation are those creative people who've reached out with their words and works. Thanks - Andrew Gonzalez, Cynthia Robbins, Herman Smoranburg, Ben Tolman, Ben Rech and Damian Micheals

AUGUST 2003

       Photos from my three month journey through Egypt, India, Nepal and Tibet, are now on-line. Check out A VISIONARY JOURNEY TO THE EAST in the FEATURES section.
       Also NEW in the FEATURES section: my DREAM JOURNAL. I've been recording my dreams for the last 25 years. Here is a selection of the most interesting and enigmatic.
       My Manifesto of Visionary Art may soon be translated into Polish for publication. My thanks to Cracow intellectual Paul Korta and the extraordinary visionary Lukasz Banach

JULY 2003

       I'm back into the daily rhythm of painting (particularly on The Face of Kali, which may be seen in the WORKS IN PROGRESS section). I'm also editing the French version of my book Enter Through the Image for publication here in France. A French version of The Manifesto of Visionary Art is now finished, and will be published alongside a long article: 'The Present State of Visionary Art in France'. Meanwhile, a limited number of signed and numbered copies of the Manifesto (in English) are still available.
       Rencontres fortuites: I bumped into the French Visionary artist Michel Henricot on blvd St. Germain the other day. And in my dreams last night (July 4th), Ernst Fuchs wanted to sell a work to Robert Venosa and myself, but we wouldn't buy it. Strange...
       The meister, Ernst Fuchs, will be teaching in Payerbach Austria this summer. For more info., go to www.ernstfuchs-zentrum.com).

JUNE 2003

       I've now returned from my three month journey through Egypt, India, Nepal and Tibet. It was an incredible experience. I'm presently in the process of sorting through all the visionary imagery and playing with it creatively, seeking underlying harmonies and resonances. My eyes are opening wide... I also hope to put some pictures up on this site.

       On May 13th, I met again with the French Visionary artist Michel Henricot at the opening of his exhibition at Galerie Minsky in Paris (see www.leonor-fini.com). His skeletal angels in flight are really something to behold. The exhibition will move on to the CFM gallery in New York in September.

       ...And thanks to Dutch Visionary artist Herman Smorenburg for getting in touch!

MY JOURNEY THROUGH EGYPT, INDIA, NEPAL AND TIBET
FROM FEBRUARY TO MAY 2003

       On February 16th, my wife and I left for a three month trip through Egypt, India and Tibet. The following are up-dates from various internet cafes we find along the way.

L. Caruana in Tibet - Spring 2003

       It's now March 3rd, and I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Cairo. We've been in Egypt for 17 days, and the trip has been amazing so far - my head is swimming with images, both of ancient and modern Egypt. From Cairo, with its pyramids and antiquities, we followed the Nile down to Luxor, staying on the left bank (ancient Thebes). Hiking over the Theban Mountains, we explored the Valley of the Kings, and their rich hieroglyphic imagery from The Books of the Underworld inscribed on their walls. But it was the Temple of Dendara, with its unusual and extraordinarily creative imagery that had me walking as if in a dream with eyes open. I've been sketching and recording the images here with an eye towards creating new works...

       Tomorrow, we leave Egypt for India. The adventure continues...

       It's March 12th, and we've been in India for five days. In truth, I'm still recovering from culture shock (as well as climate shock). We arrived in Mumbai (Bombay), and our first train trip out of that city was already an experience: a constant parade of vendors, singers, beggars, transvestites and children walking through the aisles, calling out in melodic voices for alms or wares. We're now in a place called Aurangabad, where the rock-cut temple of Ellora revealed it's ancient beauty: an ornate temple adorned with sculptures that was carved out of the rock from the top down out of one solid piece of stone - incredible. Our days have been spent unravelling its dream-like imagery. Next stop: the Buddhist caves of Ajanta.

       It's March 21st, and I'm sitting in a very hot internet cafe in Delhi. We've walked through some amazing temples - Ellora, Ajanta, the Buddhist stupa at Sanchi, and then Khajuraho. It was the 1000 year old temples at Khajuraho that really opened my eyes. We spent five days there (unable to move on because it was the Hindu festival of Holi, where everyone throws color on each other and goes crazy). With the aid of some local bhang, the Khajuraho temples welcomed me once more with their ancient splendor. I stepped into the inner sanctuary in a state of awe. Later, I made some important discoveries about the statuary and those who sculpted them - leaving their monograms on the temple floor. The styles of delineation in the faces also had me enthralled. After this experience, I feel like I'm no longer brushing the surface of modern India, but entering into something much deeper.

       April Fools! It's April 1st, and I'm in Kathmandu - this place is like Xanadu. "Weave a circle round me thrice and close my eyes with holy dread, for I on honey dew hath fed, and drunk a cold coke with ice..!" After a gruelling 4 weeks in India, this mountain recluse is paradise.

       After Khajuraho, our itinerary included Delhi, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya. Varanasi (formerly Benares) is the holy city of the Hindus on the Ganges. I have seen the morning sun stain the Ganges gold, magenta, and grey - a fabulous experience. The burning ghats, where bodies are cremated on the banks, was a potent reminder of imminent death. Bodh Gaya is the holiest place of Buddhism - where the Buddha attained enlightenment. In the temple before the Bodhi tree, we circulated then sat in silence and awe as monks from every Asian nation chanted, prayed and prostrated themselves. All who we met were praying for world peace in a time of war over greed and power.

Next stop: Tibet!

       It's April 12th, and we are in Tibet! We had a gruelling five day trip through the mountains to come here, but the ordeal was well worth it. Along the way we saw some amazing snowy mountains, stopped at monasteries and met the incredible Tibetans.

       It was in a the monastery town of Gyantse that my heart opened to the experience here. I was walking at sunset along the main road outside the monastery, feeling the incredible ambiance of this place. Tibetans along the roadside were greeting me warmly. Then, a salty old fellow approached from the opposite direction. Immediately he shook my hand warmy, looked me deep in the eyes and shouted out tashi delek (welc ome) ! Then, as is the custom among the older ones, he stuck out his tongue. In a moment, he was on his way again, but I had changed. Tears came to my eyes, and I felt an intense opening of compassion in my heart. For the first time in my life, I understood what karma meant and what it was to spread good karma. That is what this place is all about.

       Now, in Lhasa, as I visit the monasteries of the Jokhang, Sera, and Drepung, I greet the monks and the same feeling wells up in my heart. To shuffle with hundreds of Tibetan pilgrims through the dark, candle-lit chapels is an amazing experience. I've watched as the images on the walls and the statues on the altars come alive - miraculously enlivened by the intense devotion of their worshippers. The journey - incredibly - continues...

       It's April 27th, and we are now far from Tibet. Passing through Kathmandu, Kolkota, and other parts of India, we've finally arrived in Goa! Now, instead of the cold and snowy nights we experienced in Tibet, we're soaking up the sun on a paradise beach with palm trees and magnificent sunsets. Our bamboo hut on stilts faces onto the beach, where we hear the rolling thunder of the waves as we sleep at night.

       This is the ideal place to sit back and reflect upon all that we've experienced over the last three months. Soon, we'll be back in Paris, and the process of integrating all the imagery and experience into my art will begin...

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JOURNAL FOR 2002
(going back through the months)

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DEC 2002

       Let me take the time here to say thank you to all the creative people who've visited my site and made contact. Your comments on painting and my Manifesto have been enlightening.
       Now that the holidays are here, I hope you use them for personal reflection, celebration, and reminiscence of family, childhood, and celebrations past. Enjoy...
               Laurence


NOV, 2002

       On Nov 7th, I visited the French Visionary artist Michel Henricot. I've always admired his tranquil mummified figures suspended gracefully in the half-world between life and death. I was surprised to learn that he lived just around the corner from me. He was very articulate about his works, and showed me the latest canvases in his studio. Most memorable is a dream he recounted that explained his work in many ways:
        "I dreamt I entered a grotto of tremendous proportions, and followed a passage which forked to the left. There were stallactites there which resembled gigantic beings conglomerated into a compact mass. It was impossible to approach them because they emanated a terrible magnetic force which repelled all contact.
        "I carried on to the back of the grotto where I saw a very small door, just large enough for a ten-year old child to enter. Through an incredible effort, and in the midsts of vibrations of unbelievable violence, I managed to enter the doorway. And I knew that, for a few fractions of a second, I had the right to see what I alone must know. I also knew that, once the door closed, I would have to return to the others and convince them that this place really exists. At that moment in the dream, I felt a terrible sadness, because I knew that no one could ever come with me, and that I would only find this place again with the greatest of difficulties."

       I also visited Yves Thomas, a French Visionary who renders amazing seascapes and, lately, vast canyons. He also lives in the same quarter of Paris as me.

       I'm gathering information for an article to appear in The Visionary Revue called The Present State of Visionary Art in France. Artists such as Dado, Michel Henricot, Gerard Di-maccio, Jean-Claude Ugarte, Roland Cat, Alain Margotton, Yves Thomas, Claude Verlinde, Andre Martins de Barros and Lukas Kandl are just a few of the many interesting Visionaries working here.

       Otherwise, much of the month was spent on the French version of my book, Enter Through the Image, preparing the manuscript for a French publisher.


OCT 2002

       On the 17th, H. R. Giger was in Paris for an opening and book signing. We met and spoke about my Manifesto of Visionary Art and his museum in Gruyeres. He's a warm, engaging, humorous man. Giger also introduced me to Sibylle Ruppert, an artist whose works I've always much admired. She has devoted herself to the fascinating field of Art Therapy for the last ten years, but is now returning to painting again. Her previous work, with bizarre and surreal sexual imagery, was unparalleled.
       The Polish visionary Lukasz Banach made contact and we've been corresponding. He has a truly creative spirit, and each e-mail sparks my imagination. His work is dark, disturbing, brilliant. The new work he's sending is frighteningly accomplished.
       The Johfra articles for the next issue of The Visionary Revue are now finished, and have been sent to Holland for corrections. Watch out for them in the VR soon. Johfra's Zodiac paintings were just the tip of the iceburg...
       While keeping on top of all these projects, I'm still painting, painting, painting.


SEPT 2002

       The first weekend of Sept. my wife and I travelled to Hoorn, Holland for the opening of Ernst Fuchs' retrospective at the Westfries Museum. We stayed as the guests of Gerrit and Emmy Luidinga (Johfra's literary executors) along with the Czech fantasy artist and 'grotto meister' Reon Ardgondian. He's some character. At the opening, we met up with Ernst Fuchs, Michael Fuchs, Victor Linford and plenty of interesting Dutch artists. It was an amazing weekend.

       Most of the month was spent painting Christus Mysticus and writing Johfra articles for the next issue of the Visionary Revue. But I also had dinner with the French Visionary artist Pierre Peyrolle, who I met at the Parfums de Femmes exhibition here in Paris. We discussed the idea of organizing another Homage to Bocklin exhibition. I also got in touch with David Aronson by e-mail. His digital Tarot Series just knocked me out.

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