The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth

afterword: the furnace Seven years ago Junko invited me into her studio to show me the works she had just completed: the Esoteric Buddhism series. Ecstasy, the main piece in this series [see pp. 42-43 above], is a three-panel work so huge that it could not even hang on the wall of the studio she had in those days: the bottom of it draped along the floor. I found the whole series overwhelming and after looking at the works for several minutes, I told Junko that I found them to be the most disturbing works she had ever created. She asked me why, and I said, “Because they are so clearly polytheistic.” I was surprised to hear myself say such a thing. Even though Junko and I come from very different religious backgrounds, our household has never been the scene of religious disputations. To the contrary: it seemed to me from the day I met her that Junko understood what I found beautiful and essential in Judaism—more so than any of my so-called Jewish friends whose relationship to their religion is based in obedience, or in nostalgia, or in tribalism; Junko’s perception of Judaism was colored by none of those things. For my part, I have always felt moved by the refined purity of Shinto, and even in my college days I had found Buddhism to be an attractive “dietary supplement” to the western monotheistic religions. When we went to Japan together for the first time after our marriage, Junko’s father woke me up early in the morning to take me to Meiji Jingu, the Shinto shrine dedicated to the Meiji Emperor. Set in a dense evergreen forest in the middle of Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s insanely hectic business districts, Meiji Jingu is a gateway from the urban, everyday world into the quiet world of nature. Not the nature of hiking and camping and all- Opposite: DETAIL FROM ESOTERIC BUDDHISM, NO. 2, ECSTASY (2001) part two // Afterword p. 289

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth

PREFACE

-Definition of Centripetal Art -Its Place In Art History: After the Postmodern Period -Introducing the Subject Matter: One Centripetal Artist's Journey -The Relationship With Multiculturalism -After the Death of God and of Art

FOREWORD

-How the Author's Connection With His Wife's Art Grew More Intimate Over the Years -Learning In Marriage -"Why Does God Need To Paint?" [Section One] Individual Visitants -Dead Flowers and Root -Lungs and Rib Cage

CHAPTER FOUR - A Vital Spirituality

-Why This Art Could Not Have Been Created Earlier -Echoes of the Spiritual Arts of the Early 20th Century -The Impact of the Atomic Bomb; Ecological Concerns -Markers for Spirituality -Centripetal Art Overflows the Studio: Therapy

CHAPTER SIX - A Complex Spirituality

-Spirituality of the 21st Century

AFTERWORD - THE FURNACE

-Polytheism and Monotheism in Art -Goethe’s Aphorism -Marriage and the Alchemist’s Furnace Themes In Series

PREFACE

(Page I) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -Definition of Centripetal Art (Page II) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -The Relationship With Multiculturalism (Page III) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -After the Death of God and of Art (Page IV) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

(Page VIII) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

(Page IX) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

(Page X) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

(Page XI) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

(Page XII) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.