LEONARD PELTIER: THE ARTIST

"Beast of Beauty"

I did not know Leonard Peltier was an artist until I went to a pow-wow several years ago. A woman was selling prints of his work and I was totally amazed. The subject matter is most naturally Native American in theme but she pointed out something to me that endeared me to this artist. She showed me what she called before and after paintings. She pointed out the inner transformation of the man and how it was reflected in his art. It was quite obvious. Darks and shadow had given way to bright colors and light. And don't all of troubles stand to serve that purpose, of transforming us. Leonard Peltier is in prison for a crime he did not commit. He has reason to be bitter, but over time, he has found something deep and wonderful inside himself and it comes through in his work.

You can see some of Mr. Peltier's work and judge for yourself. Here is one of many links you'll find when you google Leonard Peltier Artist.

THE ARTWORK OF ANTONIO PURI

I love how the fates work. I was fortunate enough to discover abstract artist Antonio Puri by sheer luck and timing. I had just gotten my first computer and was checking all the ins and outs of life at Yahoo.com… one thing being, of course, the chat rooms. I am not sure how nor which chat room I stumbled into, at least by name. But I wandered in. I hung in the background a bit, but was soon engaged in the mindless drivel that happens in such places.

After a short while, the question arose of how many Gemini's there might be in the room. Amazingly, there were quite a few. Me being one of them. And Antonio being another. So we talked. He had never been in a chat room before. Was only in there for fun with a friend of his. Much like myself, they just happened to be there killing time. We talked about nonsense and eventually rolled around to "what do you do" and we thought how Gemini to both be artists of a sort. Me being a musician. And he a painter plus more.

He sent me over to his website where I discovered that he was indeed an artist and not just of the surface but truly of the soul. His childhood, spent at the base of the etheric Himalaya Mountains contributes to this spiritual dimension, no doubt. We vowed to take in each other's show sometime and left it at that.

We kept in touch for years, though not too much lately, but I have always enjoyed going over to his site and seeing what he’s been up too. I am pleased to see the recognition that has developed around his work. And I always love to see what his latest trends are. My favorite trend was a couple of years ago when he worked fervently with circles. Or should I say, Circle. Sphere. Infinity if you will. He had taken every imaginable combination of color, texture, shade, and line and applied them to this one magnificent, stalwart ring.

At the time, I had begun checking in at SOHO to see what was happening with the sun each day. Flares and filaments and coronal holes and such intrigued me. I was amazed at the similarities that I saw there. Had Antonio been inspired by these solar images? I emailed him a couple of the SOHO photographs and asked him. And though he said he had not seen them before, I got the distinct impression that our Antonio was indeed a Cosmic traveler and was picking up on old Sol on some level.

Those pages of Antonio’s site have been taken down since then. Kind of makes me sad. But I’m sure that wherever these particular works are and whoever has them… they are enjoying the privilege of looking at them each day.

There’s always more… but check out Antonio’s site for yourself, take in a show [which I have YET to do], and if you see him, give him my Gemini love… --Vim

THE ARTWORK OF ANTONIO PURI
paintings on this page are
"Mini Dharma 2" and "Mukti 5"