under construction

Ikeda working on a giant cosmic leaf piece in his studio (photo by Victor Bloomfield)

Inspirations behind my work of the last thirty five years have

come from memorable dreams that I experienced back in the

late 1980's to early 90's. One of which was especially

memorable and influential. In the dream I was in the center of

the Universe surrounded by brilliant,  moving orbs that spiral

around the center as though flowing through currents of dark

air. The darkness was visible because of the lights from the

moving orbs. These currents of light and darkness form an ever

changing web-like patterns that seems to flow in and out from a

dark tree-like center- a vortex of zillions of speeding orbs of

light. 

One other thing that was unique about this dream was that I felt

an immense, immeasurable energy- an energy I felt was large

enough to create the whole universe .Why and how I felt that

unbelievable energy, I do not know. And reflecting over this

dream, this incredible energy and indescribable brilliance of

these orbs were the part that made this dream so unforgettable

and so unreal. Even to this day I wonder whether what I

experience was not a dream, but some kind of 'unexplainable'

experience.

From this and other 'memorable' dreams of this period and

pondering over them and other thoughts, I have created

a personal myth in a visual art form with a theme of "Cosmic

Tree ".

Below- undergoing construction

In this personal myth I am creating, the  "Cosmic Tree"

 represents the whole universe. It is the Cosmos, it is the

Nature  and it is the Creation.

To me there is a Universal Consciousness or awareness that

unites the whole thing. It is the Creator. It is the Threader. As I see it, we are part of this great Unity, but at the same time we are unique individual.

artworks  I am not fully sure as they seem to be born from my

subconscious state. Hopefully these pieces are intriguing

enough to emote sensations or thoughts, and appreciated as

artwork in its self without my explanation.

Afterward I came to see the whole universe as a constantly

ever changing tree- like, web-like form where zillions of suns

and stars are its  fruits and flowers; and invisible lines of gravity

and dark matters, its branches and trunks.

In my work, I have  not tried to capture this dream, but for the

most part,  create painting compositions and sculptural forms

inspired from it. Hopefully, there is something in these works

that exude ' unexplainable something' that is a concrete, visual

manifestation of an 'awesome something I have felt or seen

while deep, deep in a sleep years ago. 

To depict this Cosmic Tree and to illustrate thoughts derived

from analyzing the dream, I have used a variety of art media-

installations, paintings, drawings and even verses. Initially, with

sculpture, I have tried to depict the Cosmic Tree symbolically as

an organic, plant like form colored with spiraling patterns

resembling stars and galaxies. Though in a dream, the Cosmic

Tree is ever changing, boundless form, to create it in a concrete

sculptural form, I've initially tried to capture it as though time

stopped for a nanosecond, and form instantaneously solidify.

Now days, I do not consciously try to capture the dream,

but just let the patterns and forms come out from deep in

subconscious.  Somewhere there,

Cosmic Tree 3, detail