Ilona Anderson: Flying Without a Parachute

Artist Statement
“The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.”  —Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Just as a wave which forms on the surface of the ocean will always dissolve back again, thoughts and experiences arise, exist and dissolve.

Knowing this, it becomes easier to not be swept away by what arises in the mind. When one’s experience is empty of random labeling, the layer of concept we employ to make sense of the world, the richness of that world is directly encountered, giving rise to celebration and creative responsiveness.

This is the discovery of genuine being, unencumbered by the cobwebs of doubt and hesitation, the immediate experience of being present as things arise, exist and dissolve. It is the penetrating immediacy one uses in creating. This is my experience of creating these works.