Mark Bouthilette



William Blake wrote,"To see the world in a grain of sand, heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, eternity in an hour." My work explores the similarities between these inner and outer worlds. As early as 3000 BCE the Indus Valley dwellers were exploring the idea of Brahmavidya or the "supreme science" - trying to plot the definitive aspects of thought. What they found, is there's a web of experience that's in constant flux. Tantric art was born from this exploration. I think of my paintings as tangible relics of thought. By working quickly in wet paint - I take a moment in time and create a snap-shot or fossil of that moment. The next step is sanding which I equate with the common Buddhist meditation on decomposition due to its reductive nature. Between the methods lie the two worlds. I'm looking for the similarities between lightning bolts and synapses, rivers and arteries, body heat and topography, veins and vines, and between bones and branches.