Secular spirituality and Buddhist philosophy are a major influence in my work. Early in my career I awakened to the idea that art is a spiritual practice and, therefore, a manifestation of our consciousness. In the process of creation I experience the Buddhist concept of interdependence, that nothing exists on its own, and how dependent the physical (the manifested) and spiritual (the unmanifested) are to creating art.

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision # 28
Acrylic on panel
38” x 31”

Artists such as Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Mark Rothko and Mark Tobey among others, have created art that reflects the Buddhist concept of interdependence. I, for one, continuously experience the connectedness between the physical and the spiritual in the creative process, especially in non-representational painting. There are other art forms, such as music particularly jazz, that exemplify this physical/spiritual connectedness. Jazz musicians get into the flow (the spiritual) when in deep improvisation, working with the technical/physical as second nature. The mature artist is more concerned with the spiritual substance of art, having obtained dominion over the technical/physical aspects of his/her medium.

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision # 6
Acrylic on paper
46” x 55.5”

In my evolving work, I have left behind symbolism in favor of non-representational imagery. To me this is more in keeping with the idea of the spiritual experience.

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision Figure (3D)
Mixed media
30” x 16” x 3”

In the East, especially in India, there was a group of abstract expressionist artists working with painting as a spiritual process. V. S. Gaitonde and Natvar Bhavsar are artists whose works are exquisite examples of painting in this style. They talk about their paintings as spiritual revelations. I believe this is the true meaning of the creative process.

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision # 18
Acrylic on panel
24” x 24”

Vasily Kandinsky's radical treatise Uber das Geistige in der Kunst (1911) translated into English as The Art of Spiritual Harmony (now titled Concerning the Spiritual in Art) had a profound influence on the germination and development of abstraction in the early decades of the twentieth century. The Blaue Reiter artists wrote about their art in terms of a spiritual awakening. Kandinsky believed in the communion with the spiritual and that art was born within the artist, compelled by an inner necessity: “A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art. And from this results that modern desire for rhythm in painting, for mathematical, abstract construction, repeated notes of color, for setting color in motion.”

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision Sea
Acrylic on canvas
53” x 41”

Tibetan Buddhists believe in rebirth, that when you die your consciousness goes through a state called the Bardo Thödol, known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. My new work titled Vision Series consists of abstract depictions inspired by the idea of the Bardo Thödol state. These paintings, as in most “spiritual” art, are meant for reflection, introspection and meditation. My Visions, or rather perception of the Bardo Thödol, are purely subjective visual ideas of an unmanifested universe.

Alfredo Marín-Carle
Vision # 24
Acrylic on panel
24” x 24”

After years of practice as a painter and as a Buddhist enthusiast, I am able to execute paintings that focus on non-representational visual expressions. As in abstract expressionism I render visual improvisations that the viewer interprets based on their own life experience. This is where the spiritual takes place, the flow as in jazz, that leads to the manifestations of these visual improvisations.

Visions of the Between