On the Progression of My Figurative Drawings Toward Higher Abstraction and Outward Simplicity

The author traces the progression of his artwork from his early, complex surrealistic drawing to his present outwardly simple nonfigurative works that were discussed in his previous two articles in Leonardo. Nine examples from his ‘Growth’, ‘Mandala’, ‘Animal’ and ‘Abstract’ Series are illustrated and discussed. These works are presented as a graphic record of his personal ‘journey’ toward more wisdom, peace and inner joy. He discusses how his experiments in wind tunnels and training in physics at the California Institute of Technology influenced the streamline characteristics the kind of abstraction and the analysis of his works. The influences of the Hopi Indians, of pictures by M. C. Escher and of Japanese origami are also noted. A parallel is drawn between his approach and that of Luther Burbank in plant hybridization. In closing, a similarity is pointed out between the developmental pattern of the author’s drawings and that of the artworks of Piet Mondrian.