The Alpha Seer understanding true art

October 10, 2011

AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 12:55 am

Figure 1: Leonora   by the great master Knox MartinFigure 2: woman Interested  by the great master Knox MartinFigure 3: Star Flower by the great master Knox MartinFigure 4: Maryellen by the great master Knox Martin

Most of Knox Martin’s paintings have a single title: Woman. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN? It tells us immediately that the predominant subject matter of Knox Martin is “Woman.” Like Titian or Ingres, there are NO other contents, emotive, narrative, spiritual, philosophical or otherwise outside of the pure metaphorical images created by Knox Martin,– of women!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Knox Martin has often insisted that the subject matter of ART is ART itself. In other words, he has in effect created an equivalent sign between “Woman” and ART in his work! Make no mistake: his subject matter is “Woman”, which is also ART as well,–as “Woman” has already taken root in his art and has taken over completely as a code name for ART!

It is very clear from this oft adopted title of “Woman” that his art solidly points to a poetic persuasion VIA the FIGURATIVE,– NOT, as most contemporary art critics claimed, Abstraction! To call his art the examples of Abstract Expressionism is therefore, a wholesale misunderstanding of his art,–or of ART itself for that matter! Anyone who makes that claim truly does not know what he/she is talking about! This must be clarified, since the Alpha Seer is currently about the ONLY person who can fully understand the art, as well as the artistic intent of the magnificent genius of Knox Martin!

The very bedrock of Painting is the creation of visual metaphors. The only aim of composition is to attain universal harmony through the realization of Yin and Yang. That is a noble and timeless principle derived from universal laws, which have driven the creative energies of artistic geniuses from times immemorial! What would Knox Martin gain by denying it, and substituting it with the so-called Abstraction, which is nothing more than the worthless and idle imagination of the mind,– for his artistic expressions? It does not make any sense at all, does it ? By displaying the great work by Knox Martin, the Alpha Seer hopes to establish his peerless status for the future generations.

Clarity must be established at the first instance, right from the starting point. Clarity can only be attained through a correct reading of ART. To say Knox Martin’s work is the examples of Abstract Expressionism can only create further confusions. There is no clarity in the claim of an art illiterate, especially the blind academics or critics who regularly offers snake-oils to the general public, some art addicts who crave those poisons in desperation,– somewhat like a shot of steroid to work up the adrenaline of their addictions. Art addicts are driven by their herd instincts, and they will readily follow anyone who appears to hold the pretension of leadership. since the blind public yearns for someone to lead them, that is the desire that the art academics will cater to. Deception is so easy when a herd desperately desire to be deceived… !

Finally, to claim Knox Martin’s work as belonging to Abstract Expressionism does not do justice for the amazing quality of his genius, since making such a claim one must have failed, from the very beginning, miserably to recognize the singularly magnificent and major contribution of Knox Martin to modern Painting in our lifetime, namely, the REINVENTION OF PAINTING ITSELF

(click on this and drag your mouse across it in order to read the secret message)

THE ALPHA SEER

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Knox to me
show details Oct 8 (1 day ago)
DEAREST  BEN
NO ONE HAS BEEN THIS CLEAR ABOUT MY WORK !!! I AM FLABBERGASTED AND MOST APPRECIATIVE.    THANK YOU!    KNOX

September 24, 2011

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND PORN?

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 9:18 am

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ben Lau <alphaseer@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 3:11 AM
Subject: What is the difference between ART and pornography?
To: Ben Lau <alphaseer@gmail.com>



What is the difference between ART and pornography?

That was a question addressed to the Alpha Seer when he was at an art school.

I will give this particular question a clearer definition here once and for all.

Take a subject matter, any subject matter at all,–it will instantly and magically become ART in the hand of a true artist; while in that of the non-artist, anything can be in danger of being turned into a perversion.

Look at the following lino-cut: every single line in this composition streams of fantastic poetry and innocence! Look on, if you cannot agree now. Give it another 10 minutes, even with a cup of tea in your hand! ( never mind the calligraphy, which was used to cover up the track of a small insect,–the Alpha Seer did his calligraphy 20 times better before losing his dexterity of brush painting, a sort of impromptu art-making… )

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There is no evil in sex, just as there is no evil in food. We need both in life. Raise your hand if you disagree,… (on the basis that you are about to raise concerns against sex being used as subject matters, thereby condemning it as “pornographic… .”)

Now, as soon as you start perverting food, evil comes into being! The same can be said of sex. Since the non-artists cannot understand ART, perversion abounds. Mind you, the relationship between ART and Sex is not insignificant! Titian and Rubens painted a lot of nude women because they had loved women. One of the best paintings by Watteau is also called Satyr and Nymph. The great Knox Martin painted mostly nudes in his magnificent career as artist. One of his most erotic drawings even has he himself in it!

Because of the non-artists’ failure in understanding ART, sex has ultimately become, in their hands, a perversion. The line can be drawn then, and the following remark can be said about their “artistic effort” as a result:

Anything that the non-artists lay their hands on, anything, not just those that would involve sex as subject matter, will inevitably and effectively become PORN as a result when the artistic intent is proclaimed !

Ahh, on second thought, the Alpha Seer must go deeper than that,– since the shameful truth is, just about anything the non-artists do can be termed perverse or pornographic, since perversion always exist in whatever they attempt in the name of ART!!!!!

And the reason that ART has been perverted by the non-artists is simply because there exists a counterfeit intention in whatever they have attempted and eventually proclaimed as art. That counterfeit intention is more than obvious in the Ponzi-scheme, for lack of a better description, being run by those folks at present, –a sort of “art” for quick cash scheme,– attached ingloriously to the postmodern world.

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Who are the true artists? The Alpha Seer can offer you a list here,– not exactly a complete one, nor are their names placed in any particular order of greatness:

Beside the greater geniuses in modern time, such as Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Gorky, de Kooning, and Knox Martin, we also have, in the last 800 years or so, the following:

Van Eyck, Giotto, Buoninsegna, Cimabue, Van der Weyden, Memling, Hieronymus Bosch, Fra Angelico, Fabriano, Francesca, Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael,Titian,Tintoretto,Veronese, Brueghel, el Greco, Rubens, Sotatsu, Hokusai, several more Japanese masters and 300 more nameless Egyptian, Chinese, Islamic, and Indian, Hals, Velazquez, de Hooch, Brouwver, Rembrandt, Watteau, Ingres, Degas, Manet, Seurat, Van Gogh, Gris, Dufy, Miro,… Of women artists, the Alpha Seer can name only two at this point, and they are Master Olivia and Master Rosemary.

Whenever something is done with a counterfeit intention, perversion abounds, since the heart of Darkness is EVIL!

Look at the ugly and unsightly works by the following non-artists***:

***The Alpha Seer had refrained from using the accusatory word “impostors!”  These days a fast click on the Google Search machine will get you there.

Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Damien Hirst, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, Fernando Botero, Francis Bacon, Hans Hofmann, Barnett Newman, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde, Jackson, Pollock, Clyfford Still, Diego Rivera, Max, Ernst, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Egon Schiele, Wassily Kandinsky, Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, etc. etc.

No, don’t believe me, don’t ever believe what I have just said.

P L E A S E    D O N ‘ T ! ~since believing in someone, or something, without conviction is also a perversion, in and of itself! The current herd instinct is the sickening tendency to believe anyone in the position of apparent authority, such as a professor of Harvard or MIT, your pastor, your mullah, or the Pope,…

Simply do this experiment at home: take up a cup of tea, and relax. Then leisurely examine each and everyone of the above.
Let your intuition inform you.
You can also see it,– with instant understanding,–but that is not a given,– unfortunately.

Figure 1: Satyr and Nymph


THE ALPHA SEER

August 30, 2011

How to Enjoy and Assess a Work of Art ?

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 7:59 pm

Figure 1: Satyr and Nymph 0941

Figure 2: Blind Man’s Buff 12151

The poetic genius, with little exception, lives on the fringe of society. Van Gogh could not give away his art while he was alive. Knox has often been mentioned alongside with mediocre individuals like Cy Twombly or Robert Rauschenberg,– who have as much relevance to poetry as maggots are to the butterfly!
The academics claim that a great artist cannot be easily understood, but the Alpha Seer is holding a different view altogether. In fact, it is a most ridiculous claim,– as the exact opposite is true! If the genius has not been understood, it is simply because folks have never tried. Look at most people around you: aren’t they  looking for entertainment all day long? There is such a horrendous lack of awareness and clarity in their lives and their way of looking at things! In their daily stampedes for entertainments, for more Hollywood, Super Bowl, World Cup, Wimbledon, Hockey, latest technologies… etc,– little wonder they have succeeded in narrowing their own attention span to that of a gnat!

The poetic genius has created works so they can be enjoyed by all. Isn’t art essentially a domain for all mankind ? Doesn’t the very core of ART appeal to all on the basis of universality,–one that ultimately reassures us of the marvelous insight that all men are created equal? Why would the poetic genius create stuffs that end up confusing you ? It does not make any sense at all, does it?

The Alpha Seer has not created works just for the enjoyment of the genius Knox Martin, even though it  is extremely delightful to have the latter responding to those works positively. There are at least 2 dozen friends here* that the Alpha Seer has held in high regard, on account of their intelligence and humanity. But unfortunately it is quite telling that they are unable to enjoy those works in the same way Knox does. Why that is so is totally beyond my comprehension, since those friends are by no means average in their intelligence, –and it really does not take a genius to understand those works!

So today let me open your door of enjoyment with my key in the hope that you can enjoy a work of art by following the steps that I am setting up for you.

It is also hoped that in the future, even if you place a Ben Lau in front of a 5 year old, the chance is good that he can identify it as something by Ben,– not Picasso, Matisse or Knox Martin…. .

Looking at the two lino-cuts above, the first thing to look for is the Black and White!

Aha, see how easy it is! You are already looking at the Black and White,–if they have not been staring at you all along themselves! Haven’t I promised you that understanding would be easy, and absolutely without any pain at all?

All that is ever required of you are:

1. surrender your Ego,–be vulnerable!

and 2. have faith in the Master!

Guess what? –the truth is, I have always wanted my work to become accessible to all except the blind ones of course, ( and unfortunately we also have those who are blind in spirit!) And FYI, I have also wanted my works to become comprehensible even to a 5 year old child, so he can happily point to it and say, “Ah, that is a Ben Lau!”

The whole idea is so utterly simple: just look at the work, and look at it until its composition gradually emerges in its formal purity. By that I mean the total BLACK , if looked at long enough, begins to yield up its formal beauty almost like a subtle fragrance. When that happens, the next step is to evaluate the form, in order to determine for yourself if formal integrity has indeed existed in that composition. How that can be achieved is through a simple but logical deduction called Intuitive Assessment. In the beginning, find out if anything in the composition has been left unattended, dangling, or hanging out. Take a Kandinsky or a Jackson Pollock for example, a million tiny forms are doing their own little things, each with no obvious relationship to the other! Things continues to dangle and hang out violently like nightmarish explosions. Is there a single surface in any of their works on which a viewer’s eyes may rest in peace? The answer is a resounding NO!  What a horror of vision indeed!

Formal integrity exists only when every stroke, line, or dot has been held properly in place like a beautiful piece of calligraphy, (– think of the great calligrapher, Wang Hsi-chih of the Sui Dynasty of China, for example.) Finally, consult your own intuition to determine if you are experiencing the pleasure of Beauty in this very simple ritual of looking. We can all tell exactly when a certain form has its own specific appeal. When a guy looks at a gal, for instance, he knows exactly what kind of curves to look for, and by what proportions… . So it follows that a guy’s Intuitive Assessment for a gal is an innate ability! The point I am trying to convey is: simply trust your own intuition! Likewise, take in the total WHITE at a glance,– and finally, basing on the same criteria, evaluate the White form in its entirety.

All told, there should only be a single BLACK form snugly embracing a single WHITE one. Or you may look at it as a single WHITE  form snugly embracing a single BLACK one. If there are more than one white form embracing several black forms, for instance,–then it can be logically concluded that Unity has not been achieved anywhere in the composition! Unity means oneness. When Yin embraces Yang, they melt into each other and exist as ONE. That is why we say unity is there. It is not my concept. In fact, it is not a concept at all. It just happens to be the dictate of the Law of our Universe! I am by no means the first artist to paint according to this law, and certainly won’t be the last.

The BLACK and WHITE (Yin and Yang) are the core of being for any kind of composition! In musical compositions by Mozart or Haydn, for example, or in the poetic compositions by Shakespeare and Malarme, Black and White are the core of being in their existence. Colors ( in the forms of emotional attachments or meanings,.. .) are of secondary importance only,–if not downright insignificant!

Precisely, the Yin and Yang are the building blocks of the Universe! Show me something that is being dominated by Yin,– with its complementary part of Yang largely missing, and I can immediately point to a sickly or unsightly existence! The health of an existence has an outward expression of vibrancy and beauty. That which is ugly, decrepit or unsightly, by the same token, is the outward expression of an inner mess.

Satisfying the exterior criteria of Balance, Qi, Harmony, Unity, Energy, and Movement within the very Principles of Yin and Yang means that your Inner space of beauty is created. Satisfying the exterior conditions of Yin and Yang is calculated to setting your Inner house of Yin and Yang in order! Eventually, there is no observer, there is only you, since the observer is the observed!

Figure 3: The calligraphy of Wang Hsi-chih, Sui Dynasty of China.

FINALLY, EXAMINE THE BLACK AND WHITE IN ANY OF THE COMPOSITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING ALPHA SEERS (“alpha seer” is simply a coded term for the first seer, hence the poetic, artistic, or intuitive genius, in his particular field of pursuit):

VAN EYCK, TITIAN, VELAZQUEZ, RUBENS, FRANS HALS,  ZURBARAN, ADRIEN BROWVER, CLAUDE LORRAINE, REMBRANDT, DEGAS, INGRES, CEZANNE, SEURAT, PICASSO, MATISSE, GORKY, DEKOONING, AND KNOX MARTIN* IN ORDER TO VERIFY THE TRUTH OF THIS ARTICLE.

These days, a single click on the Google search engine will get you there.

With this verification, the case is finally rested, and you may share the Alpha Seer’s deep contempt for the academics with confidence. They may flash their cards in your face with their impressive titles as professors at Harvard or Yale, but an academic from the art departments of any university or school is someone you must watch out for: more often than not, this big bully is here to sell you snake oils. Don’t forget: Cezanne had fought the academics all his life. He had taken his last breath in front of his final masterpiece, all of which the contemporary academics of his time in Paris had never ceased to joke or taunt about enough… . Academics are, as a rule, always the blindest fish in the world. Arrogant and corrupt, they are the blind at heart!  Look, an academic has his own petty theory to stick to and a whole life style to defend,– so it is next to impossible for him to come around and see the truth with a child’s vision.

Academic: thy name is IMPOSTOR!

Who are the impostors? They are the ones who run the Ponzi schemes in ART! They are the Bernard Madoffs of ART!  Andy Warhol,  Cy Twombly, Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keefe,…- you name it, since I cannot list them all,– another ten thousand or so misguided souls whom our academics have the audacity to call “artists!”

Check out their BLACK AND WHITE! You can be an aware viewer of art from now on, and you can refuse to be fooled,– OR you can remain a regular member of the general public on herd instincts, unenlightened, silly, –with the academics providing you snake oils every now and then, entering your system like a shot of steroids, for you to feel “high” and proudly parade about as a “cultured” citizen in your neighborhood,… .

It is your choice!

The Alpha Seer has just provided you with a tool for verification. This BLACK AND WHITE scanning on any subject with an “artistic” claim can be, in every perceivable way, as powerful as the latest technologies of  MRI, CAT scan, ultra-sound,… . The difference is, it can be used to scan the harmony of ART, which can in turn affect the peace of your soul!

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* “here” refers to the group of friends, called “the Enlightened Group”, whom the Alpha Seer regularly sends emails to. The great master Knox Martin is among them.

*Knox Martin : www.knoxmartin.com

THE ALPHA SEER

August 28, 2011

“Blind Man’s Buff” as the First Poetic Vision

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 7:49 am

Figure 1: Blind Man’s Buff 1215

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COMMENT BY THE GREAT MASTER  KNOX MARTIN (WWW.KNOXMARTIN.COM):


On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 2:41 PM, Knox <knox@nyc.rr.com> wrote:

superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!   knox
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” Blind Man’s Buff” has often been used as an expression in the Alpha Seer’s creation,– and there appears to be nothing new about it anymore! That is quite true to an average person, but certainly not so to the genius  Knox Martin!

Yet to create something that would touch upon the consciousness of mankind for the first time, like the “Blue Nude” of Matisse, or Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, the Alpha Seer has lost no sleep over the “freshness” of his thematic choice.

When the great Knox Martin sees that poetic vision for the first time,– naturally he feels obliged to respond to it, since he would be the only one in the whole wide world to be aware of such a vision!

And to look elsewhere for newness is merely to find oneself chasing his own tail like a dog,–with Andy Warhol, and his long train of Pop/conceptual movement out there happily selling “newness” on the cheap!

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“There is nothing new under the sun!”– Nietzsche had tried to tell everyone.
Unfortunately, no one is listening!


August 11, 2011

Beauty In ART

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 6:35 am

Figure 1: Woman With Cat

BEAUTY rests only in the UNKNOWN. It never comes from the process of thinking. Having said that, one may be fully assured “conceptual art” is simply worthless speculation about BEAUTY.

Ideation about the thing is not the thing itself!

“I seek the knowledge of love but I have never been in love…!”

What stupidity! Throw the bum out!

Thundered the Alpha Seer… .

The academic is the bum!

It should be clear to all that thinking is from memory, and memory is dead. “There is nothing new under the sun!” declared Nietzsche. And he was also right with art !
If a piece of work has failed to transport your spirit to the BEYOND, or the ABSOLUTE,–that profound realm of the mysterious, one can dismiss it altogether. It has no more merit inside a room than any other object found there!
Never mind what the academics tell you! The tragic thing in these times of ours is not that those “experts” cannot tell art apart from non-art,–the deepest tragedy lies instead in the public’s total reliance on those so-called experts or “specialists!”
I call it Humanity’s most unforgivable surrender to evil since the Holocaust,– when apathy, coupled with herd instinct, had enabled Adolf Hitler’s twisted mind to carry out its evil design unimpeded.
Be fooled NOT by your own Ego! NEVER trust your herd instincts or the so-called conventional wisdom! ( e.g. Oh, yeah, I think Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Turner, Cy Twombly, or Rauschenberg is a great  artist because so and so says so…, VIPs like Arthur Danto or Alberto Bingo had said so!– even though I do not have the foggiest clue what they really wanted to say!–I ‘d better agree with them,– hey, who am I to disagree with experts? Yeah, it would be safer to do so, or else I can become a laughing stock among my peers!)

A work of art is REALLY not what you think! Thinking itself has no merit!

Listen to Mozart/ Bach/Beethoven, then blare out the Beatles, the Blues, the Jazz or whatsoever tunes that have found a path via the market to the public’s ears in the last 150 years. Make earnest comparisons and feel the difference! Anyone can do it! The difference is not so difficult to detect. As long as you are not impatient ,–you can be better off than any “expert” on earth! Patience comes from BEAUTY itself,– within you! It is the only luxury you have when all else fails! The experts, or “famous artists” or professors, or critics/ art dealers” may have learned the jargon, the technicalities, the anecdotes, certain names or events, they may even talk like a lawyer, dangling in your face a name card showing a title of Ph.D, or a tenure at Harvard or Yale,– but they are irrelevant!

Friends: you only need to know one thing: the DIFFERENCE!

That silence in the DIFFERENCE should trump all their petty knowledge! It is on the circumference of music that those “learned men or women” have built their “knowledge” and livelihood, but your feeling of the DIFFERENCE is a most powerful tool,–since you have gone into the heart of a composition, feeling its Yin and Yang, or its black and white, and you have studied its very soul!

An academic’s dictation eventually should no longer have any place in your heart, deciding which music provides the best benefit to you from now on!

If an individual is thus rebellious, there is still hope! The academics, who are the impostors, (the Alpha Seer will call anyone with the pretension of the spiritual, or Knowledge of BEAUTY,– an impostor,–since BEAUTY is the regime of the artistic geniuses only,–and their number is so small that they can be counted on one hand. For example, we only have Picasso, Matisse, Gorky,  De Kooning, and Knox Martin in the last 75 years! What I can find by my tea table through earnest comparison,– so can you, my friend!

Have doubt in what the Alpha Seer tells you, but see it for yourself! If there is only doubt where one is too lazy to check on the facts, only cynicism remains.

Yes, the academics will cease to find a place in your heart, as neither would you offer sanctuary to ANY of their recommendations in your mind. When that happens, you are rejecting their conditioning of your mind.

Unless one can rinse free of their continued attempts at mind-conditioning, there can be no freedom for Humanity! There will always be another Hitler in your future. There will always be the Pope, the Mullah, the “beloved leader… .” There will always be the academics, who are the High Priests of rites and rituals, be that of a certain belief, or of art, or just about any kind of learning!

What one can do with music,– one may do likewise with ART. Set up a Titian, a Velazquez, a Frans Hals, a Rubens, an Ingres, or a Cezanne by your tea table,– look intently at them; making sure that you have been taken in by their sublime forms; then place some of what the academia have the audacity to call “art”,– next to any of them.  One may soon realize that, in true art there is found the magic to engage your soul! That is the very magic of BEAUTY,– from which a wondrous relationship is derived. That relationship, or composition, is a blueprint for the universe, or for existence itself,–since it is the very relationship of Yin and Yang,–

Albert Einstein once exclaimed, ” Nothing can be more beautiful than the mysterious!” Beautiful is the mystery that resides in those sublime forms!

All you ever need to determine what is beautiful Vs what is not is through the simple act of COMPARISON and constant observation, since the very mystery that Einstein has alluded to abides in the sublime composition of true ART!

Look deeply, making notes of formal BEAUTY, which is the Yin and Yang itself. If you are aware enough, you can actually hear falsehood drop away with an alarming throb.

The work of impostors cannot stand up to earnest scrutiny!

Don’t let Ego fool you. Eager to achieve, the Ego is perpetually saying: “Okay, I’ve got it,”– while in truth, one remains in stupidity and ignorance! Go back to Square One!–roared the Alpha Seer… .
So watch your Ego! If you cannot be sure, simply be honest with yourself.
You must look in the mirror and ask yourself: can I be such a fraud day in and day out,– and carry with me all my life such self-delusion?

In the event that the difference between the pieces cannot be yielded,– even under long and painful scrutiny, as may be the case with a good percentage of us, ( please don’t feel sad: Humanity is pretty blind to BEAUTY in the first place),– then ART is probably not something for you!

Look instead at the flowers of Springtime,– or a glorious sunset by the end of a fine day,–allowing the happy sights of mountains, trees or rivers to dissolve in it. Beauty found in nature may prove more suited to your temperaments than ART at a museum or gallery! Galleries are run by impostors anyway!

Or you may find beauty in songs, dance, or poetry!

Existence can be blissful,–and with BEAUTY in life, so spiritual, and powerful!

THE ALPHA SEER

August 10, 2011

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF BEAUTY

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 4:04 am

Otherwise also known as:

MY MEMOIR AS AN ART STUDENT IN THE 70S


In my youth I went to America looking for an art teacher who could tell me the truth about Art.

“What is Art?” That was the simple question constantly hovering in my mind. I thought I must seek enlightenment in a less barbaric place than modern China… .

I met many people in the past who claimed to have that Knowledge, but wretchedly none had been able to look me in the eye, and give me the right answer. Yes,–to answer with ULTIMATE certainty,–like pointing to an apple and say it is an apple, or stop at an orange, to say that it is not! My curiosity in ART was therefore a sublime thirst waiting to be quenched!

Thirty-some years later, when that episode of my youth was revisited, I realized that I had been asking for the moon! Well into adulthood, I realized it was truly rare indeed for any youngster on earth,–-especially nowadays,–- to be able to find an art teacher who can tell him what Art is! And if he does chance upon such a “wise man,”  the person he encounters would very likely be someone selling snake oils. If the guy can ever be real, then he must be an artistic genius, i.e. one who is awakened to beauty. And the Alpha Seer, or artistic genius, is an extraordinarily enlightened being when it comes to the seeing of greatness in ART!

So when I first met Knox Martin, and when he put ART on my palm saying, ” Look, kid, and I can say this is ART…!” I was feeling incredulous and skeptical, and thought the guy too good to be true! ”–Probably another one of those snake oils merchants, . . . ” I remember saying to myself. And it was true that such teachers were almost all impostors,–or snake oil merchants! And let fabulous truth be told, that situation is no more different nowadays than it was at any other time in the past! The incidence of artistic genius upon billions of human births is extremely rare in the first place! For example, we only had met a handful of such magnificent individuals in the past 200 years,–Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, de Kooning, Gorky,…–and WHO ELSE?

With Pablo Picasso’s passing in 1975, my hope for encountering such an extraordinary person had suddenly become very dim. DeKooning was entrenched in his castle in Long Island and he could never be reached.  Miro? Alas! I could not even speak Spanish! The guy probably knows a few things about ART but he had tiny eyes, and hee,… people with such eyes could maintain their silence under torture… . Intuitively, however, I was aware enough to know that only an artistic genius holds the key to ART!  Even though I was quite young at that point, I was able to trust my intuition completely on that matter.

My intuition informed me that any trained monkey can hold up a brush, and with the correct program of training, he can just as easily, splash quick paint on a canvas in primate manner! Look, I must keep track of any deal that I would sign myself into, and I must seriously weigh the pros and cons of any professional choice that I might be making, e.g. whether or not becoming an artist was a good idea for someone in my situation. Listen: my Dad had to work very hard in order to help me study abroad, so squandering such valiant support was not an option!

Little did I expect to have the good fortune in encountering a superstar proven to outshine them all, and oh, Knox Martin the superstar was so brilliant!

In the summer of 1975, a lazy afternoon sun had generously directed my gaze upon a most beautiful painting on display in a showcase window upon the facade of the ASL*building in New York City (Figure 1). * ASL is short for Art Students League

Awesome Knox Martin
Figure 1: Awesome Knox Martin “Smiling Woman”

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As if my spirit was suddenly awakened and its long lost artistic passion recaptured, my attention frenzy-fed on the painting like sharks in the froths of fury,– and in just a few moments the Armageddon had gotten into the painting’s very marrow… . For many months thereafter, I simply could not resist its charm, nor could I withdraw my attention from that happy revelation. One must admit this: never before had I seen a work more beautiful, more worthy of looking, and more often of such integrity and dignity, coming of the genius of Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso or deKooning! What a perfect, powerful enchanter of the Soul! Even though I could hardly be called an “enlightened” art student at that point, my intuitions nevertheless had told me I was staring into something extraordinary! Then its signature would reveal to me it was by the same guy who had earlier tried to sell me his “snake oils”. “”Snake oils” my arse!!!!!” As if in a flash, I’d got myself enrolled in his class… . Anyone who could offer that fabulous pot of honey,– are you kidding?–- had got to know what ART is!

Had I not come here to America, all the way from China, putting my Dad in heavy debt and all,… in order to discover such a fine teacher? My eyes gazed upon the Pacific, then the Atlantic,–- then they scaled the good Heaven and the revolving Earth,-– and delightfully had I asked those sullen things if they had already detected many such teachers, beckoning me to join their art courses… . But they had sadly responded in the negative! So without hesitation I darted back to my “snake oils merchant,” whom I had almost insulted, given the fact that I was a relentless user of the rude Cantonese dialect, which boasts some of the foulest languages in the world… .

Looking back, I can now gently tell you what Knox actually is!

A Thunder God, a Thunder God!–Oh, such a Thunder God!

–One so badly, and utterly, misunderstood,– is Knox Martin…!

Intuitively, I knew I had come to the end of my search: I had found the teacher who would give you an apple,  and he would point to it, and tell you that it is the apple; then he would put ART on your palm, pointing to it, and with great clarity, inform you that it is ART ! Whenever his eyes would gaze upon the effort of the impostors, the misbegotten ones such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock, or Cy Twombly… ,– Oh, would Knox then explode, in nuclear fashion, ” MA’FOCKING SH-T!”

How often in life can a young fellow be honored with such good fortune? One sought, one found, and conquered had one! I had sought Beauty like a pilgrim, wandered to world’s end and saw the Holy Land, and the ultimate conquest had I made! My life would never be the same again. I would never be in want! The Shrine of Beauty was standing right in front of me, all of that had so suddenly become realized in one marvelous, mystical, and magical afternoon!  I had found my “ Snake Oils” merchant who is capable of telling me what Art is, and with such certainty! Alas, “Snake oils” no more!–- but rather, St.Peter in his glorious regalia ,–all Halo, all Bach, and sweet, soft oily perfume to gently massage the fatigued fibers of my soul…! A Thunder God suddenly revealed himself and poured forth such impeccable, sweet music,– sweeter than the Persian Songbird,–and Maria Calla far less charming,–- right there in the deep dark forest of Concrete Manhattan!

Ah, Manhattan,– all along had I thought the sun would never rise beyond thy dungeon of a dragon’s belly! How wrong can it be !

How on earth could all of that happiness suddenly come within my grasp? May the truth be told: I was really not altogether a blind bat then. True, I was quite insolent, audacious, a young bull filled to the rim with anger and angst,– but the Lau family, as a tribe, could still go back to three generations of great calligraphers in the recent past.There was indeed something in my genes to aid me in this preliminary recognizance of the incredible creative genius that is in Knox Martin.

Over the next two years hence, I would be studying painting with the fabulous Knox Martin! In time, he had become my mentor, and a virtual father upon whom I often sought spiritual guidance. Knox Martin’s generosity in dispensing the Sublime Knowledge of Composition and Poetry was inexhaustible, but he was also so modest, so passionate and unpretentious,– a man of great humor,– a man for all seasons!

Two years later, Master Martin would take me aside and firmly inform me that I could return to China if that was my choice, since I had already learned everything about ART! Others, who were the uninitiated, but well  within ear-shots of that joyful tiding, might have wondered what was going on. But it was such a strange episode in my youth, and I alone was privy to the secret of  what Knox really meant. Ah! I could even touch that happiness with my own fingers. What a joy to receive your graduation DIPLOMA from the hand of a super-creator in Humanity!

But the deeper underlying truth is:

I had found out what ART is!

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And that was Knox Martin’s legacy; Master Knox Martin at his best: kind, generous, gallant, honest, full of humor, modest, unpretentious, and sincere–- Knox is singularly one of a kind!

That being said, I can inform you now, with the blessings and the supreme privilege of an Alpha Seer, that Knox Martin is above everything else, the greatest painter who had ever breathed this air on Planet Earth! Even in the midst of all the splendor of Ancient China, Egypt or Greece, the brilliance of his aura remains undimmed!

Please pardon me if I have seemed somewhat flushed with enthusiasm in reporting this good fortune discovered in one of the strangest episodes of my youth. But the truth is, anyone with the privilege to be in association with this superstar, culminating in the recognizance of his genius,–one just cannot possibly measure such a young man for the volume of his infinite joy…!

You truly have to be someone with an Alpha Seer’s vision, if that is ever possible, to be fully appreciative of that happiness.

Ben Lau            2006 Spring

August 8, 2011

The Alpha Seer on Minneapolis Institute of Art

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 5:26 pm

Visit Master Ben Lau on Facebook to view more of the few items that can be truly called ART in MIA.

Like every other museum in the rest of the world, the MIA is 99% junks, and ONLY 1% artistic genius,… .

Visiting the museum  without first knowing what ART is, is a  waste of your time!

If you are “excited” by the silly yellow ball hanging down from the ceiling, greeting every MIA visitor like a genuine piece of junk, you are a lost soul…!    (The Alpha Seer has skipped polite language and has chosen to go straight to the heart of things!)

But you are not alone, like millions of other lost souls, you are just trying to satisfy the herd instinct within yourself by visiting museums or art galleries,–so as to be called ” a man/woman of culture, or someone with good taste!”) You are simply watering “art” down as if it were a magic pill for the ailments caused by the lack of spiritual worth in your life!

Free yourself from this self-deception! Find out what ART is before going to any museum next time! Visit www.knoxmartin.com, www.trueartblog.com,  www.mnartists.org/Master Ben Lau, www. alphaseer.artists.de.

The Alpha Seer points out that real music can only be composed by geniuses such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, not the likes of the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, BB King, Madonna, or Lady Gaga,… .

If you are convinced that music is very special and very specific, why would you want to view ART any differently?

Yes, art can only be caused by artistic geniuses,–not IMPOSTORS,– such as Andy Warhol, Rauschenburg, or Cy Twombly… .

Ben Lau the Alpha Seer can point out to you who those geniuses are in www.trueartblog.com… .

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According to the great master Knox Martin, Ben is “the greatest Oriental painter since Hokusai.”

July 25, 2011

The English word “Greatness” has been corrupted by the Academics

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 9:37 am

Figure 1:  Woman Devoured In a Tsunami

Knox to me
show details Jul 23 (2 days ago)
BEN————-BEAUTIFUL SHAPE MAKER !!!
Comment by the great master Knox Martin (http://www.knoxmartin.com)
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thetaland8@aol.com to me
show details Jul 23 (1 day ago)
This is great! Are these linocuts?
(Comment by Master Olivia, the daughter of the great master Knox Martin)


Folks in modern time often hang this in

their mouth:  “Great” this or “great” that! (referring to the

Lucien Freud article. Freud had been called a “great Realist”,

but he is actually an impostor! The critic Robert Hughes is a

blind fish, to say the least!)

There is no art in realism. Realism means

illustration. Only the lowest kinds of intellect

would waste their time doing illustration, or imitation!

When such people rise to fame, with many other fools

blowing his trumpet, egging him on,

Humanity is loathed! The true greatness of

the era is insulted!

June 27, 2011

Correct Meditation Can Heal

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 11:39 am

Figure 1: Woman With Cat 2

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The following is an excerpt from a correspondence,… .

The Ego is a false identity stemming from the need to protect the body right from the beginning, –i.e. birth of the being. It tells a being that he is whosoever,– but whosoever he is not in fact! For example, it tells YYY that he is Chinese, and that he must love his country and the rest of the nonsense. It tells YYY that he must behave in a moralistic manner and refrain from evils,–and the rest of the garbage,… .  Then it is conditioned to conjure up all kinds of evils and various ways to avoid them,… . Further inventions of the mind would include Heaven and Hell, saints and sinners, good and bad,… . The Ego is of a split mind and exists in dualities.  Further and further is he being led into this dungeon, and more and more is he trapped in his Ego! He cannot expect to be a free man at all if he fails to be aware of Ego’s inner working. Gutama Buddha is one of the rare beings who is aware of the inner working of the Ego. That is why he is also called the Awaken One.

Now a person is inevitably under  constant stress since so much in life has been demanded of him. His pump of life,–i.e. his own heart, which by karma is not one of his strongest features, must now work much harder than a person who is aware of the Ego’s inner workings.

All thinking conjures up the Ego, so thinking is your enemy! Try to observe your thoughts with your Inner eye, that is how one can be free from his own Ego. Under observation, thoughts come and go in fragments. They are like clouds in the sky. They cannot do anything to harm a person in full awareness,… . That is the experience of the Buddha, who had absorbed this valuable Knowledge from the realized masters before him through his own supreme intuition. Intuition is the highest of intelligence.

If one is able to be fully awake every minute of his life, he is practicing true meditation. For a mentally healthy person, or someone who is intuitive enough to understand the Ego, meditation is nothing but the easiest thing in the world. Being healthy and mentally awake is a gift in and of itself. One cannot wish for it. Desire has nothing to do with it. It just comes with the being at birth. It has to do with your Karma. It is the way of a being’s spiritual evolution, purifying itself in the endless cycles of births and deaths. There is negative evolution as well. Every action begets a consequence. It is not a belief, but rather, a scientific way of observing existence. The Buddha has a very scientific mind, and his subject matter is existence.

The ancient Hindu masters learned that birth does not end in death, but countless cycles of births and deaths exist, molded by the Karmic force.

Karma, simply put, is but the consequence of an action. And life is but the episode of a dream.

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Osho is a realized master,–he is Gutama Buddha made easy,.. .

J. Krishnamurti is another realized master, but he knows the working of the Western mind well and his focus is upon the dissolution of the Western mind. Osho, on the other hand, expounds Knowledge that effects a much farther reach.  He is conducting an orchestra, whereas Krishamurti plays his flute solo.

Osho was poisoned by the CIA during the Reagan Administration. He was poisoned with thalmia, then relentlessly banished from the USA and other Christian countries all over Europe and Asia! Christianity cannot compete with him ,–how  can it…. ? So Osho must be gotten rid off. Lies are no match for truth! When the sun appears, the snowman is at risk of melting. Santa Claus is a lie, God is likewise a lie, then heaven and hell, punishment and reward, … . All inventions of the mind,… and the mind is very cunning,…. ! Such things can only exist in the mind, where illusions and grandeur are generated, coming and going like clouds in the sky. Buddha had declared that God does not exist, but the Buddhists worships him like one. Buddha says everyone can be a Buddha, i.e. the Awaken One, but people do not want to be awake. They want worship. They do not want freedom. They want religion!

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WHAT IS CORRECT MEDITATION?

Just relax, do nothing, observe the inner working of the Ego, observe the inner working of the mind, … . Observe the surrounding world. Observe the Here and Now. Observe WITHOUT THE OBSERVER if that is possible. If not, then observe with love and faith for the master. Only those at the latter stages of enlightenment have learned how to observe without the observer,–the observer is in fact the Ego, who constantly judges. When one is properly relaxed, Qi can flow well. With the proper flow of Qi, bodily wellness may be enhanced. The Karmic forces can eventually be harnessed with choiceless awareness.

Relax and do nothing at all! It is not a crime just sitting around doing nothing at all. Yes, a bum does exactly that, but folks with the highest intelligence do that pretty often too,…!  O.K. be a bum then! What can you lose? You have come with nothing, and with nothing you will leave!

When you feel restless, it is your Ego. When angry, it is the projection of your inner being,–when sad, your Ego is at work!  No one can make you do anything unless you react to the stimuli caused by your Ego.

Of course you cannot stop thinking,– as thinking is a body/mental function. Nor can you avoid thinking at all. You can only observe it. You can observe the thoughts’ coming and going. When thinking is under observation, they would dissipate like cloud in a blue sky,–or as demons escaping from a great horrendous power. Then any emotion or desire arising from thinking is but a bubble burst,–for the person who is fully awake!

How that is possible one has no idea, but the point is, it works,–and it heals you a little bit more everytime you meditate!

Try it and see that for yourself!

June 25, 2011

HOW TO SAVE PLANET EARTH?

Filed under: Uncategorized — MASTER BEN LAU @ 4:17 am

Figure 1: Woman With Cat

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The great Knox Martin has spoken (http://knoxmartin.com):

Knox to me
show details 6:49 PM (10 hours ago)

OUTSTANDING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   KNOX

Master Olivia has spoken:

show details 12:10 AM (4 hours ago)

Okay, there is nothing left  to say beyond this, other than…greatness, creation of greatness.
Yet, i  one swoop, it asn all be gone.


Isabella has spoken:

I love this new piece, dad!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ISABELLA IS OUT THERE SAVING PLANET EARTH! SHE MAY BE TAKING BABY STEPS, BEING A FIELD OFFICER, SURVEYING VEGETATION ON THE FACE OF EARTH,– YES SHE IS OUT THERE,…

WHATEVER BABY STEPS TOWARD GOOD WILL SAVE THIS PLANET EARTH!– NOT JEALOUSY, HATRED, DESTRUCTION, CYNICISM, TOO MUCH THINKING, PHILOSOPHIZING,…— BUT LOVE, SERVICE AND COMPASSION,–AND NO LESS, –…ALL QUALITIES OF AN ENLIGHTENED SPIRIT… .

WHENEVER I HAVE A CHANCE, I WOULD TAKE UP A MIRROR, AND ASK THESE QUESTIONS:

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE OTHER THAN TRYING TO SATISFY YOUR OWN DESIRES?(WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY LEGITIMATE!)  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOWARDS THE BUILDING UP OF OTHERS? WHY ARE YOU IN A HUMAN BODY? WHY ARE YOU OFTEN WALKING THE EARTH SEMI-CONSCIOUS?

HARD QUESTIONS, BUT LEGITIMATE,…!


THE ALPHA SEER

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