http://www.janzaremba.com/index.htmlModern Sumi-e BlogenJan ZarembaCopyright 2008 Jan Zaremba2008-09-16T17:10:05-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:33:41 -0400Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-09-16T17:10:05-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/6e0e87faf51cca863f5851986b159624-23.php#unique-entry-id-23http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/6e0e87faf51cca863f5851986b159624-23.php#unique-entry-id-23

The water is calm. The mountains ripple along the horizon. A gentle breeze cools the drifting boat.
The world is beautifull—as long as no one does anything.

]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-07-26T10:27:15-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/71466dc77403bf5de2e87810fe8b3c7e-22.php#unique-entry-id-22http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/71466dc77403bf5de2e87810fe8b3c7e-22.php#unique-entry-id-22


One day God came into His living room, which is the universe, and exclaimed: "My Self! This place is a mass!!" He instructed Gravity to clean up after itself, or no TV for whatever was left of eternity.
So, for the last 15 000 000 000 years Gravity has earnestly tried to make the universe into a vacuum and pile everything neatly into one place. This turns out to be a full-time job. That's why Gravity can never take a vacation, grab a beer, and watch black guys fight viciously over an inflated bladder.

I could tell you why Gravity can't finish the job, but you won't believe me. Oh heck, I'll tell you anyway. It's the Uncertainty Principle. (Which I now have to explain to you.) It goes like this:
Once we know exactly where the toys are, they could re-appear, magically, under your bed, in the Empire State Building, or anywhere on the front lawn.

For all who have eyes to see:
These two birds illustrate the simple truth, that two things that are equal and opposite add up to nothing.
Well, not really nothing.
There is the illusion of duality.





]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-07-07T01:29:21-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ae0a273a08b8e23b96f6f927cb382320-21.php#unique-entry-id-21http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ae0a273a08b8e23b96f6f927cb382320-21.php#unique-entry-id-21

It's not the first time that I've threatened to turn my back to the world, if this world doesn't shape up! What the hell was God thinking, when He went on a creative rampage? If the earth is any example of His production standards, I'm not going to heaven. Don't look at me, as if I had anything to do with this; I'm only trying to make a living. If that's arrogant, then look at your own laundry!
And in case anything is missing, I want to state for the record: I didn't take it!

Where have I seen this look before? In the mirror?]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-06-17T01:50:11-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/8f8733ca98363f4d7b7e96614617949a-20.php#unique-entry-id-20http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/8f8733ca98363f4d7b7e96614617949a-20.php#unique-entry-id-20

There are quite a number of people who believe that only animals of the family of Homo sapiens have emotions. Apparently they have never been greeted by a dog. I can tell that my canary is happy when I take him out on the balcony. Those who now grudgingly admit that certain higher animals might have some simple emotions, I invite to step into an ants' nest. Are those ants angry? Do they heroically sacrifice their lives in a fervor of patriotic frenzy, without thinking?

Now that we have crossed that barrier, we can enter the emotional life of flowers and plants. Some are ablaze with enthusiasm, others may be shy, or just modest. You have to be blind not to see it!

And why, do you think, are the stars shining???]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-06-08T21:33:34-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/6db32779ed4c274b709070c301c3d58d-19.php#unique-entry-id-19http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/6db32779ed4c274b709070c301c3d58d-19.php#unique-entry-id-19

Walking under trees after a rain makes you normal again. Your mind hangs itself out to dry. The trees show you how to be simple.
Perfect simplicity is emptiness. That's why you have to make your mind empty, at least once a day.

If you can paint eyebrows you can paint these trees. The skill lies in knowing where to cross the branches.
It's simple; trust me.

Then you paint a red stroke and put a black dot on top of it: Voila, a chaste maiden deep in thought!
This is what your soul wants.]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-05-24T01:55:18-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/f87a95961033ea11f470101bbec04a3b-18.php#unique-entry-id-18http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/f87a95961033ea11f470101bbec04a3b-18.php#unique-entry-id-18

Painted for Haiku.
Then I forgot the Haiku.
Now it's a picture.

Do insects dream?
Of course, silly.
They dream of Love; specifically of places and faces familiar, of relationships, promises and disappointments.
Stranger yet—they appear in other people's dreams!
How do they do that???]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-05-03T15:23:44-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/b5fedd8770a3197a48c2b292a1ec8197-17.php#unique-entry-id-17http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/b5fedd8770a3197a48c2b292a1ec8197-17.php#unique-entry-id-17

The rooster is venerated all over the world for his ability to forecast weather changes. He also replaces an alarm clock. In an early effort to invent the first organic wristwatch the Japanese miniaturized these birds.

There is a rhythm in these lines. All elements—the tail, the rain-cape, the wing—have a center from which the lines spiral out. It helps to be in a calm frame of mind.

Notice the very subtle shading around the bird that makes the feathers appear "whiter than the paper". A Hake brush charged on one side with LIGHT ink, and on the other side with clear water, will do that.]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-04-23T23:25:12-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/2fbc2790a3a23e72e2b6a9e607eb1128-16.php#unique-entry-id-16http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/2fbc2790a3a23e72e2b6a9e607eb1128-16.php#unique-entry-id-16

Every human being knows this place. It is inside your mind. Deep inside, where rocks speak, and trees scratch each other's back. Except for Mr. Li who runs an illegal distillery in the bushes, no one cooks here. Eat some nectar, when you're hungry, or some of that spinach that comes floating down the river. With such healthy fare everyone lives to be a hundred and seventy-five.
Oh, I'm talking nonsense, again; we are really immortal…]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-04-16T21:03:55-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/1e3876391727eab804820a8610b8bc56-15.php#unique-entry-id-15http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/1e3876391727eab804820a8610b8bc56-15.php#unique-entry-id-15

The perfect sport for diabetics.]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-04-03T18:14:29-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/38dd0778d400ab3380fc6d4e7d89bacb-14.php#unique-entry-id-14http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/38dd0778d400ab3380fc6d4e7d89bacb-14.php#unique-entry-id-14

Goldfish are unique among fish. They are aware of human beings and recognize them. They know when you should go to bed, and they know who has access to the refrigerator.

Not that they are smarter than other fish; but for two thousand years they have been selected by us for their color —and, incidentally, for their affection. We like goldfish because they like us. Goldfish who don't care about us don't exist.


(The wisteria blossoms are dots—the tip of the brush charged with lake-red and pointed to the center. The fish-tail is painted really fast: three lines, up and down, crossing each other like orchid leaves.)]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-03-29T14:06:18-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/44e91361c545b0bb301f8afede661849-13.php#unique-entry-id-13http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/44e91361c545b0bb301f8afede661849-13.php#unique-entry-id-13

Everything is painted with the same brush. Fully loaded and slanting one can paint the leaves; removing most of the moisture and holding the brush perpendicular one can paint the antennae of the cricket.
Notice the variety of ink-tones.

The cricket is looking at you—how Japanese! Try to find a painting in the western world in which an insect is making eye-contact with the observer. Your search will be in vain.]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-03-28T02:10:11-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/3f950ff5b26b49e5e629b76c996cf9e7-12.php#unique-entry-id-12http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/3f950ff5b26b49e5e629b76c996cf9e7-12.php#unique-entry-id-12

This is not a real painting; it is a virtual image, which I created ten years ago
It shows the artist concentrating on the road in front of him.
There seems to be trouble ahead…

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright.

No matter what our leaders tell us, we now know that this is not a slight complication.
It's a mess! We are in difficult straights. In a jam, a fix, a pickle. Hot water up to our ears.
Once you know the future, it automatically becomes the past. So there really is no reason to worry anymore.
While the ship is sinking, I'm going down to the kitchen to get myself some chopped liver and another bottle of champagne…]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-03-18T22:58:38-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/076e5eb64a87f858312e826cd83ead5a-10.php#unique-entry-id-10http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/076e5eb64a87f858312e826cd83ead5a-10.php#unique-entry-id-10


This is an experimental painting.
While I am not willing to reveal everything, I will let you in on some technical secrets:
Wear black clothing. Then take a dry sheet of the bark of the tree Pterocelsis Tatarinowii Maxim and sprinkle the excretions of the female of Bos Taurus here and there. Then apply a mixture of colloidal carbon and the colorless compound of Hydrogen and Oxygen. Don't forget to take a bath afterwards.

While toiling at my task I was channeling Hieronimus Bosh. That accounts for the futuristic desolation. To cheer things up a bit—to give this work a human element, to which we all can relate—I have added a mom in her SUV, returning from COSTCO with seventy pounds of detergent. If you ZOOM IN you can see her (behind the bombed out gas station) talking on her cellphone…
]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-03-12T23:42:59-04:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/3ac486a242651c160f609f76c4c70abb-9.php#unique-entry-id-9http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/3ac486a242651c160f609f76c4c70abb-9.php#unique-entry-id-9

I love this place.
Far from the city.
I go there in my boat, tie up at the familiar rock. One doesn't need keys or locks here. Come in, I'll make a cup of tea. Want a cookie with it? Wait, I keep some bonbons in this tin-can under my seat.
Our thoughts, naturally, drift to higher spheres. We discuss the emotional life of beetles, the dietary habits of stars…

Where is everything going in this universe? Well, it's floating by my hut on the river.
If you stay, we drink a few bottles of wine. You can throw the empties right out the window. I'm building an artificial reef , a place for bottle-nosed dolphins…

Filed at Mountains and Water

]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-03-06T02:30:10-05:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/2a12f55c19324d03c8ed05b3d4d46a1f-8.php#unique-entry-id-8http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/2a12f55c19324d03c8ed05b3d4d46a1f-8.php#unique-entry-id-8

The whole neighborhood belongs to the Fat Cat. His offspring are past counting, with sons, grandsons (both in the male and female line), and further descendants. The whole brood finds uncommon happiness in a variety of festivals, dramatic performances (with plots of their own invention), eating parties and outrageous drunken bouts.
At the time of the full moon we dare not leave our humble dwellings. Doors are locked and double-bolted. Windows blacked out.

We old ones, loaded down with amulets, charms, and talisman conjure up spirits and raise ghosts. The noise outside becomes unbearable. What are they doing now? Are those the tires from our Mercedes?? But we do not dare look up.
Only an army of jinn could help us now!]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-02-27T22:31:14-05:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ad7f4cf0aedbd14dfe1680d74fbd8c52-2.php#unique-entry-id-2http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ad7f4cf0aedbd14dfe1680d74fbd8c52-2.php#unique-entry-id-2

The squirrel experiences momentarily the state of weightlessness—a rare privilege reserved for astronauts and falling bricks. Weightlessness brings on a kind of euphoria: one hears "The Saint-Louis Blues", played as a boogie woogie by Earl Father Hines.
Something tells me, that this little rodent will be reborn as a famous jazz pianist.]]>Jan ZarembaNew Paintings & Your Comments2008-02-27T15:50:38-05:00http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ead45188cd3ac0b36c58312cb39cfe56-1.php#unique-entry-id-1http://www.janzaremba.com/blog/files/ead45188cd3ac0b36c58312cb39cfe56-1.php#unique-entry-id-1
surprise myself.]]>