A Monk

Oil on canvas · 70 × 130 cm · Bali, Indonesia, 2026

We live in an excess of relentless noise that prevents us from distinguishing the real from what merely
takes up space. This work captures a state I once witnessed in a monk: a serenity that was pure
presence. It has no face because it needs no identity to sustain itself. It is a state that does not oppose
the world; it contains it without being carried away. It is the point from which something true can
happen — an emptiness full of attention. From there, life stops being a succession of distractions and
becomes something one can steer again. The painting proposes a precise correction to our time: before
doing, inhabit the place from which one can do.