Jay Roma Lamb Art

These are tabletop sculptures created from wood and Japanese washi paper. They are inspired by my love of Asian art and can be percieved as miniature temples. Some of them are lit internally with a LED puck light. Depending on the intensity of the light utilized, they can serve as night lights or room lamps. Each sculpture is approx. 30 inches in height. For some words about the artistic inspiration and process of these works please scroll down.

There are many ways to create art. One way is to plan it all out to the finest detail, then execute that plan with precision. One can also just begin, put some paint down or squish a lump of clay, and let it go where it may, enjoying the mystery and the evolution. These sculptures are coming in a way that is somewhere in between. Most of them begin as drawings that sort out a generalized form. From there they are allowed to evolve during the actual construction process as they spontaneously, naturally will. That which we term “mistakes” are a welcome aspect of this evolution. It's like going on an unscripted adventure in a foreign country, letting each step be taken from where you happen to be standing at the moment.

This approach to art can be both fun and harrowing. For when one allows Nature to create, using as Its instrument your very brain and hands, one can be assured of surprise and adventure, but also of occasionally getting thrown into unfamiliar and even disturbing waters. You may be asked to expand your ideas of what you think you are capable of and even who you think you are as a person. True creativity doesn't give a rats rear about your perceived limitations. If it did there would no such thing as platypuses and sea cucumbers.

If you're not careful and aware, the part of you wanting nothing more than to play in the same old playground where it's nice and safe and things go as they ought to go will dig a deep, stagnant groove and lay down in it forever. But fortunately there's another part that still feels the spark, the yearning to play and evolve, and it's pulling at you, daring you to step outside, to move once more into the unfamiliar, the unpredictable. And if you are truly an artist, or for that matter any human who seeks to do more than merely exist, you must go, for to not would be like snipping the pedals off an unfolding rose, then lamenting the fact that there's no beauty in your life.

The Yūgen and Mūshin sculptures are direct and honest diaries of amazing journeys. And I must say I quite like them. To me they seem like small temples. And it's kind of fitting. I went into a quiet place seeking solace from the world, wanting to be cleansed and purified, got hung upside down and shaken and came out elevated and delighted. Each time this happens I fret about the shaking a little less because I see a little more that all that got shaken out were limitations I'd rather not worship for the rest of my life. It seems that whatever Intelligence offering itself to me in the creation of art is also more than willing to do whatever is necessary to carve itself a clearer channel. And once the kicking and squirming has run its course and I'm standing at the threshold of a new land filled with strange and amazing treasures, the only reasonable thing to do is smile and take a step forward.