Spituk Monastery, Ladakh

"...In many of the drawings, the images themselves have become only focal points in a process that has less to do with the subject than with the creative experience.

As it happens, the subject matter, specifically, and the geography of Tibet and the Himalayas in general are very conducive to having creative and spiritual experiences. This can happen while working in the studio, but, unlike the studio, the direct experience of Tibet awakens one's senses usually dulled by comfort and convenience.

Hindu Temple and Pipal Tree, Bhaktapur, Nepal

In the Himalaya and on the Tibetan Plateau, one is confronted in a profound way with the enigmatic nature of being alive. This mystifying experience lies somewhere between one's incessant preoccupation with the extreme physical discomforts of survival and the local belief systems that promote the idea that all things are, by their nature, empty. The effect is a physiological experience that makes it difficult to deny one's interrelationship, not just with the environment but with ‘emptiness’ as well. And as an artist, this experience is important in the process of creation; after all, emptiness is the womb from which form becomes manifest and through which the aesthetic experience becomes aware of itself..."

Philip Sugden

Fragments from Another World	Nomad Tents, Western Tibet	The Doors of Perception #4

Catalyst	The Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet	The Wind of Liberation #4

Tibetan Shepherdess	Monks House at Taglung Monastery, Tibet	The Wind of Liberation #3

Last Dance at Drigung Dundro	Gate: an opening for passage

The Enigmatic Universe at Sakya Monastery #5	The Enigmatic Universe at Sakya Monastery #4

The Doors of Perception #5	Entering the Mandala

Farewell to the Ancient