A detail from Vladimir Konecni's Center of the Universe - China

I have been intensively traveling to China since 1986. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is a magical Taoist place. To go there the first thing in the morning, and then every morning for as long as one can, are profound experiences.  There one finds the Circular Mound Altar, or the Heavenly Center Stone, precisely the square-foot-and-a half stone mound on which all the Ming and Qing emperors of China prayed once a year for good harvests – meaning for the good of the Middle Kingdom and therefore of the Universe. 

For all the ancient wisdom of China, the Roman Pantheon oculus (also in this exhibit) precedes the Heavenly Center Stone by 1400 years! 

I love metal.  I am tired of the falsehoods of romanticism and emotivism and idolization of nonentities that have deluded people since the beginning of the 19th century, with the help of Hollywood in the past 80-90 years. I like austerity. I like sincerity and conciseness. I like depth. I like abstract thought.  I admire and have personally known Samuel Beckett. I like detachment and distance. I like grey. I love brushed aluminum.

I love metal because it is supremely able to express those photographs of mine that I most cherish poetically – ideas and surges of implicit compassion that I try to achieve in my literary poetic work.

Vladimir Konečni 

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