Series with seven Abstract Artworks
for the Bank Kreissparkasse Tuttlingen

Acrylics on Canvas
50 x 200 cm

… You are only free when the pursuit of freedom is your armor and when you stop speaking of freedom as a goal and fulfillment.
You are not yet free when your days are free of worry and your nights free of sorrow.
But only when both clasp your life and you rise above them naked and unbound.
But how should you rise above your days and nights without breaking the chains that you fasten in the dawn of your reason at your noon hour?
Truly, what you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links gleam in the sun and dazzle your eyes.
Are they not parts of your ego that you want to throw off in order to become free?
And if it is an unjust law that you want to abolish, you have written it on your forehead with your own hands.
even if you were to pour the sea upon it.

Of freedom
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

But if you must measure time in seasons,
let each season include all the others!
Let today embrace the past with memory
and the future with longing!

Of time
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

… May your friendship have no other purpose
other than the deepening of the spirit.
… the friend is there to fill your lack,
and not to fill your emptiness.
And to the sweetness of friendship is added
Laughter and shared joys!

About friendship
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

Sensual pleasure is a song of freedom, but not freedom.
It is the blossom of your desires, but not their fruit.
It is depth that demands height,
but it is neither depth nor height.
She is trapped in a cage and tries to
to soar.
But it is not space-encompassing.
Truly, the joy of the senses is a song of freedom.

Of the joy of the senses
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

Where should you look for beauty, and how could you find it if it were not your own guide and signpost?
And how could you talk about her
if she herself did not weave your words!
Beauty is not a need, but ecstasy.
It is not a thirsting mouth or an outstretched empty hand.
Rather, it is an inflamed heart and an enchanted soul.

Of the beauty
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

Your joy is your unmasked sorrow. The same fountain from which your laughter springs has often been filled with your tears.
And how could it be otherwise? The deeper the sorrow carves itself into your being, the more joy it can contain.
Is not the cup that contains your wine the same vessel that was previously fired in the potter’s kiln?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit made of the same wood that was hollowed out with knives?
If you are glad, look deep into your hearts, and you will discover that the cause of your past sorrow is now the cause of your joy.
sorrow is now the cause of your joy.
And when you are sad, look into your heart again, and you will see that you are in truth weeping over what was previously the cause of your joy.

Of joy and sorrow
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran

… your ears thirst for the sounds of knowledge in your hearts.
You want to know in words what you have secretly known.
You want to touch the mere body of your dreams with your fingers.
And that is a good thing!
Let the hidden source of your soul rise up and
and pour rippling into the sea.
And the treasure in your infinite depths wants to become visible to your eyes.

Of self-knowledge
from “The Prophet”
Khalil Gibran