Narrative Images

I recently and happily stumbled upon the work of this Californian artist and just had to share.  Jim Denevan is a sand artist.  He spends anywhere from 3-7 hours and walks around 20 miles to create one of his drawings in the sand.  His only tools are sticks that wash ashore and an occasional garden implement.  You can see the scale of his creations in the images below.  The waves eventually wash his creations away, and this is all part of the creative process for him. “I love to complete a piece just as the tide comes in so that in that moment it is finished and destroyed,” he said.

Beyond being beautiful to look at, his installations demonstrate the nature of impermanence.  It’s really crucial for me to see the single person in each photo, too.  It reveals a sense of scale and a humbling perspective of how humans measure up in nature.  To me, his work is very Zen in nature.  It’s about being in the present moment, and it’s about letting go.