My project proposal Zen – Vincent – Philosophy: An Exploration Through Painting is an exploration into the profound meaning behind creating a thing, and how positive energy with no attached ego affects the outcome, and others that view it.

If you were to hang a huge banner of a painting by Van Gogh over the front of a spiritual building, it would make sense. But why? It’s not because of the subject matter. It’s because of the Artist’s love and sincerity for that thing painted. That tree, that person, that chair are painted with a care as if to say, that chair could be a Buddha and everything exists on an equal level. Or that chair is, or it was, or it could be you on some timeline.

This is in no way an attempt to create art that could have been created by a Zen Artist or Vincent, or even resembles them in any way. 

The ridiculous and awesome aim of Zen – Vincent – Philosophy: An Exploration Through Painting is to tap into the energy of life that is flowing around everything. This will influence the style of this project’s painting and the subject matter. Could the outcome be like Hilma af Klint, or a Rauschenberg White painting, or a Jackson Pollock, or Paul Klee, or… ? My guess is all, or none of the above. I can see the art containing shapes, text in several languages, lines, scratches, thin paint, thick paint, recognizable elements and not. In the end, how can the visual result actually be anything when both Zen and Taoism are emphasizing less is more. That’s the beauty of this project. How to visually represent nothingness and everything, with a passion and love for the energy or Chi in things like Van Gogh had.

I’d like to think I have the artistic vision and creative individualism for creating something unique and great. But why has my art not progressed past something average? The force keeping me from flying, the curse swimming and splashing in my brain, has been Ego. Inherited from my Father, and to him by his Father, so I never thought until recently that it had created such a barrier in my life, or that I could do something to change it. This project with the help of tools like Zen, Taoism, Vincent and Kant has the goal of stepping out into the world, separating from the Ego, and letting the wind blow it away into particles repurposed as something useful like oxygen or water.

A few more details on how I aim to achieve this project: In addition to reading the wealth of books on Zen, Taoism, Vincent van Gogh, and attempting to read Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. I plan to visit Zen Centers in New York and or New Jersey to help gain a better grasp of Zen. To gain further insight into the Chi behind Vincent’s paintings, I will study his work in person at the MOMA and the MET.

Thank You
Christopher James Kull
September 8 2025