[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 03:15:17 03/20/06
This video was produced the week that Ken Worley opened his exhibition of works at the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis. Ken has worked for years on a project that has him painting the Rockwoods Reservation in St. Louis County. His works are spare, there are no people, sub-divisions, highways or anything human.I have puzzled over the popularity of golf. I've attended conferences in far-away cities and been amazed that attendees bring their clubs, cleated shoes and other fancy gear. Travel for me seems tough enough just packing a suitcase. It would be no vacation for me to lug that extra weight, but the appeal of golf must go far beyond just an afternoon of exercise. A tour for the golfer is incomplete without a trip to the greens.So what is it, this appeal of golf? I think part of it is the sheer beauty of overlooking hillsides and the beach. No matter what the city, even San Francisco, it's aways the same for these hard core golfers. When the work of attending the business is done, they hurry out of the city, they pile into cabs with their friends and get ready to tee off.While Ken Worley pays homage to the hillsides, trees and skies with his paintings, the golfer does something akin to that with a round of 18 holes, doesn't he? Part of it is the centering of the body into a meditative moment, always present to the moment — but isn't the magic and mystery of nature also a part of the experience? I believe it was John Lennon who said, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." Well, as I muse on this, it seems to me that when one is playing golf, all other plans fall by the wayside. This is the moment, my body in this place, breathing this air, seeing these hills and these beaches — and all is one. Everything is as it should be.
