This is the Artist's Proof version. It is a gorgeous pre sale edition.



FOREWORD BY SHIVA REA

Seeing and Feeling the Light

When I first saw Robert Sturman's now vast body of artistic work covering everyone from Buddhist monks in Burma to B.B. King playing his living guitar, Lucille, I was overcome with joy and recognition; joy in the kind of visceral reaction to something that makes you feel good from first sight, taste and scent; recognition of our vibrating beings.



Robert's shimmering, energetic waves of color radiating from his photographic paintings show us what we intuitively feel - all of creation has vibratory fields which then emanates the power of life.



I have witnessed Robert at work; he is as vital, passionate and engaging as his art. His gift comes from finding the place, embodiment and expression that are the essence of his subject: a musician with instrument, a yogini unfolding in an asana, a singer opening to song. These ephemeral experiences hover in a photograph.

From Robert, in a beautiful, possessed, artist’s way comes a fast, furious explosion of carving and painting - directly on a Polaroid as it develops. In that moment, which can be lost or transformed, he carve-paints the surface, bringing out its living energy. The unique alchemy requires spontaneous devotion to a precise moment, which is the wonder of his energetic photographs. He gazes directly into the now to find and express the unique energy essence of his subject. I have loved the radiant portraits of my friends in the yoga world and also the reflection it provides me of my own nature.



Let us celebrate each other, this earth and the art of being. Along with Robert's passion we can open to feel what his art conveys - we are alive, full-spectrum emanations of energetic magnitude.

Hari Om tat Sat!

Shiva Rea

Wave Rider





"The phenomenon of the Los Angeles yoga scene might someday be recognized as a sibling of other influential 20th Century cultural flowerings like the 1920’s Paris Avant Garde, the Liverpool/Manchester British Rock invasion and San Francisco’s Haight/Ashbury Summer of Love. If so, those of us lucky enough to have experienced it will be forever indebted to Robert Sturman for his definitive documentation."

Aaron Reed