This was drawn in the winter and spring of 1986. A few months earlier i had gone to visit my friend Celia in Hong Kong, and picked up this tiny little statue of a smiling Buddha, called Hotei, in Japan... i copied him exactly as he looks, after that i just kinda let my imagination flow freely... The original sketch of Hotai, the sphere, brick door and waterlike lines stretching up were done in one day, i think, taking about 7 hours... after that i worked on the background for about 2 weeks, taking about 30 hours... Of all the drawings i have done this is the one where (looking back at it after i finished) i was most aware of the deeper symbolism the drawing has (at least for me)... its also my personal favorite :) :) ... The smiling buddha symbolizes, for me, our inner buddha nature, the sphere is symbolic of the natural unity of all things, the lines going up remind me of the taoist water like way of nature and the cosmos, the brick door is like the human mind, our categories of thought and language, and the background is symbolic of our organic ever evolving shape-shifting universe as seen close up, at the cellular, atomic and molecular levels... if you like this drawing feel free to e-mail me and i would be pleased to send you a larger high definition file... at some point i hope to sell prints of this... or maybe just get it put on a t-shirt? :) peace, christopher