#125 Painting

Devakrishna Marco Giollo was born in Bellinzona, Ticino, Switzerland in 1953.In 1970 he studied at the Architect School STS of Trevano, but left after a year realizing that the intensive technical studies were not going to be his real calling.In 1971 in Lugano he joined the School of Art CSIA, where he got trained with some of the best contemporary artists and teachers such as Nag Arnoldi, Piergiorgio Piffaretti, Giuliano Togni, Daniele Cleis, Emilio Rissone, Gianni Realini and many others. In 1973 he won the second prize for sculpture at the Villa Saroli Exhibition (out of 150 entrants).In 1974 he won the Bariffi Prize and one of his works was accepted and produced in the size of 3 x 15 meters sculpture at one of the 2 restaurants of the Congress House of Lugano.Even though this would have been his entry ticket into the Swiss art scene, he left Switzerland, that year, sensing that art alone would never really be enough and that he had to travel.This he did over the next 3 years, journeying penniless overland through Greece, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India and then most of South-East Asia. On the way he lived with Afghani tribal warriors and Indian Sadhus, travelling from the Himalayas to the driest deserts and from deep forests to deserted beaches. He lived simply and experienced all his desires totally and fully.However It was only in 1976 that he was first able to quench the thirst that had been continuously driving him in Pune, India. He met Osho, the radical mystic and spiritual master. From then until Oshos death in 1991, he lived and worked with him in the communities Osho founded in India and in Oregon, USA. He changed his name to Devakrishna and practiced all the meditations Osho had to offer. During these years he continued to create art as well a lot of music, but the main focus now was to learn how to live life totally in the 'here & now', and how to clean up ones emotional garbage. How to increase awareness and to witness ones own body, mind and feelings, living directly in touch with ones own bio-energy. In essence, the learning -then and now- is about who we really are, where we come from and where we go. One day Osho said to him: "There are two types of creators in the world: one type of creator works with objects - a poet, a painter, they work with objects, they create things; the other type of creator, the mystic, creates himself, he works with the subject; he works on himself, his own being.