Patricia Larkin Green

I Dreamt I Was a Butterfly … (2016)
ink on paper
20 x 16 in.

“i dreamt i was a butterfly… and what difference does it make?”

Chuang Tzu, a contemporary of Mencius, is universally regarded as the greatest Taoist after Lao Tzu. His butterfly dream is probably the most celebrated dream ever to be recorded in the history of Chinese Philosophy, which makes it almost impossible to omit in any serious expositions of Chuang Tzu’s works. Whether or not the dream actually occurred is not a matter of great importance. What is important is that it has captured the minds of generations of Philosophers 

Chuang Tzu, however, preferred something more compromising: “When I say you are dreaming, so am I.” In other words, we are all dreaming. This is best illustrated in his butterfly dream story. ‘The passage: Once upon a time, Chuang Tzu dreamed that he was a butterfly, flying about enjoying itself. It did not know that it was Chuang Chou.”

Patricia Larkin Green is a painter in oil and Sumi-e literati style, using expressionistic monochrome ink brushwork. She received her BA from the University of Minnesota in 1998, and a Certificate in Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001. She is the founder of OpenWall Chicago, an exhibition space in the 47th Ward. Larkin Green is a member of the Sumi-e Society of America and the International Chinese Calligraphy Art and Painting Society, serving as the North America Exhibition Coordinator. Awards include the prestigious “Award of Excellence” from the Jade Buddha Temple, AnShan City, China several years in a row. Larkin Green’s work has been the subject of solo and two person exhibitions in the United States and she has exhibited throughout the United States, and in Australia, China and Japan. She has been featured in numerous publications, including The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader, Gapers Block, Hyperallergic and a Pioneer Press publication, and has been a panelist for Chicago Creative Expo. She has participated in interviews on WTTW Chicago Tonight, WCRX, The Process and more.

For more information visit www.patricialarkingreen.com

© Patricia Larkin Green