"THE MARK OF A TRUE WORK OF ART is the suffering that is in it or around it.

The unconscious knowledge that the poet strives to circumscribe, which opens the eyes of the painter and guides his hand, the life that the sculptor would like to awaken in matter as living blood -- but which is better expressed by the poet than by the musician, by the musician better than by the painter, and by the painter better than by the sculptor, because the nature of matter weighs him down as the form compels him and holds back-- this creates suffering.

"If a painter could, with a brush, paint with the light that comes through the stained-glass window, draw its outlines with the (immaterial) line made of the rhythms and words of the poet, and give it volume with musical harmony, he would create a work without suffering.

"This “consciousness of innate knowledge”, of which the ordinary person is not yet cerebrally aware, is the supernatural force that is the signature of the work of art in the inspired moment of the artist, the present moment, without past or future."

Robert A. Schwaller de Lubicz, The Temple of Man.

I am Robert (pronounced Robear), an artist – fine art sculptor, mask maker and illustrator – living in Southern California.

Interested in art, classical music (renaissance and baroque, plus a good measure of classic rock), coffee, fine wines and creative gastronomy, French culture, Ancient Egypt, European Renaissance (and attending Renaissance Faires too), period costuming (I create my own), staying reasonably fit and healthy, following my own path spiritually.

I've recently started making wearable art masks that I offer online at: www.greenmanmasks.com -- check it out!

My sculptural artwork is very much inspired from that of Ancient Egypt, a subject of fascination since I was a child. I combine the artistic concepts of that civilization with cutting edge technology such as neon and metal fabrication to achieve the results I want, which is to bring it to life into our contemporary timeframe. You can see some of my art at: www.robertlamarche.com . I have not watched TV in over 35 years (except in hotels when traveling), so most references to this or that TV show or personality will go right over my head – sorry! But I like watching movies in theaters and renting DVDs through Netflix.

I’m always interested in meeting like-minded souls, in person or otherwise.

Oh, and one last thing. Apparently I am supposed to say that "I am at least 18 years old" -- which is relatively easy since I'll be turning 53 this spring -- to appease the Flickr gods for some reason or another I don't quite understand. Unless the whole thing is one of those scare hoaxes, especially since I haven't heard anything directly from Flickr on the subject. But hey, I might also receive a $1 million dollar check from Bill Gates as early as next week too!

All the images I post on here I took myself, or were taken of me by my friends. I do not collect and repost photographs found on the web.