Elephant Dust by Jan Fontecchio. All Rights Reserved. In Plato’s Philebus, beauty consists of symmetry and exactness. My early life had neither, but my longing for it resulted in pencil drawings, collages made of rocks pushed in the sand, and baling wire animal sculptures. I sought it in riding horses, through training dolphins, and exotic animal rescue. I looked for it in sky and sea, through hang gliding and scuba diving. My quest took me backpacking and mountain climbing.

But meanwhile, I created art. And in the end I found that painting is the closest fulfillment of symmetry and exactness that can be found on earth. My eye continually searches for that which stirs heart and paintbrush, and when they both sing in tune, my paintings are the result.