"Asymmetry" Posts on ValleyZen

Not Either/Or but Both

10.21.10 | Category: Asymmetry, Unexpected

What do you think when you see this image of a traffic light —showing STOP and GO simultaneously? I had never seen a traffic light hold two contradicting signals ever before until recently. It seemed a visual koan for life in the Valley – something you could meditate on and reflect upon endlessly. I loved it and immediately took a cell phone photo. All of a sudden a banal traffic light wasn’t so banal. I was interested to see the many meanings and possibilities people would unpack. I posted it on facebook and got brilliant and witty feedback from…

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Fashion Week: Catherine Malandrino, Mary J Blige, Tyson Beckford, Kim Kardashian

09.19.09 | Category: Asymmetry, Breaking News, Power Zen, Simplicity, Zen Fashion

Mary J Blige, Catherine Malandrino and Drue Kataoka
Catherine Malandrino and Bernard Aidan invited us to Catherine Malandrino’s Spring Summer 2010 Collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NYC. Staged at the Chelsea Art Museum on the West side of Manhattan, Malandrino placed her models on pedestals instead of walking them down a runway. We arrived early to slip backstage and capture the pre-show mayhem and excitement. Recording star and hip hop diva Mary J Blige, Grammy Award-winning British R&B singer Estelle, Ralph Lauren supermodel and Host of Bravo’s “Make Me a Supermodel” Tyson Beckford, E! Star Kim Kardashian, TLC’s “Who Are You Wearing?” and TV Guide’s “Live from the Red Carpet’s” Keisha Whitaker, the fashion press, NY fashionistas, socialites, and buyers and guests from Japan and Europe all came to check out the show…

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Drue’s Art in the First In-Space Art Exhibit on Richard Garriott’s Space Mission

10.17.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Breaking News, Power Zen, Valley Future, Video, Zen Earth

Drue's painting UP!On Sunday, famed video game developer Richard Garriott launched into space aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. For more than $30 million, he has become the sixth private citizen to travel into orbit.

The Russian rocket lifted off on schedule at 1:01 p.m. (3:01 a.m. EDT), carrying precious cargo including a revolutionary experiment in art —the first in-space art exhibition. Highlighting the importance of private space travel to future generations, Garriott is hosting this zero-gravity art exhibition. Included is an original brush painting by Drue Kataoka, created for this historic
mission…
description of Drue's painting UP!

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3 Zen Things to do in a Recession

10.07.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Power Zen, Simplicity

Drue's Sumi-e painting of a crane soaring highYesterday, the Dow Jones fell below 10,000 points. Stress and risk are everywhere: the financial crisis, the deepening recession, the threat of losing one’s job and savings. Staying afloat in a sea of red ink is hard.

Sourcing from the ancient wisdom of Zen provides timeless lessons in a world of chaos. As a Sumi-e artist, the Zen principles are alive in my brush every moment. I take lessons from my brush. Here are three:

1. Spare your brush strokes

Less is more. In my Sumi-e paintings, I strive for maximum…

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Meeting Barack Obama in Atherton

04.08.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Breaking News, Power Zen, Valley Future, Video

Barack Obama and Drue Kataoka

For Barack Obama’s campaign, the Zen surprise came out of the negative space. In the art of Sumi-e, the negative space (the white space between the brush strokes) is as important as the brush strokes themselves. This is what holds the painting together and makes it take shape and meaning. For the Obama campaign, the ebony-inked brush strokes are Obama himself. The negative space is the countless campaign contributors, supporters and activists who have found meaning and identity in his campaign. They are the ones that have created the surprise…

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Press Update…

04.03.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Simplicity, Unexpected, Zen Government

Bill Fenwick and Drue Kataoka

It’s been an exciting two months for ValleyZen.com. Since launch the blog has been:

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ValleyZen Shuts Down for Earth Hour

03.29.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Zen Earth


Subtracting superfluous energy.


Removing excess light.


Entering the void.

Those ideas resonate with us at ValleyZen.

So, in harmony with millions of others in 25 cities around the world, at 8pm we’re shutting down—for one hour…

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EPISODE 3 – Tim Draper DFJ Men’s Room – Video Interview

03.03.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Power Zen, Unexpected, Video

Today we are releasing the much-anticipated Episode 3 of Tim Draper VC Samurai. Tim Draper gives us a tour of the Men’s Room at DFJ with his famous sheep painting, a DFJ masterpiece. Follow these links if you’ve missed the trailer and Episode 1 or Episode 2…

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The Guy Who Ate His Shoe

02.27.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Unexpected

Werner Herzog and Drue KataokaZen lessons from a master of the unexpected. Last night I met Werner Herzog, acclaimed German filmmaker, at a special screening of his latest film, Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale. In a career spanning 54 films, Herzog has dragged a steamship over a mountain in the Peruvian jungle, hypnotized a cast for a shoot, filmed on a volcano ready to explode, and boiled and eaten his own shoe…

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Tim Draper, VC Samurai – Video Interview

02.19.08 | Category: Asymmetry, Power Zen, Simplicity, Video

Tim Draper - VC SamuraiTim Draper, Founder of DFJ, gives us an AMAZING interview. In over 50 minutes of high-energy footage, Tim catapults Drue in the air (literally!), shows his art in DFJ’s Men’s bathroom, and reveals his Zen insights on entrepreneurship, business and life.

For the next 5 weeks, every Monday we will release one of the episodes, about 10 minutes each, of Tim’s irreverent wisdom.

Here is a short trailer, to whet your appetite:

Here is the first episode.

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