Saturday, July 01, 2006

Wabi sabi


I have found the perfect word for the core of all the art that I create: Wabi Sabi. I thought that there was no connection between my artworks, but this simple yet complex idea lies beneath all of my work. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". This is how Rothko and Kathe Kollwitz work makes me feel. Even though the two artists are completely different, they both evoke this feeling for me. Now that I have found a word that best describes my aesthetics, I want to explore this term more, and see what I can make.

Wabi Sabi: According to Leonard Koren: "if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi." Richard R. Powell summarizes by saying "It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

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