As N Artist
I would love to research the Japanese art concept Wabi-sabi (侘び寂び) to infuse it in my Architectural designs and other artworks like paintings I will be creating, or even musical composition in classical guitar I have been playing.
Wabi-sabi is a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics constituting a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering and emptiness or absence of self-nature.
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
The reason this specific art concept is chosen for research is not only due to the resonance it has with the artworks I have been creating, but to me, the aesthetic found in the fact of an object simply being a part of nature or world can be life itself is astounding. There are beauty in the life when people know when to slow down and observe the things that have been there for about 400 millions of years, rather than getting involved in the recent created "game of society" which revolves around fast-paced society, rapid development of technology, the game society which involves schools, university degrees, but worst, the pursuit of the media of exchange like money.
People may think that by "research" a visit to the internet and an approach to read something or watch videos regarding Wabi-sabi can do sufficiently. I actually watched documentaries about Wabisabi, one in particular is a BBC documentary "In Search of Wabisabi with Marcel Theroux", and it gave me numerous insights on the concepts, the traditions in Japan, or what Japanese people think of the concept as mentioned in the survey in the documentary, but all that do not give me much as to the feeling, which is the most important sense in art to me, as an artist. I could tell the difference in the impression I had upon finishing the video with the moment I admired the clear rivers and the fish and ducks swimming freely and walked along the traditional buildings, gazing upon the shrines in real life during my visit to Kyoto last month. From that I believe that I can further understand the meaning of Wabi-sabi and create masterpieces based on that concept if I experience it for myself with my feeling and senses. Furthermore, having been in Japan for only a couple of months, with tight schedules of Japanese language school and a part time job in Ganko Sushi (for daily survival), I have not had much experience in the life in Japan itself. I believe there are plenty of activities that can contribute to the research of Wabi-sabi, like attending a traditional tea ceremony which I am looking forward to in the near future. After which for each activity a journal containing statistics, feelings, and description of the senses used in the Wabi-sabi-related activity will be written as those are integral in the understanding of the art concept. In other words, I believe that an artist (or anyone with their jobs, but since a topic regarding art is being discussed, the subject will be artist) needs to be free and open-minded in the pursuit of knowledge crucial to his work. Anything unrelated may bring another light to the problem, but a full experience regarding the task proves to be the best method in learning the task allocated (learning about Wabi-sabi for the creation of artworks). Therefore, although there is no saying of what insights can be encountered throughout the stay in Japan, the longer I stay and the more exposed I am to Japanese cultures the more colossal the opportunity of learning and experiencing Wabi-sabi will turn to be.
Experiencing life in Japan, specific or non-specific to Wabisabi, is one way of acquiring knowledge towards my research of Wabi-sabi, and another way I have been carrying out and will keep on performing as a research for both Wabi-sabi and life is by reading poetry, especially the Japanese poetry (translated to English, then a slow comparison to the sound made by each hiragana corresponding to the meaning it gives due to my limited Japanese Language). One poetry form that captures my attention is the Haiku, which contains 3-line verse with 5-7-5 syllable distribution.
The more I know about Wabi-sabi, the more fascinated I am about all the beauty that lies beneath it. I can also compare this art concept which focuses on the imperfection and the state of being itself to the Western art and mathematical calculation, the Golden Ratio, which appeared in many natural forms like leaves and wood patterns.
I apologize if the introduction of my research and what I am going to do for the research in the future seem unsystemmatic and superfluous, but I hope reading this will give an overview of my thoughts and my passion in some wonders in the world, as an artist.
Wabi-sabi is a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics constituting a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering and emptiness or absence of self-nature.
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
The reason this specific art concept is chosen for research is not only due to the resonance it has with the artworks I have been creating, but to me, the aesthetic found in the fact of an object simply being a part of nature or world can be life itself is astounding. There are beauty in the life when people know when to slow down and observe the things that have been there for about 400 millions of years, rather than getting involved in the recent created "game of society" which revolves around fast-paced society, rapid development of technology, the game society which involves schools, university degrees, but worst, the pursuit of the media of exchange like money.
People may think that by "research" a visit to the internet and an approach to read something or watch videos regarding Wabi-sabi can do sufficiently. I actually watched documentaries about Wabisabi, one in particular is a BBC documentary "In Search of Wabisabi with Marcel Theroux", and it gave me numerous insights on the concepts, the traditions in Japan, or what Japanese people think of the concept as mentioned in the survey in the documentary, but all that do not give me much as to the feeling, which is the most important sense in art to me, as an artist. I could tell the difference in the impression I had upon finishing the video with the moment I admired the clear rivers and the fish and ducks swimming freely and walked along the traditional buildings, gazing upon the shrines in real life during my visit to Kyoto last month. From that I believe that I can further understand the meaning of Wabi-sabi and create masterpieces based on that concept if I experience it for myself with my feeling and senses. Furthermore, having been in Japan for only a couple of months, with tight schedules of Japanese language school and a part time job in Ganko Sushi (for daily survival), I have not had much experience in the life in Japan itself. I believe there are plenty of activities that can contribute to the research of Wabi-sabi, like attending a traditional tea ceremony which I am looking forward to in the near future. After which for each activity a journal containing statistics, feelings, and description of the senses used in the Wabi-sabi-related activity will be written as those are integral in the understanding of the art concept. In other words, I believe that an artist (or anyone with their jobs, but since a topic regarding art is being discussed, the subject will be artist) needs to be free and open-minded in the pursuit of knowledge crucial to his work. Anything unrelated may bring another light to the problem, but a full experience regarding the task proves to be the best method in learning the task allocated (learning about Wabi-sabi for the creation of artworks). Therefore, although there is no saying of what insights can be encountered throughout the stay in Japan, the longer I stay and the more exposed I am to Japanese cultures the more colossal the opportunity of learning and experiencing Wabi-sabi will turn to be.
Experiencing life in Japan, specific or non-specific to Wabisabi, is one way of acquiring knowledge towards my research of Wabi-sabi, and another way I have been carrying out and will keep on performing as a research for both Wabi-sabi and life is by reading poetry, especially the Japanese poetry (translated to English, then a slow comparison to the sound made by each hiragana corresponding to the meaning it gives due to my limited Japanese Language). One poetry form that captures my attention is the Haiku, which contains 3-line verse with 5-7-5 syllable distribution.
The more I know about Wabi-sabi, the more fascinated I am about all the beauty that lies beneath it. I can also compare this art concept which focuses on the imperfection and the state of being itself to the Western art and mathematical calculation, the Golden Ratio, which appeared in many natural forms like leaves and wood patterns.
I apologize if the introduction of my research and what I am going to do for the research in the future seem unsystemmatic and superfluous, but I hope reading this will give an overview of my thoughts and my passion in some wonders in the world, as an artist.
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