Last Wednesday, Amanda Dalla Villa Adams, a VMFA faculty and independent curator, presented a Japanese Aesthetics lecture during lunch. All in all, I really enjoy and appreciate the concepts behind Japanese Art. For much of its display, there is a play between the contrasting light and dark, which, symbolically stands for many things: death and reflection, simplicity, beauty, etc. I think that the practice of Wabi Sabi and Kintsugi are absolutely genius. Essentially, these practices embrace the beauty of brokenness - imperfection is ultimately more valuable than perfection. I also appreciate the powerful simplicity of Notan and the interplay between dark and light to create a conceptually complex piece of art. I think that there is fault in the practices of the Modern-day World where we strive for perfection, are always on the run, and never have time to truly stop and appreciate beauty - including our own beauty and that of the outside world. There is something important to be said in the Japanese Aesthetic’s simplicity, and there is for sure something that the Modern-day World can learn. There is an ultimate need to slow down, in essence to appreciate beauty, because beauty is fleeting, and so are we. On retrospect, the simplistic and truthful concepts of beauty covered in the Japanese Aesthetic ultimately is reflective of the value of balance. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki wrote in, “In Praise of Shadows,” “Were it not for the shadows, there would be no beauty.” Want to see some examples of Kintsugi? Visit this link: https://www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/kintsugi Ever want to try creating your own art using the Japanese Aesthetic? Visit this link: http://emptyeasel.com/2008/08/12/seeing-notan-how-to-make-stronger-compositions-using-lights-and-darks/ Need some more help understanding the Japanese Aesthetic? Watch this video on Wabi Sabi:
1 Comment
MM
11/7/2018 07:21:27 am
It seems so simple, right? Why, then, do we struggle so? Very frustrating! The only thing to do is to try to embrace it ourselves to be communicate it to others as best as we can.
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