Light Extracts

 “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.”

“It is a beauty of things modest and humble.”

“It is a beauty of things unconventional”

Page 7

“Wabi-sabi could even be called the “Zen of things.”

“Those who know don’t say; those who say don’t know”

Page 16

 “Aesthetic obscurantism. Most revealing about the meaning of wabi-sabi is the fostering of the myth of inscrutability for aesthetic reasons.”

Page 17

Wabi refer to

·        A way of life, a spiritual path

·        The inward, the subjective

·        A philosophical construct

·        Spatial events

Sabi refers to

·        Material objects, art and literature

·        The outward, the objective

·        An aesthetic ideal

·        Temporal events

Page 23

Modernism

·        Looks for universal, prototypical solutions

·        Believes in the control of nature

Wabi-sabi

·        Looks for personal, idiosyncratic solutions

·        Believes in the fundamental uncontrollability of nature

Page 27

 “Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness.”

Page 42 – Image 1

 “And nothingness itself – instead of being empty space, as in the West – is alive with possibility. In metaphysical terms, wabi-sabi suggests that the universe is in constant motion toward or away from potential.”

Page 45 – Image 2

“Truth comes from the observation of nature.”

“1. All things are impermanent.”

Page 46 – Image 3

“2. All things are imperfect.”

“3. All things are incomplete.”

Page 49 – Image 4

“Greatness exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details.”

Page 50

“Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness.”

Page 51

“Acceptance of the inevitable.”

Page 54

“All around, no flowers in bloom

Nor maple leaves in glare,

A solitary fisherman’s hut alone

On the twilight shore

Of this autumn eve.”

Page 55

“Appreciation of the cosmic order”

“The made elicit these transcendent feelings. The way rice paper transmits light in a diffuse glow. The manner in which clay cracks as it dries. The colour and textural metamorphosis of metal when it tarnishes and rusts. All these represent the physical forces and deep structures that underlie our everyday world.

Page 57 – Image 5

“Get rid of all that is unnecessary.”

“Focus on the intrinsic and ignore material hierarchy.”

Page 59 – Image 6

“The suggestion of natural process.”

“They record the sun, wind, rain, heat, and cold in a language of discoloration, rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, shrivelling, and cracking. Their nicks, chips, bruises, scars, dents, peeling, and other forms of attrition are a testament to histories of use and misuse.”

“Irregular.”

Page 62 – Image 7

“Or they may show the result of just letting things happen by chance, like the irregular fabrics that are created by intentionally sabotaging the computer program of a textile loom.”

“Intimate.”

Page 67 – Image 8

 “Unpretentious”

“Things wabi-sabi have no need for the reassurance of status or the validation of market culture. They have no need for documentation of provenance. Wabi-sabi-ness in no way depends on knowledge of the creator’s background or personality. In fact, it is best if the creator is of no distinction, invisible, or anonymous.”

“Earthy.”

Page 68 – Image 9

“Murky.”

“Wabi-sabi comes in an infinite spectrum of greys: grey-blue brown, silver-red greyish black, indigo yellowish-green… And browns: blackish deep brown-tinged blue, muted greens… And blacks: red black, blue black, brown black, green black…

Less often, things wabi-sabi can also come in the light, almost pastel colours associated with a recent emergence from nothingness. Like the off-whites of unbleached cotton, hemp, and recycled paper. The silver-rusts of new saplings and sprouts. The green-browns of tumescent buds.”

“Simple.”

Page 71 – Image 10

“The simplicity of wabi-sabi is probably best described as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence. The main strategy of this intelligence is economy of means. Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but don’t sterilize. (Things wabi-sabi are emotionally warm, never cold.) Usually this implies a limited palette of materials. It also means keeping conspicuous features to a minimum. But it doesn’t mean removing the invisible connective tissue that somehow binds the elements into a meaningful whole. It also doesn’t mean in any way diminishing something’s “interestingness,” the quality that compels us to look at that something over, and over, and over again.”

Page 72 – Image 11