For a long time my work has been influenced by Japanese aesthetics. There are two concepts, or philosophies, I particularly embrace.
Wabi-sabi relates to the beauty and sadness in used materials that are worn, rusted and impermanent. It celebrates transience and imperfection. The choice of a found object is not arbitrary but chosen based on its appropriate characteristics. While there is a forlorn quality in its decay, there is a beauty in its age and patina and a celebration in its reuse. The placement of one object in relationship to another comes more from intuition than intellect.
The concept of Ma translates to ‘space’ and suggests interval. More than the actual space in a composition, it is the experience of space: the pause and the breath. It is a place to focus on as much as the elements themselves. There is the “right” amount of negative space to achieve the desired narrative.
It is with these two characteristics, impermanence and pause, that I dedicate this work to my mother.