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Thursday
4 January 2001

10 27 pm pst   [ wabi-sabi ]

 

I may have been misleading in yesterday's entry. Wabi-sabi isn't about flaws so much as it is an aesthetic of rustic nature. I'm sure a computer couldn't be very wabi-sabi, unless perhaps you built it of wood and it decayed over time, eroding into some other form.

I love the idea of wabi-sabi in whatever abstract way it colors my thoughts. I stood on the porch, bathed by the sunset, and let the wabi-sabi find me. The cracked knot of wood and branches against the sky called to me.

My current fascination with wabi-sabi, spurred by the reading of Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren, stems from my desire for simplicity.

I am trying to appreciate the details, to slow down, to reevaluate. I feel that I am making progress. I am striving to notice the innate beauty in objects and moments. I am trying to open my mind to new viewpoints.

I am enjoying the mini-vacation I am on right now.

I was compelled by the comparisons to modernism in the aforementioned text. "Both eschew any decoration that is not integral to structure." I think a little decoration should be permissible (such as an ivy leaf on the side of a tea pot) but function should always be the utmost focus. There is a divine beauty in subtlety.

There is no need to reject all decoration.

When I returned inside, Tom asked if I would go for a short walk to view the sunset with him. It was a lovely sunset, with the Golden Gate Bridge just visible in the orange haze [see middle picture to right].

After returning home, we went to stock up on groceries so I could feed Matthew when he got home from work. I knew he'd be a bit frazzled because he was moving offices today.

My current idea is to publish a print magazine. Matthew laughed when I told him. Anyone want to write an article or submit images?

 

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