As my last posting indicates, I have been reading Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, and Philosophers, which was written by Leonard Koren and published about sixteen years ago. This small, elegant volume is a great introduction to the Japanese aesthetic ideal of wabi-sabi, which celebrates the beauty of things that are imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete; the beauty of things that are modest and humble; and the beauty of things that are unconventional.
Based on the comments I received on the first wabi-sabi posting, it's clear that many people are interested in exploring wabi-sabi as possible alternative to the western aesthetic ideal that dominates our modern world. To that end, I think it's helpful to consider Koren's side-by-side comparison of the ways in which wabi-sabi stands in sharp contrast with modernism.
Based on the comments I received on the first wabi-sabi posting, it's clear that many people are interested in exploring wabi-sabi as possible alternative to the western aesthetic ideal that dominates our modern world. To that end, I think it's helpful to consider Koren's side-by-side comparison of the ways in which wabi-sabi stands in sharp contrast with modernism.
Primarily expressed Primarily expressed
in the public domain in the private domain
Implies a logical Implies an intuitive
rational worldview worldview
Absolute Relative
Looks for universal Looks for personal,
prototypical solutions idiosyncratic solutions
Mass-produced/ One-of-a-kind/
modular variable
Expresses faith in There is no progress
progress
Future-oriented Present-oriented
Believes in the Believes in the
control of nature fundamental
uncontrollability of
nature
Romanticizes Romanticizes
technology nature
People adapting to People adapting to
machines nature
Geometric Organic
organization of form organization of form
(sharp, precise (soft, vague shapes
definite shapes and edges)
and edges)
The box as metaphor The bowl as metaphor
(rectilinear, precise, (free shape, open at
contained) top)
Man-made materials Natural materials
Ostensibly slick Ostensibly crude
Needs to be Accommodates to
well-maintained degradation and
attrition
Purity makes its Corrosion and
expression richer contamination
make its expression
richer
Solicits the reduction Solicits the expansion
of sensory of sensory
information information
Is intolerant of Is comfortable with
ambiguity and ambiguity and
contradiction contradiction
Cool Warm
Generally light and Generally dark and
bright dim
Function and utility Function and utility
are primary values are not so important
Perfect materiality Perfect immateriality
is an ideal is an ideal
Everlasting To everything there
is a season
Most people, I suspect, are not willing to completely abandon everything that is valued by modernism. I, for one, plan to keep using my computer, camera, and cellphone -- and, much as it saddens me, I do find it necessary to occasionally visit the rational and logical part of my brain, if only as a tourist. The great thing about wabi-sabi, however, is that it makes no demands. It simply invites us to move at our own speed toward a world that is more authentic and better connected with reality. Some may wish to practice wabi-sabi in every aspect of their daily lives. Others may find that a middle way -- one that avoids extremes -- offers a better solution. What is undeniable, however, is that wabi-sabi offers an antidote to the modern ideal that finds beauty only in the perfect, the permanent, the completed, the grand, and the conventional.
This is a fascinating subject and I would welcome further comments on how wabi-sabi values have shaped your lives, without regard to whether you knew you were practicing wabi-sabi at the time.
This is a fascinating subject and I would welcome further comments on how wabi-sabi values have shaped your lives, without regard to whether you knew you were practicing wabi-sabi at the time.
