"It is a beauty of things modest and humble."
"It is a beauty of things unconventional."
These three sentences open the book, Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers by Leonard Koren.
I was reminded of this concept when I saw the work of Chuck Ramirez at the McNay. I hope you'll all get a chance to see this show before it leaves; it's provocative in the vein of what little I know about wabi-sabi.
His subject matter features enlarged photographs of pocket books filled with clues to the women who carry them--lipstick, keys, phones, tickets, souvenirs, baby toys, medicine, breath mints, make up, etc. There are also photographs of bouquets in the process of dying, food left on plates at the end of a meal, a make-up artist's bag, a suitcase with a portable Buddha altar, used paint cans and jars, and already-broken pinatas.
These photographs make you notice the beauty of ordinary things all around you:
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| appetizers and mixed drinks at a restaurant |
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| plastic bags |
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| a ragged broom |
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| make up artist's bag |
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| Linda's purse |
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| What stories the contents of our bags could tell! |
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| a paint can |
These objects aren't restored to look new; they are what they are after time and bites and everyday use have changed them. Nothing has been added or subtracted from the contents of the containers. An empty paint can with the residue of paint evokes story much more than a brand new paint can. A table-top filled with plates of half-eaten food, ashtrays, and messy napkins, less perfect than the newly set table, is aesthetically intriguing in its own wabi-sabi way.
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