MiPalaDeCromo

Wabi-sabi, simply, is the Japanese art of imperfect beauty, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. Emerging in fifteenth century Japan as a reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, of revering authenticity above all. Broadly, wabi-sabi is everything that today’s sleek, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t. It’s flea markets, not warehouse stores; aged wood, not Pergo; rice paper, not glass. Wabi-sabi celebrates cracks and crevices and rot and all the other marks that time and weather and use leave behind. Wabi-sabi reminds us that we are all but transient beings on this planet—that our bodies, as well as the material world around us, are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came. Nature’s cycles of growth, decay, and erosion are embodied in liver spots, rust, frayed edges. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace both the glory and the impersonal sadness of these blemishes, and the march of time they represent.Intimately tied to Zen Buddhism, wabi-sabi can be embraced as an aesthetic sense, but it also brings a subtle spiritual component into the home. It reminds us that home should be a sanctuary, not a loud place full of disturbance and distraction. It asks that we set aside our judgments and our need for perfection and focus, instead, on the beauty of things as they are.But is it possible for Americans, with our belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of stuff, dwellers in a land where the local Super Target offers so much designer plastic for so few dollars, to even get this thing? These words “decay” and “poverty” are not ones our materialistic culture throws around with a lot of reverence. And yet. We do revere the crooked cobblestone streets and the weathered stone and the chipping plaster of those old European towns we spend so much money visiting (when we can). Deep in our hearts, we feel the spiritual pull of places battle-scarred with the beauty of their history. This is our wabi-sabi instinct at work. We can nurture that, and we can learn to bring some of its magic into the place where we live, love, think, and sleep.Wabi-Sabi is…Havana Crones Collapsed barns Bare branches December Handmade Whispering Bluegrass Weathered wood Crumbling stone November fields Farmer’s markets Wildflowers The waning moon The simplicity movement Greenwich Village Wool Rice paper Clay Unbleached cotton Quaker meeting houses The Grateful Dead Tea Bodegas Record albums Trading beads Raggedy Ann Vintage clothing Homeopathic medicine Grafitti art Alberto Giacometti Moonlight Sundials Cobblestones Billie Holiday Mushrooms Adobe Arts and Crafts Molasses Route 66 Dusk Johannes Vermeer Flea markets Walking Edgar Allen Poe Sol LeWittWabi-Sabi isn’t…Las Vegas Virgins McMansions Fall color June Machine-made Shouting Opera Plastic laminate Polished marble April tulips Strip malls Roses The full moon Keeping up with the Joneses Times Square Lycra Plate glass China Cashmere Cathedrals The Back Street Boys Latte Parrots Superstores Compact discs Pearls Barbie Designer logos Plastic surgery Fine art Fernando Botero Sunlight Palm pilots Concrete Britney Spears Truffles Steel Rococo NutraSweet The 405 High noon Ellsworth Kelly Pottery Barn Spinning Henry James Marcel Duchamp Myspace
latex, enamel on wood, 54 1/2x110 1/2" latex, enamel, collage on wood, 54x60" enamel on masonite, 48x48" latex, enamel on wood, 42x120" latex, enamel on wood, 48x90"