I read a story recently in the New Yorker Magazine written by Han Ong. Its about a boy working for an older painter living in a small desert town.
The painter works 8 hours a day painting lines over and over and the author says the painter’s “work is a kind of cleansing of the mind. The strokes and daubs requiring an even distribution of pressure in a continual maintenance of strength in the wrists and the fingers that is like kinesthetic concentration.” I love that. The placement and intention of each line makes each piece individual. Not dissimilar to DNA, and not dissimilar to the I Ching.
In learning about Feng Shui I bought The Book of Changes also known as I Ching. Of course I knew about this ancient text but never did I realize that it has such a great impact on Feng Shui and the spaces we live in. The I Ching is man’s primal attempt to understand the Universe and our purpose on earth. There is so much wisdom buried in this book. The language of I Ching is based off a series of lines and dashes - their correlation and the way they are placed next to each other creates new meaning.
In the I Ching a Hexagram is a set of 6 lines in various horizontal formations. Patterns of a straight line and a broken line, that’s all. And that simplicity is something that is so profound to me. Each trigram has a specific meaning based on how we can understand the 8 elements: earth, fire, heaven, water, wind, thunder, lake, flame.
I supposed its why all my work has a layer of deep simplicity. I am trying to say the most with the least amount of marks. Shockingly similar to the I Ching a text I have only recently come to study in great detail.
I wanted to honor this text by giving these 4 hexagrams their own space in the world. I block printed these on un-primed canvas because it felt like the most primal, the most raw - un-stretched and untethered. The lines and colors I chose are meant to symbolize each element and the meaning of each Trigram as a whole. Because block printing feels ingrained in me it felt like my language to interpret these works. Filtered through my own language – my own set of shapes. The reason for the circle in these works is solely to link the two broken lines so that they remain on the same plane. It is an aesthetic choice and to me creates and easier way to read each trigram.
Its possible that the artwork that you are drawn to indicate something in your life that needs balance or perhaps a part of your life where you feel strong and centered. Read the meaning of each artwork in the description page to get a better sense of what each piece means and its possible significance in your life.