#zen brushwork

‘According to the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kataro (1870-1945) true creativity is not the product of conscious effort but rather the “phenomenon of life itself.” True creation must arise from mu-shin, or the state of “no mind,” a state beyond thought, emotions, and expectations. Work that is produced through conscious effort is ultimately devoid of life.’ (Tanshu, Zen Brushwork. p. 10)

‘In his notebooks the painter Paul Klee repeatedly insisted, and demonstrated by example, that the processes of genesis and growth that give rise to forms in the world we inhabit are more important than the forms themselves. ‘Form is the end, death’, he wrote. ‘Form-giving is movement, action. Form-giving is life’ (Klee 1973: 269 In Ingold 2010: 2)

“Inner-necessity”

‘In painting it means casting aside the illusion that to see a painting is to see what it is a painting of. If anything is empty of content, it is the image that serves only to represent an external object but that lacks any life of its own. Such an image depends for its existence on the world of objects. But painting, properly speaking, does not. Nor does music. Together, they open the mind to inner truths that are ontologically prior to the outward forms of things. By a principle that Kandinsky called ‘inner necessity’ (ibid.: 160), these truths – the ‘abstract content’ of the work of art – directly touch the soul and set it in motion. 

This “inner-necessity” is a close counterpoint to the objective of Zen brushwork whereby the spirit of the maker is revealed through the lines, rather than an attempt to reproduce nature perfectly. Although this video doesn’t give an example of “inner-necessity”, it draws Kandincky to the theme of the trace. 

Zen Brushwork Workshop 20.11.19

I attended my second Zen brushwork class for two reasons - the first being that my encounters with Noriko at the Zenways dojo have motivated me to want to learn from her way of being and sincere way of teaching. Secondly, the process is an expression of a moment as it was. There is no editing, no reconsideration… any hesitation, anger… everything is documented in the qualities of each stroke. I have always created music, even illustrations, as a meticulous re-editing of lines and melodies to try to hide the imperfection, or hide behind the reworking to avoid criticism etc… that perfectionism does not demonstrate the truth of me, and that is the only fundamental truth that I’m able to demonstrate as it shifts and changes, develops and disappears.