Asymmetrical Imagining

In Buddhism there is the idea of reciprocity (literally “waiting for each other”). This happens because that happens; this is present because that is present. Where there is darkness there is light, where there is wisdom there is ignorance, where there is life there is death, and so on. All things together waiting upon each other.

This is the insight of reciprocity: between two equal transparencies, revelations can be seen through their opposites. But they don’t have to be equally divided into symmetrical halves. Unlike the neat categories of Buddhist thought they can be disproportional or unbalanced, but not lacking in correspondence. In fact, in your work it is preferred they appear distinctively asymmetrical. As crosswise multiplicities separated and integrated they open up the potential of the work by discerning in both directions simultaneously. These apparent polar contradictions, free and necessary, provide life-energy and visual interest to the work.

Union is key. Rather than seeing one against the other as warring factions, they are antimonies in the highest grade of unity. Conjunctions furthering the evolution of the work and its understanding. The result can be an archetypal pattern that awakens sleeping appearances. Knowing where to return and what to do in your work can restore indecisive shadows to iridescent wings.

But how do you recognize the contradiction? Is there a unifying denominator, a singularity of sorts, a coadunation? How do you achieve a dialectical inversion that allows independence of each pole or opposite while maintaining a vital homogeneity?

Your work is made up of contraries. Take note of the opposition and its flip side. All elements are mirrored and paradoxically present in every other creating the antipode of unity and difference. Clearly identify how the interconnections of the work are the “vanishing points” of distinction and dissimilarities. Take in mind how the work progresses through a series of counter viewpoints. How opposition is understood as an interdependent form (mark, symbol, metaphor, fragment, or idea). Bring into focus your eye that snapshots the contradictory and paradoxical in the same/different, unity/diversity, thetical/antithetical pairing. Allow mutual inclusion and difference. An openness and a supplementary possibility to anticipate without thinking. The interpenetration of elements within the other that integrates parts to the whole. New relationships formed on the picture plane between limited and more complete forms and spaces.

The mind rushes to its railings. There is an extraordinary sense, not mere fancy, but a new possibility that is the visible inclusion of the radical re-imagining in sight of the familiar:

White plum blossoms

In the tea house of Kitano

A sumo wrestler.

Yosa Buson (1716-84)