In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi centres on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, often described as the appreciation of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.
We often think of the imperfect aspect of wabi-sabi on its’ own, imperfection something almost foreign to those of us living in the West inundated with ads for products, services and lifestyles to make us ‘perfect’ – with all else a shortcoming.
That works I suppose for the makeup industry, or automobiles or clothing manufacturers but in our pursuit of perfection we usually fail to see the simple beauty in things that do not fit our image of what beauty should be.
For me, when I first started sketching in the early 80’s, each finished work was given the side-eye then buried away in a portfolio, hopefully never to be seen again. From time to time I would take out the piece, take a quick look at it, chuckle and put it away again. Now as I finally start to understand myself I look at this work fondly, squiggly lines, poor shadowing and all. This was me, at the time, warts and all and I can appreciate what I was trying to achieve rather than criticize myself for not achieving perfection!
Which brings me to the second aspect of wabi-sabi – impermanence. How great is our ego that we think each pencil scribble or paint daub is the next Rembrandt? 100 years from now my sketches will have long since found their way into a recycling bin or been used to light a bonfire. Perfection fades like a rose, the more perfect the quicker the fade. But accepting our impermanence allows us to appreciate the true beauty of the moment, the effort and the imperfection.
Wabi-sabi really is more about seeing ourselves than imperfection; about acceptance and self-criticism, revelling in the fact we are far from perfect, living a transient and incomplete life.
I kinda like that.
Cheers,
Mark
(back in 1980 I was a big fan of ‘Heavy Metal’ magazine – ml)