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EACH LINE ONE BREATH - PAPER SERIES - N°26 Drawing

John Franzen

Netherlands

Drawing, Ballpoint Pen on Paper

Size: 42.9 W x 35 H x 2 D in

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Artist Recognition

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About The Artwork

Making of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cL_f5QR29E EACH LINE ONE BREATH is a limited edition of 50 free-hand drawings which are inspired by the artist´s understanding of the genesis of life and death. These drawings offer a unique interplay between the different elements entailed in the ongoing expression of life. The Line, as the initiation of each drawing, demands the most fundamental act of life: The Breath. Through conscious in- and exhalation, the drawing is gradually perfected. The English word ‘inspiration’ comes from the Late Latin inspirationem and the verb inspirare which means ‘to breathe’. Thus our every inhalation triggers inspiration.  Starting with a single straight line, each subsequent line seeks to imitate its predecessor. The eventual pattern that evolves is unique to each piece as each breath, and therefore each line, will vary slightly. Concentration and the repetitive act of inhaling and exhaling between each line allows the whole to evolve into logarithmic-like patterns and layers. Dependent on the artist’s constitution, each work contains an individual motion and is therefore rendered distinctive. The inexhaustible possibilities to see lines assembling into different patterns reflect the manifestation of matter and energy in the larger world. Lines are an omnipresent element, even in intangible realms. As such they exist in waves of sound and light, bodies of water, and dunes of sand. Lines imprint the trunks of trees and record elemental growth and fluctuation; rain falls and grass moves in the wind in these familiar patterns. The resulting artworks are reminiscent of varying types of lines that are constantly transporting energy across space and time. The minimalist pattern of sequential, but subtly variable, lines provide an allegory for continuity, repetition, and immortality. These sentiments are recurrent in the course of life and the artist´s representations here are meant to awaken the observer’s awareness to the deeply meditative practice of breath.  This idea was formed in strong contrast to the brevity and transience of mundane experience. Time has been considered cyclical (and not linear) by most advanced cultures before Western civilization, and these pieces attempt to mimic both the variance and constancy of existence as imagined by the ancients.   Composed of continuous lines, formulated in single breaths, these drawings seek to attain the vibrancy of pure motion. While drawing, the artist seizes upon a profound feeling of everlasting energy which is, in turn, connected to the unity of the cosmos. He isolates himself from all surrounding influences of the daily world in order to focus and enhance the seemingly incongruous feelings of void and connectivity of himself with every living being, the earth, and the universe.  Although the impetus for this series began as a reduction on abstractness and the basic, it is ultimately in pursuit of genuine truth.

Details & Dimensions

Drawing:Ballpoint Pen on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:42.9 W x 35 H x 2 D in

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Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.

BIO: John Franzen (1981) was born in Aachen, Germany. Both parents were nurses. With 7 years he grew up in Belgium. Later he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht, Netherlands 2002-2007, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Working in various disciplines and materials, he focuses on the theme and production of complex frames of concepts with the focus of the inherent primordiality. He lives and works in Maastricht, Netherlands and as an artist and conceptor. ARTIST STATEMENT: An artist in his true nature is made of incomprehensible multitudes; he is the untidy culmination of a shaman who is not believing but praying, a scientist who is not searching but analyzing, an engineer who is not building but inventing, and a child who is not playing but dreaming. He exists in the paradoxical state of attempting to capture his own vast inner perceptions of reality in the confines of the outer world. His artwork is mystic ritual, scientific model and applied philosophy. His process may be compared to how priests or shamans work while praying. His art springs forth in a way similar to the emergence of holy offerings, that is, from a deep internalization of and total commitment to the unknowable source of everything. Despite this comparison, Franzen’s work remains immanently non-religious. While his process and product may be relatable to religious performance, his muse is rather the concept of the ‘Human-Universe-Executer.’ The ‘Human-Universe-Executer’ can create ad infinitum from the pure energy which he attempts to command. One act, one stroke, one move represent, in essence, all creation. Each further act is merely a repetition of the first and considered redundant. The artist must wrestle with how to accurately convey the fact that the urge to create is, rather than being inconsistent with nihilism, is intimately allied with it. Shi Tao formulated the principle of one holistic brushstroke as a medium for the articulation of a non-dualistic cosmos. According to this principle, the ‘Human-Universe-Executer’ and the observer achieve a kind of transcendence through the creational act. The one act is thus the most central concept upon which the work relies. In turn, his work reflects the void as source and muse of life itself. Franzen’s art can be seen as a spiritual mindset or mystical conception which has been adapted from Japanese Taoist and Zen philosophy.

Artist Recognition

Featured in One to Watch

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