EACH LINE ONE BREATH - PAPER SERIES - N° 18 Drawing

EACH LINE ONE BREATH is a limited edition of 50 free-hand drawings per medium which are inspired by the artist´s understanding of the genesis of life and death. These artworks offer an interesting interplay of 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 gradually achieves perfection. Inspiration comes from the Late Latin inspirationem and its verb inspirare: in + spirare „to breathe“. Thus, every inhalation triggers inspiration. Starting with a straight line, each sequence that follows is created by drawing another line that seeks to imitate its predecessor. 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 unique. The inexhaustible possibilities to see lines assembling into different patterns mirrror the manifestation of matter and energy. Lines are an omnipresent element, even in intangible realms, and 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, and these are instantly recognizable to the human eye. The resulting artworks are reminiscent of varying types of lines that transport 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 constantly recurrent in the course of life and therefore the artist´s representations are meant to awaken one´s awareness to the 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 siezes 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 John Franzen’s Art began as a reduction on abstractness and the basic, it is ultimately a pursuit of genuine truth.