One Line Cosmology N° 2 Painting

ONE LINE One of the most fundamental elements of art is the line. Shi Tao (Shih T'ao / Tao Chi) described the brushstroke as the origin of all existence, the root of all phenomena. Almost every image begins with a line. The line in these two series is amplified through the act of maximal reduction. It becomes the glorification of all forms and simultaneously the simplest of artistic acts. It thus represents the essential act and force of creation itself. The line, seen as the basis of art, is infinitely complex – though it may be taken for granted in most works. In other words, the line is the genetic code of artistic rendering. In the Japanese culture of Zen, Ensō represents a moment where the mind and body are free in their creative processes. Ensō is the embodiment of the state of mind at the precise moment of creation. In the series ONE LINE, the creative act is a moment of simplistic singularity: One Line - one mind - one moment - one act. "When I draw, my mind is clear, I feel my consciousness, my thoughts, my body and the world in and around me. In this state of mind, I aim to reduce the motif and technique to the most basic form of drawing. By mirroring my mindset with the paper in front of me, I aim to achieve an all-encompassing state of being. I, as the artist, become the mere moment, a moment of simple presence. I draw and focus on the void, on the negative space around the line. The space which is not the line, but which sustains it and enables it to take on the form of a line, ultimately comes to represent the line in its truest form. With each breath the seeming emptiness is filled more and more with the presence of the line, and of 'being' itself." ONE LINE is conceptually related to EACH LINE ONE BREATH, where the drawings are formed through the act of drawing each line during the length of a single exhale. As the work evolves, the artist achieves a form of spiritual transcendence wherein repetitive movements become all-encompassing. The artist is able to find a meditative space by translating his essential life-giving breath into a physical manifestation – each line in the work. However, in relation to EACH LINE ONE BREATH, this series reduces the concept even further. The many evolving lines in ONE LINE ONE BREATH are essentialized into one original line. But this act is in no way a reduction but rather pure maximization: the one line holds the intrinsic potential to evolve into any form; it is one line, but it is also all lines. It is pure possibility, constantly defined by that which it is not or has not yet become.