Monday, March 19, 2012

Landscape- Bunsei

Bunsei's Landscape is a simple yet eloquent piece which I truly think, captures the essence of tranquility. In a culture based around the ideals of Zen Buddism and brevity, the element of space is used often as a means to not create clutter and keep the piece calm. I love this. I love simplicity and the use of little to convey exactly your intent.

Everything about this piece is simple; from the mediums to the drawings themselves. There are no extremely elaborate patterns, designs, details; just what is necessary to convey the artist's intention. He gives the perception of depth through space and simple use of value and size. The foreground is dark and larger in size while the background somewhat dissipates into nothing and sits misty along the top.


I honestly just want to walk into the piece and find myself in a calming, misty world along that coast; to meditate and escape into the state of mind where simply being is fine.

However, before I drift too far from reality...Along my travels I discovered this photographer, George Seeley, whose work, although sometimes more abstract, reminded me of this landscape and the ideals of brevity. The shots are of actual places however because of how he shot them they become somewhat abstract. They have this idea of a depth, simplicity, and dissipating shapes which I think in it's own way captures a form of strange brevity. Also, they're in black and white.



Also, George Seeley himself was inspired and loved Japanese paintings