I know, another quote, but this one particularly got me thinking.
The Japanese ideogram for beauty is built with two Chinese characters, ‘sheep’ and ‘great’. Apparently, in China, beauty was a ‘fat (great) sheep’. But in Japan…this word for beauty became refined and abstract. Beauty became associated with death and its sorrow. Mono no aware, a Japanese expression that captures the sentiment of sorrow…points to the notion of beauty as sacrifice. In order for people to enjoy the feast at a banquet, a sheep must be sacrificed. Autumn leaves are most beautiful and bright as they are distressed with their impending death. The minerals I use in my paintings must be pulverised to bring out their true beauty. Art serves this kind of sacrificial beauty, and art should be redefined to consider the relational acts as much as products we produce to communicate.
O, the beauty of the cross.
The quote is from a book called refractions by a guy called Makoto Fujimura. Check out his exciting website if you like.
