Enso- radical simplicity

I began painting "ensos" after attending a contemplative teacher workshop in St. Paul a couple summers ago. The word "enso" means circle in Japanese, and comes out of the Zen tradition, although many cultures have created art based on the circle- sometimes called mandalas. What struck me the first time I painted an enso was the simplicity and spontaneity of the process, and that it involved the complete focusing on the moment at hand. There is also the sense that an enso is perfectly imperfect.

There are other interpretations of the enso, such as wholeness, completeness, or eternity, but ultimately, it can mean whatever the viewer brings to it. For me, it's also the perfect symbol of the dialectical nature of our daily existence - the constant up/down, in/out balance that characterizes everyone's experience. But this is all theorizing. The true master might just smile and say, "It's a circle --why add anything more?"

A traditional enso is usually done in one or two strokes, though lately I've been playing with different materials and textures, while trying to maintain a sense of spontaneity and immediacy. I see a lot of overlap with the goals of the abstract expressionists in the way they involved the entire body in their "action" paintings.

Like meditation practice, the essential element of the enso may be it's utter simplicity and matter-of-factness. And therein lies its true beauty.

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