I'm just back from China and Japan and you can not help but be inspired to create after returning from such a trip. I had the amaizing chance to walk on the Great Wall and to visit a Japanese Ceramic Museum (Toguri Museum of Art). I also just yesterday visited the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco were I saw a symbol very similar to the one above. It is called, Ensō (円相) a Japanese word meaning "circle" and a concept strongly associated with Zen. Ensō is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance, the Universe, and the void; it can also symbolize the Japanese aesthetic itself. As an "expression of the moment" it is often considered a form of minimalist expression. In the caption at the Asian Art Museum they also said something like that it can mean "everything and yet nothing" which I found so interesting.
I want to use this symbol of Enso on some new work. I can wait to get started.
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