diptych # 61 ~ cultivated taste - shibui / wabi-sabi
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 at 11:15AM 
Red and white ~ Au Sable Forks, NY / Lake Placid, NY in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenI am reading a book (an actual paper-based book) about Camp Santanoni and its Japanese architectural influences. In the chapters which deal with the Japanese influence, the notion of shibui* - an aesthetic of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty - is raised in this fashion:
".... an unassuming quality in which refinement underlies a commonplace appearance, perceptible only to a cultivated taste."
On a related note, although not mentioned in the book, is another Japanese aesthetic (actually 2 which are most often co-joined), that of wabi-sabi* which is centered around the acceptance of transience and imperfection - one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. An aesthetic which, according to Wikipedia:
"...nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.
Having resided for 2 years in Japan (although I was in the military, I lived off-base in a Japanese residence - eat, sit, and sleep on the floor - amongst the local Japanese population), I have had the pleasure of learning about and - to the best of my ability to understand - experiencing these aesthetics firsthand. IMO, it's almost impossible for a westerner to convey the full meaning / experience of these aesthetics because they are not just applicable to the arts but are, in fact, inculcated / infused into all aspects of Japanese society / life.
In any event, the notions of the shibui and wabi-sabi aesthetics have influenced my picture making - they also describe the resultant pictures quite well - and the appreciation I have for most of the pictures made by others which prick my eye and sensibilities.
*WARNING - one can go on a bit of a blurry-eyed mind-numbing journey in pursuit of trying to find / discern an exact meaning of various Japanese words or phrases
FYI, diptych # 61 illustrates a 48 period of our goofy weather - snow over ice covered cars on Sunday, warm temps with melting ice and snow + dense fog on Tuesday.
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