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Lines. Space. Tao.
Art is to seeing as music is to listening. It connects the inside
of the viewer to the outer world and vice versa. A work of art
is neither the consequence nor the result; it is only a door to
the Way.
In the process of applying myself as an artist, the Tao Te Ching
and parables of Chuang Tzu have influenced me, providing food
for thought, visions of enlightenment in life; the awareness of
the art of artlessness, the usefulness of uselessness, the joy
of wandering, spontaneity, and the insignificance of the difference
between big and little. The Tao Te Ching offers the Way as a guide
for life and it propounds nonaction as a means to achieve one's
higher purpose in the workaday world. And from Chuang Tzu I learned
the need for transcendence and the freedom of the individual from
worldly concerns.
For the full development of oneself, one needs to express one's
innate abilities and integrity, which is the manifestation in
the individual of the universal Way or Tao. Integrity is the cultivation
of complete harmony. The relationship between Art and me is not
one of the ruler and subject; but simply friends joined through
integrity.
We rarely go someplace or come back from someplace without a
special reason, or purpose. Often, we regard going someplace without
a purpose as a waste of time. In fact, this kind of wandering
can be something important. If we go someplace to do something
with worldly concerns, it is simply another daily chore. Strolling
without an active intention, I try to relax as I let my mind wander,
let my senses communicate within, and rid myself of the machinations
of the mind, especially in the act of painting. Just like fish
forget themselves in rivers and lakes, I forget myself in the
art of the Way.
Each artwork is a catechism reflecting Zen experience. To learn
about Zen is to learn about oneself. To learn about oneself means
to abandon one's ego. Forgetting about one's ego means enlightenment,
freedom and transcendence. In other words, Zen is not something
that one can acquire by trying hard. While in the beginning one
must work on it; in the end that effort becomes an obstacle. Working
hard cannot be a voluntary life, but a forced discipline, and
therefore restriction. The effort originally comes from one's
ego, and that has to be discarded. What has to be understood,
however, is that one will reach the stage of effortlessness only
after applying maximum effort. It is like floating freely in water,
which is only possible, after one has learned how to swim.
Each artwork focuses on the freedom of the individual. Its intention
is to show exaltation, tension, and transcendence. Art can come
from the restraint of emotions, creating fine aesthetics. In this
form of art, I pursue the beauty of restraint and simplicity.
Through simplicity, I make not only a personal but also a universal
and social statement. The purification of a society is only possible
by the purification of each individual in that society. Thus,
it is the artist's job to enhance the meaning of life by bringing
all the reality in everyday life to a level of enlightenment.
In simplicity, in the act of seeing and being seen, and in the
smile of enlightenment, resides our peace of mind. My works represent
these ideas and I would like to share them with you.
Jae H. Hahn
Los Angeles, 1999 |
