Wabi Sabi
Gardens of Wabi and Sabi
Fragment of mind
The many stays in Japan over the past 25 years have shaped the way I see things. The occupation with Japanese gardens, bonsai and the many years of cooperation with personalities from this field as well.
The spirit of Wabi-Sabi has permanently changed the way I see and experience things.
The view of the world and its things, the feeling of wabi sabi, actually understandable for everyone, was particularly perfected in Japan. Even if Wabi-Sabi, with its manifestations in the consideration of aesthetics, mental attitude and classification of material qualities, has its origin in Japan and one is quite practiced there on this level of perception, the spirit of Wabi-Sabi is still from us Westerners people can feel and understand.
Wabi-Sabi has its origins in Zen Buddhism or the tea ceremony. With the project "Gardens of Wabi and Sabi" I transported this seeing and feeling with the help of pictures and made them accessible to the viewer.
Characteristics and Values of Wabi-Sabi:
Nothing is perfect, everything is in flux. Impermanence, aging, decay. Acceptance of what is. Concentration on the "essential", modesty and simplicity
Simplicity, simplicity, reduction.
In the so-called rock or dry gardens of Japan only a few materials are used for design. It is precisely from this that they derive their expressiveness and fascination. I amplified this power through cutouts and further reduction.
Beauty in ephemerality.
Doesn't the aesthetic value of an object only become visible or tangible through the perception of transience?
The complex nature of wabi and sabi becomes particularly clear in the trompe l'oeil "Inside or outside". Aside from the apparent physical appearance of the discoloring foliage, which is ideally complemented by the door's patina and combines into a pleasing aesthetic ensemble, a less obvious metaphysical side of wabi-sabi comes into play. Where is the viewer? From where is he looking where? Does he look inside out or vice versa? Or is he looking outwards, from one garden to another? All of this moves the viewer and yet it is not relevant. Concentrate on the essentials, enjoy the moment.
Everything flows
An increase in the perception of simplicity, transience and the flow of time is evident in the bamboo motifs and the motif "Boundless Spirit".
With light as a fleeting element, the viewer has only a brief moment to absorb the beauty and power of nature.
Text for the exhibition by Dr. Claudia Haertl-Kasulke (November 11, 2007)
Gardens of Wabi and Sabi – Helmut Rueger Photographs "Calm and contemplation - I photograph the feeling that touches me when looking at it".
Wabi and Sabi as an aesthetic concept “One carries water, gathers firewood, boils the water, prepares the tea, offers it to the Buddha, hands it to the others, and also drinks it oneself (…) For more details regarding the importance of the art of tea, you should, sir Monk, become clear to yourself”¹ This quote from the 10th century comes from the monk Nabô Sôkei and shows the essence of wabi and sabi in its complete simplicity, in the clarity of the description and the associated spiritual dimension. Between the lines, the beauty of simple things opens up to us in their reduction to the essential, contains this idea of wabi and sabi in equal measure - an eye for the small details of everyday life in their essential and private meaning - an incompleteness inherent in it, as reflected in nature in the process of becoming and passing away. Both are connected by the feeling, the essence, the soul of the one who accompanies me. Be it in the art of tea or as a signposting mediator in his art. Wabi and Sabi has thus become an aesthetic concept in Japanese art, expressing the soulful beauty of simplicity and ephemerality. Calm and contemplative – I photograph the feeling that touches me when I look at it,” says Helmut Rueger when he talks about his work. And this is where the worlds of wabi and sabi meet in the photographs. "Consideration" If we follow this silent observation of the three Japanese women, our view opens up to the colorful treetops. The autumn leaves appear unspectacular, simple – the view of the simple. The utmost simplicity applies: the nothing ... An incompleteness inherent in it, as reflected in nature in the process of becoming and passing away. If we, as Europeans, now allow ourselves to neglect the question of "meaning" and get involved in this play of colors on the leaves - if we then allow ourselves to ask the question of what arises when we look at it, we are very quick in perceiving this simplicity that comes so close to nothing. And now the question arises – what feeling does this nothingness give me? And then we discover in ourselves, in the observation of "contemplation", the view for the small details of everyday life in their - for us essential and intimate, private meaning. feeling and imagery This is exactly the moment that Helmut Rueger captures in his photographs. The feeling that arises in the now takes shape. Or to put it another way, if we quote the American photographer Minor White (1908-1976): "Expressive photography shows a thing not only for what it is, but for what it can also be"2 This surprise that a photograph becomes an adventure for the viewer, to experience the adventure that the motives can be discovered - far beyond the clear depiction of the object, the scenery, shows the work of Helmut Rueger "Inside Outside". At first glance a shoji, a sliding door. Framed on the right and left by blue door leaves, which in their patina draw the line from the now in which the viewer is standing to transience. A second closed inner door opens up to the view of the colorful autumn leaves in all their ephemeral splendour. Step closer - allows the path to adventure. What if we were actually standing in front of this door and the autumn garden is behind us? In a subtle way, this work accompanies us into a trompe-l'oeil, to an illusion of the eyes. Yes, more to a perception of the object that questions, irritates and makes ad absurdum even our position as a viewer. The inner door forms the mirror for the real world that is behind us. When we notice this “image” perceptibly, we are suddenly in a room: the door in front of us, the garden behind us. If we take our time, “let ourselves go”, we move from the classic viewer of a photo in a gallery into the reality of the pictorial world and find ourselves there as the protagonist, as the main actor for perception. The question arises for us: What feeling arises NOW? Helmut Rueger - Conceptual Photographs In these two considerations, it quickly becomes clear that Helmut Rueger's photographs do more than just depict, more than just document the location, the object. If we briefly follow the paths of Western photography, then of course the fascination of documentation was the starting point. In the middle of the 19th century, it was first the Civil War in the USA, then scientifically oriented, topographical expeditions that set the first milestones in the training of photographers. This applied above all to his eye for the essentials in terms of the assignment and for the optimization of the technical implementation. The quality of the photographic statement was measured on the one hand by its functionality and on the other hand by the motivation, the perception of beauty of both the photographer and the client, e.g. B. the expedition leader. The next major milestone in the development of photography was set by the photographer Eugène Atget.3 Similar to Cézanne in painting, he moves at the interface between the 19th and 20th centuries and thus at the turning point in European pictorial tradition. According to John Szarkowski, (head of the photography department at MoMA, New York, he also manages parts of the Atget archive), he sees in him and contemporaries such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander and others that the photographer in his Work pursues independent goals. He sees his photographs as a means of expression for these goals - comparable to Cézanne's paintings - which can always be improved and perfected. In this analogy to the formalist tradition in painting (see Clement Greenberg, American art critic), but also in sculpture, he sees the photographer in reality as an artist. Why this brief look at the history of photography? In the first phase as a photographer, Helmut Rueger also documents the object, the scenery. The fascination of Japanese landscapes, journeys into the exotic of a distant country, people in the game of deception of foreign cultures. This is where his "tools of the trade" come into their own: the progressive optimization of the technology used and an eye for the essentials. Tofukuji II But very soon it will be more. The subject - Japanese worlds - encounters more and more his own examination of Japanese philosophy, as reflected in the aesthetic concept of wabi and sabi and - he would not be European if he did not turn to the development of western photographic history at the same time. Two worlds meet here, which more and more merge his European roots with those of this new Eastern world of experience. With the focus on Japanese motifs, it is becoming increasingly important for him to reflect his personal perception and his own feelings in their depiction. By intervening in nature in this way, giving it his personal framework, placing the object in a clearly defined, I would like to say private context, he combines the aesthetic construct of wabi and sabi4 with his artistic objective: the object in its simplicity is the mirror of my personal feelings as a viewer. From this self-related viewer's point of view, he integrates the "external" viewer. He brings it into the space that emerges as reality in his photography and lets it - the space - be experienced in its three-dimensionality. From photographed impression to felt photography Karl Blossfeld photographed airy floral arabesques. Albert Renger-Patzsch photographed chimneys growing into the sky. One would almost like to think that the liveliness of her objects can already be perceived in the description. In Neue Sachlichkeit, photography was used apodictically to make it possible to work more than just documentary: the impression left by the object was captured on the “platter. This is how "character pictures" of machines, buildings, etc. What is different now when Helmut Rueger talks about the fact that he "photographs the feeling"? It's not just a matter of location. The photographer of the new objectivity reproduces what he "sees". While Helmut Rueger enters the game with the object himself as a human being. In his perception he becomes part of the observed object. Let's let Helmut Rueger say it in his own words: "Here is a brief description of what I feel when looking at the images discussed or when focusing when creating the image: Peace, serenity, connection with nature or with the object. Empathizing with a situation, a mood. A warm, good feeling arises, which finally, if I get involved with it long enough, gives power and strength. In this respect, it comes full circle – because mostly what attracts me is the power, the power of the simplicity of the subjects.”
November 12, 2007 Dr. Claudia Haertl-Kasulke
Literature cited: 1. Quoted from Izutsu, The Theory of the Beautiful in Japan, from Book 1 Nambôroku.ˆ 2. Quoted from: Peter C. Bunnell, Minor White and the Photography Class. In: New History of Photography. Michel Frizot (ed.), Paris 1994/96, Cologne 1998, p. 664. 3. See: Molly Nesbit, The Photographer and the Story. Eugene Atget. In see above p. 399. 4. See: Koren Leonard 1994/2004: Wabi-sabi for artists, architects and designers, San Francisco 1993/Cologne 2004 5th edition p. 90