In the Eyes of the Beholder
by Johannes Tan
 Form & Space (1)
IN TRADITIONAL JAPANESE aesthetics, wabi-sabi beauty accepts transience and imperfection. Often described as beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete," wabi-sabi gracefully embraces ugliness, corrosion, and contamination. Rather than pursuing conventional beauty, purity, and perfection, it underscores the primordial forces of yin and yang governing the universe. Wabi-sabi teaches us to fearlessly embrace complementary opposites: No life without death, no order without chaos, no beauty without ugliness.
Discovering wabi-sabi has been transformative. Previously rust repelled me. Now I'm awaken to its metaphysical beauty. |
The colorful effect of rust oxidation underscores both life and death. We need oxygen to live, but the colorless gas is also a major force behind aging, cancer, and corrosion. While provoking a bittersweet nostalgia of bygone years, rust forces us to contemplate our mortality. It also evokes an existential loneliness and tender sadness. 
Yin & Yang
As I walked through the deafening silence of rusty dusty scrap metal in a junkyard, I realized that rust not only underscores ephemeral life, but abandoned wrecked cars symbolize epitaphs of broken journeys.
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The importance of cars cannot be denied. Brand-new, they shine immaculately in showrooms as means of self-expression, objects of desire, even status symbol. The life of cars intertwine with ours: from road trips to doctor's visits, from honeymoons to funerals. Over time they become rusty scrap metal. Covered in dust, surrounded by weeds, and frozen in time, they languish in oblivion. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet if only these cars could whisper about our broken journeys, our tears and laughter, our joy and sorrow. The beauty of rust, the texture of life, the epitaphs of broken journeys. The inevitability of death should make life even more meaningful, not meaningless. While the journey continues, keep searching for beauty everywhere! © 2019 Johannes Tan All Rights Reserved |
