Curiosity 82: Emptiness

This daily business goes in spurts and lulls. I'm in a lull at the moment—what to say? So I googled "Japanese emptiness art," since I figure the Japanese would have something to say about emptiness—or as they put it more eloquently, yohaku no bi: the beauty of empty space. Here are a few images that came up that I liked.

Iwasaki Tsuneo, Migrating Birds

Yasuaki Onishi, Reverse of Volume (2009)

Hasegawa Tōhaku, Pine Trees (16th century)

Yamamoto Baiittsu,
Dragonfly and Pinks with
Waterfall (1830s–1856)

Of course, Westerners have long been intrigued by Japanese aesthetics. Here are a couple such artists musing on emptiness:

Giorgio Pahor

Sam Francis, Towards Disappearance (1957–58)

The Japanese symbol for emptiness:

Kara (empty), also sora (the sky)
and kū (the void)

And here's a short video on the Japanese concept of emptiness, one of the five basic elements:

All right. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more filled with inspiration. Here's hoping!