p 27 Shibumi THE WAY OF AN ARTIST
THERE ARE SINGLE WORDS IN CERTAIN LANGUAGES THAT CONVEY A CONCEPT IMBUED WITH MULTIFACETED MEANING, IMPLYING UNUSUAL COMBINATIONS OF QUALITIES THAT CAN TAKE A MYRIAD OF FORMS. THE JAPANESE “SHIBUMI” IS SUCH A WORD:
It connotes ineffable qualities of refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is understanding rather than knowledge, it is eloquent silence, articulating brevity, it is modesty without prudence, authority without domination, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive, Beingness without the angst of becoming, and it is understated beauty.
It
can describe a demeanor, a simple gesture, a personality, a flower arrangement, a garden, a philosophical understanding, and of course an artistic creation. In fact Shibumi is an art in itself, the Art of Simplicity, Grace and Elegance.
*Trevanian. Shibumi. New York: Ballantine Books, 1980
One artist, whose works undoubtedly qualify to be called Shibumi, is Canadian sculptor Georg Schmerholz.
It is hard to box Georg Schmerholz into any particular stylistic trend; his work is as eclectic in its artistic expression as it is versatile in the use of various media. His favorite quotation by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”, aptly describes his motivation to find that point of tensional balance between the detail and broad form, realism and abstraction. Not an easy task, but Schmerholz brings this process to an effortless conclusion, not shaped by analytical thought.
Born in Transylvania to parents of Hungarian/ Jewish/Armenian descent, Georg studied engineering/design for 2 years in University, before escaping communism to find freedom and pursue his interest for sculpture. He lived in a refugee camp in Italy for 7 months before immigrating to Sweden, where he exhibited for the first time in a two man show with a painter from Hungary, in the city of Skovde.
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