Artist statement for Enzo Self Portrait Series

Medium: charcoal on silk Japanese paper

The Ensō

Usually, a person draws the ensō in one fluid, expressive stroke creating a circle. Once the ensō is drawn, one does not change it. It evidences the character of its creator and the context of its creation in a brief, continuous time. It is believed that the character of the artist is fully exposed in how she or he draws an ensō. Some artists will practice drawing an ensō daily as a kind of spiritual exercise.

The Weave

My ensō has been cut into strips and woven together revealing fragmented parts of the whole ensō.

Extraction and animation

Various fragments of the woven ensō have been extracted and reconfigured into a new animation of the whole.