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FUKINSEI (#1)
2016
Oak, steel, varnish
300 x 110 x 40 cm



FUKINSEI (#2)
2016
Oak, steel, varnish
300 x 110 x 40 cm


In Japanese culture, the concept of “mono no aware” (物の哀れ) defines a mental state that is probably best described in English as “consciousness of the impermanence” of all things and living beings. Mindfulness of the temporal nature of existence and the pathos of evanescence heighten our appreciation of the beauty of form in its time even as we are aware of the necessity of perpetual change and renewal.

[...] Walkowiak creates two objects, formal compositions of materials suggestive of benches, that play on the notions of proximity and distance and the evanescence of display and situation. The titles, Fukinsei (#1) and Fukinsei (#2) (2016), are a reference to Japanese aesthetics, where asymmetry (“fukinsei”) is one of the seven principles of “wabi-sabi,” an attitude of mind rooted in acceptance and contemplation of the imperfection, perpetual transmutation, aging, and impermanence of all things. In the context of Eastern thought, the objects’ fragmentary forms seem empty; the emphasis is less on abiding than on volatile contact in passing. 



Text: Marlies Wirth, MAK - Musuem of Applied Arts, Vienna 2016
Photos: (c) MAK / Alsan Kudrnofsky