Connections

Friday, May 19, 2006. A Zen Garden, the photographs of an 86 year old Korean, an art exhibition at SAM--I connected them in the shower this morning. I love stumbling onto connections; the more disparate the better. But this morning's revelation should have been obvious.

The Zen Garden? Yesterday (and today) I took as vacation. Connie had never seen the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. It's a 150 acre private estate turned public. It features a moss garden, a bird refuge, and a Japanese Garden that includes a sand and rock Zen Garden. It is a beautiful and tranquil place.

The 86 year old Korean? That would be the photographer, Joshel Namkung, who gave a talk last night at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. An exhibit of photographs opened earlier this month. Interestingly, and perhaps intentionally, the exhibit is next to another show: "Discovering Buddhist Art--Seeking the Sublime."

Namkung's first show at SAM was in 1978, and still have the catalog from that show. Some of the images in the current show were part of the '78 exhibit, but it looks like they have been re-printed. I find his work engaging, with a calmness about them. But I confess that with several of them, I lost interest quickly.

In a brochure called a "Short Autobiography," Namkung says, "Let them (viewers) find beauty in the most mundane things, like roadside flowers, tumbled weeds. Observe the essence of things. That's Zen."