I was thinking about my previous post on Fieroza Doorsen, and her beautiful restraint, when the great Miles Davis quote, “It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play” appeared in my feed. It’s funny how our brains work to connect the dots. There’s beauty and grace in restraint. Restraint gives way to possibility. It leaves the other person wondering, imagining. Picasso’s bull, a Brutalist building, and a single variety flower arrangement all spring to mind. It’s the absence of something that makes them all so beautiful.

I’m drawn to amorphous shapes and pure colour which is why Fieroza Doorsen‘s paintings are so appealing to me. Deceptively simple, her compositions have a profound effect. Doorsen’s work is a reminder of how powerful restraint can be. She has a background in printmaking and moves between pastels, charcoal, ink, oil paint, pencil, henna, acrylic, string, wax and collage.

Fujikasa Satoko‘s stunning stoneware sculptures remind me of Richard Sweeney’s paper ones. Their free flowing forms are similar, and both artists imbue movement and vitality into their chosen mediums. One writer compared Satoko’s sculptures to soaring birds –– Sweeney’s are often compared to birds in flight –– or winds moving through a valley. I see meringue and sea foam. In both cases, it’s the movement that I’m drawn to, as though they’ve sprung from sky and sea.

“Each piece of paper I cut is a prayer,” says Ayumi Shibata of her exquisite artworks. Through traditional methods of Japanese paper cutting, Shibata creates magical scenes inspired by nature. Some are tiny enough to fit inside the palm of a hand, while others are large enough to walk through. “Kami” –– the Japanese word for both “spirit” –– emanates through her work. Each piece lights up, releasing ethereal shadows. “The light represents spirit and life, how the sun rises and breathes life into the world,” she says. Interestingly, “Kami” also means paper, which seems apt given its light, organic, and ubiquitous qualities. I find Shibata’s work beautiful, and full of hope.

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There’s beauty in decay; paint peeling from walls of abandoned buildings, rust on steel, skin ravaged by life. These photographs by German artist, Kathrin Linkersdorff are breathtaking. Inspired by wabi sabi, the Japanese concept of transience and imperfection, Linkersdorff ‘s portraits capture the beauty of flowers as they are dying. “I am interested in the ephemeral nature of flowers and other living organisms,” she says. “You can interpret this as a metaphor for the circle of life. It’s not necessarily just about the flowers…. I like to explore an object’s nature and reveal structures which lie hidden under its surface.”

Megan Bogonovich‘s ceramics looks like sea creatures, the kind that beguile you, but that you know not to get too close to. Only a very vivid imagination can dream up such beautiful and bizarre creations. I rather adore this one, part exotic flower, part palm tree, and glazed in the gentlest of pastels. Do they bite? Quite possibly.