ART

DRAWINGS OF MY LEFT HAND

My father is a calligrapher, and I have followed in his footsteps...

It was from him that I first learned the importance of silence, space and simplicity. Even more than the actual meaning of what is written, it is the form of each brushstroke and the balance found in the interplay of positive and negative space that matters most. How you feel, how you sit and how you hold the brush all affect your writing. Because of this, my father can tell exactly how I am feeling just by looking at the quality of my brushstrokes. And it is for this reason that when I write to him, I never type. To do so would be most insensitive.

When I do other things like playing music, I do so with the same sense of discipline and aesthetic understanding that I developed from working with the brush. The space between each note becomes as important as each note itself, perhaps even more so. Posture, grip and breathe all work together to shape each sound.