Seal of Paradox

 

Seal of Paradox. (2019) Chinese Ink on Rice Paper. Size: 140cm x 70cm,

Commentary on the Artwork and Its Interpretation

Text by Hamamoto Satoshi

1. The Artwork as Calligraphy

This piece presents the opening lines of the Dao De Jing, but in a highly stylized, elongated seal-script form. The characters are stretched into vertical pillars, some tightly compressed, others widened, producing an effect midway between ancient bronze inscriptions and modern abstract patterning.

• Monumentality: The tall columns resemble temple gates or bamboo groves, creating a sense of sacredness and solemnity. This fits the function of Chapter One: a threshold into Daoist thought.

• Density and Rhythm: The text is compressed, with little separation between phrases. This creates both difficulty and contemplation: the reader is not offered clarity at once but must move slowly, as if passing through a forest of meanings.

• Abstraction: By elongating the strokes beyond conventional proportions, the work resists immediate legibility, enacting Laozi’s principle that “the Dao that can be spoken is not the constant Dao.” Language itself is destabilized, so meaning is experienced through both form and silence.

This is not calligraphy meant for smooth reading, but for contemplation at the edge of legibility.

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2. The Textual Variant

Instead of transcribing the canonical text of Chapter One, the artist (or scribe) has offered a condensed and altered version:

• 道可道，非常道。

• 名可名，非常名。

• 无名万物之始

• 有名无也

Differences from Canonical Version

• Canonical: 无名天地之始；有名万物之母

• Variant: 无名万物之始；有名无也

This is a deliberate shift:

• It moves from “the nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth” to “the nameless is the beginning of the ten thousand things.” This collapses cosmology (heaven/earth) directly into multiplicity (the myriad things), making the nameless more immediate and generative.

• It removes the nurturing metaphor “the named is the mother of the ten thousand things” and replaces it with stark negation: “the named is nothingness.” This turns Laozi’s ambivalence into a sharper critique of naming.

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3. Interpretation: What the Work Says

This reinterpretation of Chapter One profoundly shifts its philosophical resonance.

1. Dao and Name remain the starting point. The first two lines are unchanged: the Dao that can be spoken is not the constant Dao; the name that can be named is not the constant name. The piece honors this paradox as its foundation.

2. Namelessness as Source of Multiplicity. By making 无名万物之始, the work emphasizes that emptiness is not abstract cosmology but the direct origin of all beings. The nameless is not distant — it is immediately present as the seed of every phenomenon.

3. Naming as Emptiness. The greatest shift is 有名无也. Instead of presenting naming as generative (mother), the artwork declares naming as void. Once something is named, it loses its depth, collapsing into nothingness. This resonates strongly with Chan/Zen thinking: language is not only insufficient but obstructive, turning reality into hollow categories.

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4. Artistic-Philosophical Integration

The visual form and the textual variant reinforce each other:

• The elongated, near-abstract script makes the words difficult to read, performing the very negation of language that the text proclaims.

• The substitution of “nothingness” for “mother” radicalizes Laozi’s teaching, stripping away metaphors and leaving the reader face to face with emptiness.

• The monumental verticals form a gate — echoing the canonical ending “众妙之门” (the gate of all mysteries) even though it is omitted. The artwork itself is that gate, through which the viewer enters by grappling with obscurity, paradox, and silence.

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5. Conclusion: A Gate into Emptiness

This artwork should be read as both a calligraphic piece and a philosophical commentary. Its form recalls ancient inscriptions, monumentalizing the text; its textual variation sharpens Laozi’s paradox into a starker statement:

• The Dao eludes language.

• Names dissolve into emptiness.

• Meaning lies not in words but in the space between them.

Standing before this work is to confront the truth that the Dao De Jing itself proclaims: the path begins where words fail. The piece is thus not only writing, but a visual koan, a gate into emptiness, and a reminder that art and philosophy in Daoism are inseparable.