ensō

The ensō symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and mu (the void). In Zen Buddhism, an ensō (円相 ) is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is is free to let the body create. The circle may be open or closed.

Central themes in Jeroen De Wandel’s (°1980) work are time, family, alienation & astonishment, looked upon from different angles, which results in sometimes abstracted, very tactile images, always with a touch of reality in it, that can change of identity or story in function of the place they get in a series/expo, where composition and interaction between the images is central. He tries to communicate with the spectator through the combination of images; the poetry without words that entices phantasy and makes him/her travel in his/her own mind to experiences he/she had in his/her past.

In that way, through the images, he tries to communicate from one’s mind to another, through his own visual world, without underestimating the spectator's imagination in this world of often superficial, concrete images. The spectator gets sucked into the images and is thrown back into the exhibition space and his own mind.

Jeroen De Wandel is mostly starting out of personal experiences and interests (which can be an emotion, memories, old family related material, found magazines, science …), sometimes from external factors, always playing with reality and irreality. It is unconscious work and too defined borders can disrupt the open mind that he tries to use to look at the world. Every picture is a piece of his identity, where he carefully constructs new stories which results in an own visual language.

The ensō is a Japanese word symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and mu (the void). It is characterised by a minimalism born of Japanese aesthetics. In Zen Buddhism, an ensō (円相 ) is a circle that is hand-drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create. The circle may be open or closed. In the former case the circle is incomplete, allowing for movement and development as well as the perfection of all things. Zen practitioners relate the idea to wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfection. When the circle is closed, it represents perfection, akin to Plato's perfect form, the reason why the circle was used for centuries in the construction of cosmological models.