Max Gimblett

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1935

daruma sitting

  • 2009
  • Sumi ink / Thai Garden Plain Smooth 100% Kozo Handmade Paper
  • The Max Gimblett and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Gift
  • 762 x 559mm
  • 2011/136

“Enso is perhaps the leading motif in Japanese calligraphy. It certainly has become mine. It took maybe fifteen years’ drawing before my ensos became round – previously they were ovals or sort of one-sided squeezed circles as I misjudged my centre and ran towards the left or right side of the paper. Also, I had not resolved my in and out; practice makes perfect. […] I was introduced to Zen calligraphy in San Francisco. I studied with the Japanese masters of all ages; they came to my studio and instructed me when I invoked their name.” —Max Gimblett (Max Gimblett: Ocean Wheel, 1 August – 15 November 2020)