Seeing Wabi-sabi

                             

            Ask just about any out-of-towner what comes to mind when they hear ‘Dallas’ - and - depending on their age – the images probably include the tv show, the JFK assassination, the Cowboys, the endless concrete of DFW airport and George W.  And all of the images would be accurate; they all are Dallas-rooted.  But wrap those thoughts in Texan mega-images and today’s political schisms, and you can understand why some people just dismiss the area and head for Austin or for distant mountains.  (Just like many Dallasites do during the long, long HOT summer.)

            We all look at everything with preconceived notions: we wouldn’t know we were looking at a cup if we hadn’t learned, at some point, that it was a cup.  But we often don’t realize all the cultural filters we use to “see.”  A broken cup in America is a devalued cup; the break ruins the cup.  But in Japan, with its long wabi-sabi tradition, observers look at the break differently – they believe that the imperfect cup now tells a richer, individual story.

            Back to Dallas.   Meet just one Dallas, cutting-edge artist.

            Shane Carruth has just released Upstream Color, his first film since his 2004 Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning Primer, and by all accounts, he’s done it again.  Kenneth Turan (of the LA Times and NPR) said, ‘The one-man filmmaker extraordinaire has crafted an out-there yet undeniably gripping tale that's part romance, part sci-fi and utterly original.’  Read the reviews.  Go see it.  Rent or buy Primer.  Love it or hate it. 

            But regardless, think about giving Dallas – and everything else you see - a wabi-sabi thought.