Elegance

When I was a kid studying Judo in New York City, all the toughs thought Judo was for wussies. It was a sport, not a real martial art like Karate. Inevitably, street corner punks with nothing more to do engaged in arguments concerning who would win in a fight between a karate guy and a Judo guy. One night, a bunch of toughs in my neighborhood picked on a friend who attended the same Jodo Dojo as I did. Jackie “studied” Karate, and considered those of us who were into Judo to be idiots. He started the fight in typical street tough fashion, with many claims of his prowess, how many fights he won, and how he was going to wipe the streets clean with my buddy. He then moved on to elaborate and patterned Karate moves designed to intimidate. We all stood around watching. All of a sudden, my friend stepped in, did a simple foot sweep that knocked Jackie down, and got him into a submission choke hold, which our Sensei had taught us last week. The fight was over in a few seconds.

Judo

None of the judo moves was particularly simple or complex. They were carefully timed, practiced moves which aimed to use the opponent’s body against himself. Looked simple, yes. But not simple – just elegant, accurate, and incorporating an understanding of the body’s force of movement and mechanics. Not Simple for Simple’s sake. One of my Senseis speculated that the ancient roots of the art, its original fountainhead, were self-defense techniques developed by Japanese peasants who were not allowed weapons, but needed to be able to defend themselves from attacks by the warrior class. Simple-seeming moves, but canny with regard to their understanding of how the body worked and the effects of gravity and movement on the human body.

Carving

As a carver, I avoid overcomplication, not only because really complex and overly intricate carvings are dust collectors, but because they take away from the beauty of the wood and the effect of the design.

In teaching woodcarving, I always start with chip carving. At its simplest level, chip carving is based on a simple triangle of wood carefully excised from the wood. You can get fancy and have three knives for the different cuts, but I do most of it with one. As the gallery below shows, you can vary that simple chip into curved forms and build forms that are abstract or naturalistic. Your design assets are basic. You might say that in chip carving, I am a minimalist. I’ve seen chip-carved pieces that are much more elaborately carved.

It’s simple, but with application and practice, the plain chips, accurately cut, can form the foundation of many complex shapes. Basic chip carving techniques also smooth the way for carving lettering and other advanced techniques. All based on chips excised in three straight or curved cuts.

Arguments in favor of or against minimalism sometimes seem to avoid underlying issues like elegance, function, or aesthetic effects. It’s like Judo or chip carving. Your complexity is built on the simple, even though it may not be evident. The next time you are sitting around the patio or the fire pit arguing this, remember that simple and complex are related, not isolated.

So that’s my take on this. Now, go ye forth and sin no more!