Enso; Zen, Soul 2015

Takashi Murakami made this Enso, sometime after 1962, using spray paint. The red background is, like, whoa, so solid and flat, it almost feels like it’s pushing forward. Then you’ve got this big black circle hovering on top. It's not quite perfect, is it? More of an approximation, like a gesture, which is interesting in itself. Up close, the spray paint makes it kind of fuzzy around the edges. It’s not trying to be slick or anything. The imperfections give it this raw, immediate feeling, like it was done in one go. You can almost imagine Murakami just letting loose with the spray can. It’s like Cy Twombly meets a can of spray paint. But in Twombly, I often get the impression that he is trying to make a mess. This circle here feels like a quest for something else. What do you think?