A friend asked me to interpret the meaning of "ma" with Japanese calligraphy and brushwork. It is a fundamental Japanese principal of interval that applies to both space and time. what isn't there as well as what is.Think of the pauses in music, the negative spaces in painting and art work, the placement of stones in "karesansui" - or the ornamental dry gardens, or the vacant space left by the careful placement of a flower stem.
I tried to interpret these meanings with the traditional strokes of the "ma" character: 2 facing gates with the character for sun in between. I used traditional tools, sumi ink that I ground on a stone, rice paper and bamboo calligraphy pens.
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