Artiest: Jet van Gaal

Awagami Fine Art Kozo Japanese paper, size 60x40cm, framed wooden walnut, size 80x60cm, with clarity museum glass, edition 8 (+ 2.A.P.).

Awagami Fine Art Kozo Japanese paper, size 60x40cm: € 650.

Fine art photographer Jet van Gaal (1982) exposes the fragility of our physicality and reflects on details that are often overlooked in our hasty society. She finds inspiration in the duality of man and nature, but considers this mutual diversity from a holistic perspective: the world of things does not consist of separate parts, everything is inextricably linked.

About the series:

Kachou Fuugetsu (花鳥風月) – literally “Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon” – is considered one of the most important concepts in Japanese aesthetics and thoughts on beauty and art. In essence, it’s about seeing the beauty around you from each of the seasons. Thus the wind we feel in the summer is different from the wind in the winter, and the withering of autumn has its own beauty compared to the blooming period of spring. Even the moon is always different and it is worth noting.

Jet van Gaal is inspired by this Japanese philosophy and with ‘Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon’ she focuses on the relationship between our own physicality and the forms of nature. The making process is perhaps at least as important as the end result: the concentration when observing natural elements leads to the insight that the individual body is an inseparable part of a larger and all-encompassing whole that is constantly in motion. Kachou Fuugetsu goes beyond just mindfulness and also means: discovering yourself while experiencing the natural beauty.

As children, we look at the world around us with curiosity. Full of wonder we can enjoy and dwell on the smallest things, but somewhere in the course of our adulthood we seem to have lost that open view. With ‘Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon’ – a ‘work in progress’ – Jet van Gaal hopes to be able to bring the viewer back to our forgotten wonder, connection with nature and the feeling that comes with it.

Text by: Erik Vroons, Editor-in-Chief GUP Magazine / Fresh Eyes