Hole And Wholeness

The very first shapes I carved in wood were horizontal individual wooden lines which were placed -rather awkwardly- on the floor.

 

But how is a line in this world / how does it connect to the surrounding space?

 

As I contemplated this question suddenly the idea of a hole 'appeared' at each end of the single line. The line ends thus had turned into circles which rested pedestal-like on the ground and held the single line between them -curved away from the floor- in space. Then (the thought of) the two holes at each end merged and thus 'split' the line along its full length and turned the formerly single line into a loop – like a stretched out rubber band between two fingers with two sides of this 'loop' being 'parallel' to each other: the singular line is a circle /loop. 

 

In trying to find an equivalent to music / sound in matter, I had discovered the loop and thus my most fundamental unit and tool. 

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The thought of a hole produced the notion of a curvature of matter ( a total curvature  of 360 degrees) and thsu teh presence of a circle without beginning or end.

The presence of the hole changes the essential property of the circle:

in the mind and in wood the circle can be 'folded' into the volume of wood in ways so that outside and inside are no longer opposed along the circle line, but instead envelop each other and merge. 

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The presence of the hole changes the status of the line in wood:

from being a rigid material and singular thing into a flexible and infinite circle / loop.

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The circle is an irreducible, powerful and fundamental limit and starting 'point'.

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Like dealing with different 'kinds of' 'reality': wholeness is either achieved through 

• the presence of a hole which turns the line into a loop

         (flexible in wood and the mind)

         ('wholeness' in wood and form) 

         (space and hole are one / are surrounding and penetrating / form and space are mutually containing)

         (= the 'highest order' of wholeness?)

         necessary

 

• or : a connectedness of  several lines in wood  

         ('wholeness' in wood only, separation in form only) (space is surrounding)

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as opposed to

• lines carved in wood and then fully rounded / separated from each other

         (disconnectedness in form and wood) (surrounding space as a container  for  separate things) 

        arbitrary 

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