"The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not have preferences." The line is from the Hsin Hsin Ming, and it is written into the center of the canvas in blue. The painting takes the instruction literally. Cool grey and white hold the left, worked soft and open.
Warm ochre and plum block the right, edged and deliberate. Neither side wins. A black ring sits between them, drawn in one pass with the brush and left unclosed. A closed circle would have chosen. This one declines. Large and square, five and a half feet. Warm and cool in equal measure, which makes it unusually easy to place. It works in rooms that would reject a painting committed to one temperature.
