Asian Kanji - Buddha Circle 2 by Seiran Chiba

One brushstroke goes almost all the way around, then thins to a point and lets go.

Kanji – Buddha Circle 2 is a contemporary work by Seiran Chiba, dated 2016. The ensō, a circle drawn in a single movement of the brush, is closely tied to Zen Buddhism and is usually taken to express enlightenment, emptiness or the moment itself. Here black ink runs thick around the top and sides, swells into a rounded end at the lower left, and finishes in a sharp tail that stops just short of meeting it. Dry streaks at the edges show the bristles at work. The white sheet is otherwise empty. It is 19 inches wide and 13 high.

Perfection was never the point of the circle.