Week 754: “Pointillism” by Laurent Dury

Beautiful Song Of The Week

http://www.beautifulsongoftheweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Pointillism-By-Laurent-Dury.mp3

Hiroyuki Doi was a successful chef in Japan until his mid-thirties, when his younger brother died suddenly of a brain tumor. Overcome by grief and not knowing quite how to relieve it, Hiroyuki began drawing.

Not landscapes or portraits, but circles.

Each of his works are made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny circles, not really arranged in any patterns, but created in such a way that staring at them can produce patterns in the observer’s brain. Some might make the viewer see a galaxy. Or the inside of a living cell. Or the roiling, bubbling water at the base of a waterfall.

Forty-five years after the death of his younger brother, Hiroyuki Doi is still creating his circle drawings, which are shown at exhibitions all over the world. He has no formal art training.

If you’ve got some time and would like a more eloquent description of how Doi’s art speaks to something at the core of what it means to be human, you should read John Green’s take on the circle drawings. But if you’ve only got 100 seconds, just listen to French composer Laurent Dury’s audio equivalent of a Hiroyuki Doi drawing: “Pointillism.”

What makes this a beautiful song:

1. It sounds motivated, but unhurried.

2. It sounds busy, but uncomplicated.

3. It sounds small, but expansive.

Recommended listening activity:

Being engrossed in a repetitive task.

Spotify.

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