Void

Opening

The third gate.

The void is the place that was not painted.

But what was not painted and what was left empty are not the same.

A place that could not be painted is unfinished.
A place left empty is form.

How does one tell them apart.

Look at the rest.

If the painted part is exact, it was left empty.
If the painted part is vague, it could not be painted.

The void is proved by what stands beside it.

The question of this part is this.

What is the empty place the place of.

If the empty place were nothing, the question would not hold.
But the empty place is usually something.

The place of what has not yet come, or the place of what has already left.
Or the place of what is there and not seen.

Four people stand in this part.

One more than in the other parts.

Because the void has many kinds.

Color comes in one way.
It enters the eye.

The void comes into being in several ways.

The void left empty.
Bada Shanren.
A place made by not setting the brush down.

The void filled.
Fred Williams.
A place filled to the edge with ground and still looking empty.

The void erased.
Turner.
A place painted and then dissolved away.

The void manufactured.
Kapoor.
A place designed and built.

The first three came out of conditions.
Paper and ground and air made them so.

The last did not come out of a condition.

So Kapoor is the witness for the other side in this part.

A void can be made without fūdo.

Only after confirming that does it become clear what the first three were.