AH Milans Curates #1: WABI SABI 05102023 by Sébastien Cheramy

What Makes This Work Compelling

Sébastien Cheramy's "WABI SABI 05102023" operates in a quieter register than its series counterparts. Where other works in the Wabi Sabi series erupt into electric colour, this canvas stays with earth — ochres, off-whites, greys that read like stone or weathered plaster. The surface is dense but not aggressive: layers upon layers, scraped back, overpainted, marked by a restrained calligraphic hand across its 145 × 130 cm format.

The title names a Japanese aesthetic that finds beauty in impermanence. Cheramy does not illustrate this philosophy — he enacts it through process. The painting looks as though it has existed for decades, exposed to elements, bearing the physical record of time. Every crack, drip, and erasure is not decorative but essential — the content of the work itself.

Why This Piece Matters

Cheramy's practice sits at the intersection of graffiti, calligraphy, and abstract expressionism. This work foregrounds the calligraphic impulse: the dark marks traversing the surface carry the weight of writing, of a language approached but never decoded. The weathered ground against which these marks appear creates a disorienting temporality — are we looking at a painting made today, or a fragment unearthed from another century? For collectors of quiet, textured abstraction, this piece rewards sustained attention.