HIROYUKI DOI (B. 1946)

Following the loss of his younger brother, Japanese master chef Doi (b. 1946) turned to art for solace. Leaving behind his career as a chef, he dedicated himself fully to his art making, creating his now famous circle drawings beginning in 1985. The circle, one of the most basic shapes in nature, is powerful in its symbolism and represents such resonant themes as fullness, unity, vastness and the cycle of life. Using only a super fine tipped pen on washi paper, Doi painstakingly depicts swelling, churning bodies of celestial circles that impart an almost obsessive intensity onto the viewer. His process is meditative in its repetition. In The Transmigration of the Soul, Doi's circles float and spread out like a billowing cloud or an endlessly expanding galaxy, engulfing the viewer.