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The Zen landscape paintings of Reinhardt can strike someone in the most profound ways. His paintings may be described as contemporary and abstract, with their characteristic monochromatic or simple black and white motif.
Zen may sound new to the average American simply because this profound philosophy is more popular in Asia, specifically in Japan.
An artist like Reinhardt, upon encountering such a new philosophy in his life, would also find that this would have profound consequences in his art.
We can observe this in his paintings, which are quite profound and elegant in their simple forms.
Zen paintings might easily be an elegant portrayal of this Asian philosophy. However, it may take a more mature approach to appreciate paintings which may not seem new or are “simple."
Samples of elegant Zen paintings may be just a "circle" painted with a singular stroke of the brush.
However, the paintings of Reinhardt include those which have dark outlines on a black background, challenging the observer to assess the painting much more closely, so as to be able to interpret whatever it is that he may deem visible.
Would you be willing to try and observe these paintings? Taking this chance would never hurt anyone, and for the practitioners of Zen, as well as those who are unfamiliar with it, that long sought enlightening experience might just be waiting behind a Reinhardt painting.
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