Could I be Japanese?

A CHANCE DISCOVERY

2011-09-28T08:09:00.001-07:00

I was reading an old volume of Haiku, and stumbled upon one that resonates so concisely with the TRUTH OF THE BLOSSOM installation that I was startled.

ASHES MY BURNT HUT...
BUT WONDERFUL
THE CHERRY
BLOOMING ON MY HILL
-Hokushi

I feel as though this installation has now connected to a lineage of thought and living-metaphor ages old.

TRUTH OF THE BLOSSOM

2011-07-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Concept: In my efforts to help Japan in a time of need, I could not help but frame my response to the March earthquake artistically rather than philanthropically. I was seized by a profound mental image : A fault line drawn with cherry blossom petals. The poetry of the image had truth, because as the earthquake and tsunami struck, and as the nuclear hazard increased daily, the Sakura Blossoms flourished and fell here in Philly. I saw nature creating this amazing and poignant statement about the passing quality of all things, good and bad. I felt hope for healing.

TRUTH OF THE BLOSSOM is a site-specific installation work at "Shofuso Japanese House and Garden." This piece was a commission sponsored by the Heritage Philadelphia Program (PEW). It functions as an ephemeral memorial for the March 11th earthquake. I created a mark that was derived from the major fault lines of Japan, but rendered specifically to the berms of shofuso's viewing garden. The jagged mark, which suggests fractures (in the landscape, in time, in the normal function of things) breaks boundaries and extends beyond Shofuso's fence.

MATERIAL: The color pink, representing cherry blossoms, was made from a mixture of Pulverized Limestone and Pulverized Washable Chalk. Limestone is a restorative material and is beneficial to soil PH levels. Therefore I was able to use a healing material in an artwork meant to representing healing. Form fitting function!

TRUTH OF THE BLOSSOM was displayed on Father's Day. Shofuso organized a full day of Tea Ceremonies to generate a relief fund for Miyagi Prefecture, particularly the city of Sendai (we raised $7,000!!). The tea ceremonies shared a kindred relationship to the TRUTH OF THE BLOSSOM. Both my artwork and Sadou (the way of tea) uses a material that is pulverized and beaten into a powder (Leaves for tea, stone for my installation). The tea master (Taeko Sensei) and I used those different powders to create fleeting life-giving experiences. Creation rises from destruction!

SAKURA GA SAKU

2011-04-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

From stillness, blushing
A pink cloud snared in branches
Quick to the falling

Sounds of water poured
No, sounds of water falling.
No. The sound of both.

Sunwarmed Hinoki
Somewhere between breath and breeze
I am but dreaming

SHOFUS(obi) - **strictly conceptual.

2011-02-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

This is the design for a functional sculptural piece for a series of proposed works titled under SHOFUSO COLORS. Shofus(obi) --Shofuso Obi-- entails the production of three to four long hand-knit garments hat can function as both an Obi and a Scarf! The object itself is inspired by both the traditional Japanese Obi as well as the Iconic scarf worn by actor Tom Baker in his role as Doctor Who on the long running (now revived) British series.

As are each piece in the working series SHOFUSO COLORS, Shofus(obi) is a meshing of eastern and western aspects; materials, methods, references.

The reference to Doctor Who, though unabashedly fun and unexpected, is not merely a novelty, nor is it even obscure considering its historical popularity, its increasing availability on DVD in the US, and its massive revival of the past 5 years. For the un-apprised, the concepts that Doctor Who brings forth; that of "travel through time and space," constant open cultural exchange, and the blending and growing of ideologies and attitudes, is a direct reference to what the experience Shofuso allows; a transposition in time and space to seventeenth century Japan via modern day Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Therefore each scarf will contain a color scheme which derives from parts of Shofuso that I consider to have the most transporting qualities; the tea ceremony, the cherry blossoms, the Koi Pond, and the interiors.

Ideal for an autumnal exhibition, I imagine several possible exhibitions of the scarf/obi. They could be worn as part of a demonstration; something like a runway on the veranda, where some are worn as scarves and others as obi. Or they could be shown as a temporary exhibition on several standing dress-forms. These dress-form displays could also be "installed" respectively in the areas of Shofuso that inspired their color selections.

575

2011-02-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

Works in progress for a Haiku series dedicated to Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.

surrounding ourselves
in all the lovelier shades
a home in colors

slipping brightly through
a murkily rippling veil
the gold one stands out

bitter on my tongue
warming breath, it first was sweet
frothed as a lakeshore

from grains of gravel
the tatami mat is smooth
without my shoes on

pearl. scale. a contest.
muddled splashes faintly heard
above rush hour

These, among others, are to be included in a proposed free to the public poetry reading event in which artists of different media: poets, musicians, video, will be reinterpreting the Haiku form through their personal mediums and challenging its structure in new and exciting ways. This event is a combination of history, art, culture, and reinvention!

Nostalgia

2011-01-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

My first pic with Impossible Project's SILVER SHADE UV+ ! ....the rest from the roll didnt turn out so good, but once I got the hang of how to adjust the exposure on my OneStep 600 Polaroid I got this pic. Its an experimental film so it produces unexpected results in focusing, exposure, etc. The tones in this photograph evoke that silvery luster that make Kenji Mizoguchi's films UGETSU and SANSHO DAIYU so eerily memorable. Something to explore.

The Beginning of Something

2011-01-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

Attempted some very rudimentary color filters with marker scribbled on clear-ish plastic placed over the lens of my Polaroid spectra camera. My hope was to get a pink effect using a red filter against the white snow, but the sloppiness of my application of the filter (merely taped on the surface) and the murkiness of the plastic led to almost unintelligible imagery and far too substantial a tint. A lesson to be carried into the next attempt. Dont rush creativity!!!!

SHOFUSO; Winter Needles

2011-01-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

Softtone Edgecut film. Taking advantage of a snowcover. Im hoping for many more!!!! Dimming the exposure produced an unexpected pinkish hue.

SHOFUSO; THROUGH TREES AND ACROSS WATER

2010-11-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

Above: My favorite of the COLOR SHADE images so far.

Above: If you look real hard at the bottom right corner, you can spot the house.

.......More SHOFUSO VIEWS........

2010-11-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

....Natsume (a tea caddy)......a room within a room with a view......a wall....

......SHOFUSO VIEWS.......

2010-11-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

The ABOVE images are closer to my intention of capturing the "dream" aspect of Shofuso, achieved through the peculiarities of Impossible Project's new COLOR SHADE instant color film medium on a Polaroid sx-70 One-Step camera. As time passes from an initial exposure (minutes, days, weeks), COLOR SHADE undergoes color shifts (mostly in the cyan and green range). It also creates unique focusing phenomena, such as having seemingly selective details being in crisp focus, and others blurred and swirled to some extent. This last part has also to do with my images all being taken without a tripod.

Below is a related image taken with a Spectra camera on SOFFTONE film which is a wide-frame format instant film. SOFTTONE images express more accurate and vibrant color translation, and their crispness of detail is uniform. Be that as it may, I will strive to find the dreamlike in SOFTTONE and find the opposite in COLOR SHADE!

SHOFUSO VIEWS.........Ongoing

2010-11-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

These photographs are among my first explorations with instant integral film. I have chosen Shofuso Japanese House and Garden as a central subject, hoping to highlight, across many views, the reality and the dream that is Shofuso; a pocket of 17th Century Japan tucked away in modern day Philadelphia (Fairmount park). I used Polaroid SOFTTONE, and Impossible's new COLOR SHADE FIRST FLUSH film mediums.

ABOVE: Four Women from the Omotesenke School of Tea in NY visited Shofuso for a demonstration. I passed them sitting, enjoying the warm weather and talking on a bench. They were gracious enough to let me take their picture.

This second image, which appears over-exposed and somewhat blurry, is a triple-exposure photograph of Shofuso taken from the far edge of its property. This particular multiple-exposure is achieved with a Spectra Polaroid Camera using SOFTTONE (edge-cut) film.

Prisoner of Patterns

2008-06-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is a 22 color screenprint from '06. It depicts a woman in a virtual sea of patterns flowing from her kimono. She is overcome by them. It suggests, in the context of other prints I have made during this time, an equivalency between the malaise of being smothered by tradition and its expectations, and that of submersion in modernity / technology (which is its own new form of tradition and ritual, replete with new ingrained expectations).

せっぷくおめでとう - SEPPUKU OMEDETOU: Congratulations on your suicide

2008-06-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Above are images of a very self-reflexive sculptural-installation. Against my usual behavior, I've decided to offer a thorough explanation of the piece, because it indeed has a specific meaning (for me that is). The title "Seppuku Omedetou" pertains to my figurative act of suicide in creating this, the final piece of my college career. I borrow the term Seppuku because it is a willing and ritualistic undertaking that combines finality and the hope for a renewed life, as is the BFA thesis exhibition for all graduating artists.

The standing screen in the rear is constructed from 4 scorched doors; forming a screen to my past, if you will. The small platform in front of them is charred as well. On it stands a birdcage, the ultimate symbol for a "closed text" (for me the "closed text" is the isolationism of school). The bars of the cage are cut at the center, as if to evoke a Seppuku wound (verticle slash across the belly). To further that image, a mass of ash is laid within and beyond the cage and the platform, taking the shape of a full seppuku wound (two perpendicular cuts). These two wound representations stand for the figurative death I incurred graduating highschool and then college. A smaller detail is the shards of a broken teacup placed on the ash pile within the cage, which carries the air of a broken tradition, personal fragility, etc. Lastly the two banners, which beautifully frame the piece frontally, create a warmth in the space as light diffuses through them. They evoke the violence or struggle in change and revolution.

A filmed performance piece accompanies this installation, utilizing it as a stage set, and filmed in long deliberately composed shots that take lessons from classical Japanese cinema. A young girl prepares and performs her Seppuku with delicacy and poise, but instead of a blade, she draws a paintbrush across her stomach (meaning that this suicide is of an artist), the stream and drips of paint represent the blood of her wound.

She awakens thereafter slowly, cleaning herself off, stretching out her tensed body. In standing up she discovers her dexterity has switched from her hands (which were the focus of the first act as she prepared tea), to her legs (the focus of the second act). This represents the changing shape of means and motives of the artist when their situation is radically altered after leaving school, and after any major move. She dresses herself in new cloths, prepared by her former self, but there are always traces of ash on her limbs. She cannot fully shake her past, not that she wants to.

Her final step is to pass through the threshold of the flame banners and drink the tea that her former self prepared before committing Seppuku. The tea is made from the ash that lines the charred suicide platform. She drinks the ash-tea and 'swallows the lessons of her past,' keeping them on them on the inside of herself, because her externalized world has now changed its form.

Temporal confusion

2008-06-21T11:50:00.001-07:00

This is one of a small series of prints that present traditional and modern elements coexisting, but with a subtext of uneasiness. It is quiet and composed, but suggests tension. The girl thinks she hears something, divided from the implied individual in the room behind her who is using the computer. Is someone there? Or is she simply disoriented by her technological submersion?

A bit more structure

2008-06-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is the original print whose layers were later mined in order to make the series of smaller one-of-a-kind prints which is posted below. The setting is a traditional japanese room seen from above, utilizing the same type of improper perspective from Ukiyo-e prints. Two girls lounge about drinking tea, and the third is divided from them by a standing screen. She is shouting, but the other girls seem to barely be able to hear her.

More from Less

2008-06-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

This is a small selection of a series of prints that were developed almost by accident. The images within them are layers borrowed from another print. I discovered through proofing the layers that by using their silhouettes out of context they had greater potential. I used them to create small intimate narratives and moments, both sensical and not. These pieces also engage varied textures and colors. Their minimalism and size (2.5" x 5") invites a closer look.