Monday, August 12, 2013

What is in a day and in a painting...


Today is  getting ready for Autumn as school starts and #4 son gets 
ready to have all 4 wisdom teeth out tomorrow. He's been in and out
all summer . Having a grand one, I would say. He's in now and cleaning
out his room ( I hear the vacuum going) and getting ready to be "loopy"
on drugs while his mouth heals. 

It seems like Summer comes to a end  quicker than when I was a child.
School starts in mid-August here in the South and in the north where I 
grew up , it was after Labor Day. School started in September.  We start 
after Labor Day. 

On to what is in a painting: 



Golden Sea was a necessary reprieve for artist Makoto Fujimura from the
intensely focused Four Holy Gospels illumination project which required
strenuous attention to detail and commenorated the KJV 400th anniversary
in 2011.  He worked on a canvas in the corner of his studio -- a form of 
relaxation from the illumination project. The painting would declare its presence
to visitors. Makoto started to pay more attention to the work, listening and
responding to it.

 " The process of creating renews my spirit, and I find myself 
attuned to the details of life rather than being stressed by being overwhelmed.
I find myself listening rather than shouting into the void."

"I wanted to paint something that was not for any other purpose other than,
perhaps, its own existence." 

" Although my work uses traditional techniques, it doesn't fit into 
any category. Neither Nihonga or Contemporary art, representation 
nor abstraction, secular nor religious, Japanese or American, none of 
these terms is sufficient. I consciously try to bridge the divide I sense 
in my own soul. " ( a noncategory artist)

" The 'secret ingredient' behind the Golden Sea transfer of gold is a Japanese
hand woven silk which is made in a strict traditional manner but is no longer
produced today. Therefore, Golden Sea is an homage to and a lament for
dying traditions, as well as an experession of the sublimity inherent in 
precious materials. "

the words: homage and lament for dying traditions make me think
of A Quartet of Things

1 comment:

podso said...

Interesting. Thanks for posting this.