Japanese influences in my work
Sesshu Toyo
The first time I saw this ink and brush painting, created by 15th century Japanese artist Sesshu Toyo in 1495, it was in a BBC documentary called The Art of Japanese Life.
I’d seen ink and brush paintings before, but had never really seen them. As James Fox, the presenter of the documentary, showed us the work and talked with great enthusiasm and reverence about how it was created, I became fascinated, and then a little bit obsessed.
To make such expressive and richly meaningful work from so few brushstrokes, and to have each be exactly right, can look misleadingly simple to the uninitiated. As Fox explained; “Although it might have only taken a few minutes to make, it is the result of a lifetime’s experience and skill.”
Hasegawa Tohaku
Hasegawa Tohaku - Pine Trees in the Mist
The apparent simplicity of this type of work is deceptive, which to me is the definition of mastery. These monochrome paintings made up of mostly negative space might look simple, or even easy to replicate - until you try!
Willow Trees of the Four Seasons - Hasegawa Tohaku
People sometimes mention that my work reminds them of Japanese art, which I take to be an enormous compliment.
After I watched that documentary {three times}, I started borrowing books from the library about Japanese art, and researching it more online.
I already had some brushes and Sumi ink, and I started to play with them to see how it feels to work with these tools.
Kano Naonobu {c17th}
I don’t have the patience or desire to learn exactly how to do ink and brush painting ‘correctly’ - it would take a lifetime just focusing on that one thing - but I admire and am inspired by it.
I am enchanted by the amount of negative space the artists employ, and how they say so much with so few marks. I love too the focus on the natural world - to me they are like the visual equivalents of Haiku.
As Fox points out, the more you look at these paintings, the more you see - “the way it unfolds in front of your eyes….by looking at it, you bring it to life.” What initially appeared to be a few random brush strokes turns out to be two people rowing on a lake below a wine tavern surrounded by a fence.
This idea of art that makes you look again is another of my obsessions. I endeavour to do it in my own work as much as possible, and that too takes a lifetime of skill and experience.