Shisei no sankyo by Morihiro Hosokawa

[Title] Shisei no Sankyo
[Artist] Morihiro Hosokawa
Tea house ‘A bientôt’ designed by Terunobu Fujimori
[Date] April 22 – July 19, 2010

This Daruma piece, which is one of my first attempts at oil painting, is based on the Daruma painting of Hakuin* owned by Eisei Bunko**. The original Zen painting is of course drawn in ink, and I made this piece as an experiment in oil. Rather than choosing the usual motif of flowers, landscape or still life for my oil painting, I had wanted for a while to use some Buddhist imagery that I had already depicted as sumi-e (ink painting) or urushi-e (lacquer painting). Although I make ceramic Buddha sculptures and five-ringed towers as earthenware, I particularly wanted to depict Daruma as oil painting because of the strong impact inherent in the motif.

There are many oil paintings that I like among the works of Cezanne, Monet, Yûzô Saeki, Kokuta Suda, Ryûzaburô Umehara or Sôtarô Yasui. I also occasionally study the books of foreign and domestic artists, such as Van Gogh, Rouault, Renoir, Vlaminck and Katsuzô Satomi. What is particularly useful for me is the touch. For example, I am fascinated by how an artist can depict bulging muscles as lumps of mass with his brushwork. The composition of course is also useful, but what I pay attention to most is the touch. Japanese-style paintings seem flat to me, so for now, I am focusing on oil painting.

Painting allows freedom on the part of the artist. When making earthenware, particularly tea bowls, there are many rules to abide by. With an Ido tea bowl, for example, there is a standard shape and approximate height, not to mention the height of kôdai (elevation), and moreover, there must be a kairagi and a Takefushi kôdai, using a certain measure of the potter’s wheel. In contrast, a painting can be made quite freely. For example, I depicted the Daruma’s beard using ink, since I felt that its roughness could not be expressed with oil paint. It’s only been about a year since I started oil painting, but these are the things that I find fascinating.

*Hakuin (1685-1768): a mid-Edo period Zen master who revived the Rinzai school. He left many Zen paintings and writings.
**Eisei Bunko: a non-profit foundation that researches, archives and makes available to the public historical documents and artworks owned by the Hosokawa clan, which goes back to the Sengoku period.

Press Conference Interview↓↓ 
https://www.art-it.asia/en/u/maisonhermes_e/mDjliSOrxHo1cvT9b7e5/

List of Past Exhibitions↓

List of Past Exhibitions

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