...Each ventureIs a new beginning...
...what there is to conquer
By strength and submission,
has already been discovered
Once or twice, or several times,
by men whom one cannot hope
To emulate--but there is no competition
There is only the fight to
recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again....
--- T. S. Eliot
For some time now, I have been searching, reading, and exploring my Japanese heritage.I went to Kyoto, Japan last October with that search in mind. A trip to Japan had been a life long dream and I felt such a strong connection to the culture and aesthetics that I am planning another trip there next year. I feel as if my search has only just begun.
Here are bits of Japanese papers, old letters, receipts, and worn and rusty objects that I found at the temple flea markets in Kyoto. I hope that some day they will find themselves in some of my collage paintings. Below is a collage by Paul Horiuchi.
Paul Horiuchi has been dubbed a "Master of Collage". He was born in 1906 in Japan, and died in Seattle in 1999. He created graceful juxtapositions of texture and color, using paint, ink and paper. He pieced together torn pieces of calligraphy and textured papers, visualizing strong aesthetics of his Japanese culture.
Horiuchi drew on his heritage, creating works that abstractly evoked the forms and textures of nature. His work exudes quiet energy and calm. Horiuchi once said that his collages were "attempts to produce areas of peace and serenity...". His meditative collages are strongly connected to reality. In the surprising collage titled "Rock Garden" (below) Horiuchi abandoned his more well-known very flat abstractions to provide a sense of space and place.
You can find the book on Paul Horiuchi's life, works, and collages at Amazon.com. There is a current exhibition of Horiuchi's collages in Seattle, WA through May 8th, 2010 at ArtResource,625 First Avenue, Suite 200, or www.SeattleArtResource.com.
"As soon as I think of Japan, my mind feels beauty, my heart feels purity, and my life feels humility." -- Sri Chinmoy, Japan: Soul-Beauty's Heart-Garden
