I had the pleasure this February to host a lovely guest master of my husband’s martial art school, Pa Kua. It was not the first time the master visited us, so she was familiar with my sumi-e art and asked me if I could paint a picture for her school. The prompt was simple but made a lot of sense to me in the most Zen Buddhist way possible:
“We would like something minimalist, something that serves as a memento and doesn’t immediately reveal its hidden depths.“
Minimalism didn’t require any further explanation, I got it. As per the other two criteria, I quickly found out what to do: get some help from my photography past. The inspiration for sumi-e comes from the connection created and maintained with the subject. This special connection is exactly the key to a good portrait as well.
I have always been fascinated by martial arts and since I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and numerous Japanese anime and Chinese Wuxia movies (Hero is my no.1, that film took me to Sichuan back then btw. 🙂 ), I cannot unsee the relation between water-bending, sword-wielding and the art of the brush anymore.
So how did I make use of photography? Taking advantage of the long, dark winter nights, I came up with the idea of putting a couple of party glowsticks on Master G’s arms and trace her flawless moves while performing the shadow form. Long expo photography was not new to me. I used to photograph fire jugglers, it came handy. After catching up with her rhythm we took a few shots and I selected the following image to work with:
I could recognise so much in this beautifully balanced chaos: Newton’s apple, magnetic field, flowing energy, yin and yang, Japanese calligraphic brushstrokes, bamboo stalks… Even the head of a green horse and a coiled-up red snake appear to me at the base of the bamboo! (Coincidentally the photo was taken around Chinese New Year, right in the middle of Snake-Horse transition.) Anyway, I practised the shadowform myself a few times secretly as a warm up for the final work. And here’s the Japanese wabisabi interpretation as a result:
Size: F8 (380mm x 455mm)
The digital image doesn’t do it justice as it will not show the beautiful imperfections of the washi paper and random blur of the ink. I still hope you like it and I hope it will be a legit interpretation of the prompt. I believe that creating this artwork together with the Master makes it a true memento. ☯︎
Useful links:
Pa Kua International: https://www.pakua.com/
Pa Kua Allschwill (CH): https://pakua.ch/
Pa Kua Cambridge (UK): https://pakua-cambridge.co.uk/
Photography: https://norahamucska.com