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Above: Dream Lily (Nine), one of the very first photos I took of spider lily petals – a visual memo I made back in late 2012, of ideas for the dress series to emerge.
Below: fast forward several years. Spider Lily Red – Flare 1 (the series and its first piece), acid dye on silk, process, detail, photographed on 15th of July, a day after I stopped painting on the piece – there was nothing more to add.
Looking back to where it began before stepping into the remaining 2 percent, crossing my fingers.
“Hope you get to see the cherries fall – have you?
There’s this one day all the trees decide to let go of the petals, it’s not the rain, or storm…but when this one day comes, often a very sunny day, they release their petals and fill the gray and busy Tokyo with swirling mass of pink confetti.”
– from an unsent letter, three springs ago.
Photos: Spider Lily Red, in progress, pictured just yesterday.
The text is a repost from April 2014. Although the original post was deleted (it was not “dense” enough to stay – with each post I try to deliver something meaningful, personally and hopefully also somewhat universally.) I liked the text and every year I thought of it as the cherries fell. Because they fall, how they fall each year, as if the petals are held by micro hands that release the grip at the command inaudible to human ears, orchestrated in perfect timing optimal for the falling petals to dance midair.
I am also accumulating videos, of the blossoms, me painting, and other various scenes from spring I wish to put together at one point. For now though, I am focusing my effort on finishing the painting because.
Using dye is a delicate business. One must protect the budding piece from any moisture (e.g. sneezing, drooling..) and flying dye particles that become only visible once heat-set. It is best done in one sitting, in this case in one long sitting.
A macro shot of a spider lily petal, and,
the first of the “Spider Lily Red” dresses, close detail of the front panel, almost there, how it looked this afternoon.
From top:
Then the Big Quiet (descended upon the field) (2014)
Anchored Fishing Boats (2015) – Ibaraki, Japan
Calla Leaves in May (2013)
Takamatsu Port at night (2011) – Kagawa, Japan
Magnolia (2015)
A Trip to Tango (2013) – Kyoto, Japan
All derivatives from Dyed Threads series.
From top:
Spider Lily – early sketch, monochrome (2015)
Wing Diptych 1 (2015) The bird was photographed in September 1999, and became the inspiration for the Wing Dress series.
Spider Lily – study, monochrome (2015)
Wing Diptych 2 (2015)
Wing Diptych 3 (2015) The drawing was of an imaginary wing, and preceded the Wing Dress series.
Dragon Dress Diptych (2015)
Dragon Dress Prototype (2015) The dress in the photo was created around 1999-2000 with fabric marker as the first experiment for the Dyed Threads series.
How do you gather your red, while waiting for the autumn in the lightless soil?
When the three a.m. air tells me the summer is near, I think of your bulbs, eavesdropping on the night.
Memories of many flights linger. Of gliding through salt water mists and sprays. 90 degree dives, the impacts, the chills. How sardines danced on this beak.
Text: “The best thought I’ve ever thought” November 03, 2012, originally posted on cowbird.com.
Pictures: Both from early 2014. Kites gliding is a video still, Fukui, Japan, 2011. The small wood sculpture is from 1996. I wrote about my sculptor phase here: Abstraction in Nature, a Tribute.
Various images of the Ocean are layered over feather drawings originally created for my “Wing Dress” series.
The Ocean has been my muse, especially for the dress series, and during a long creative process my daily visit to the water fed me visions and the energy that deepened and lightened me simultaneously.
These images are my attempt at somehow capturing the mystery I’ve witnessed while by, on or in the Sea.
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