Tanaka Kyokusho

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Throughout my career, I have made different styles of bamboo art. The color black takes precedence in some of my works. The color black doesn’t have a strong identity of its own. It therefore has the effect of bringing out the colors surrounding it. This result is called an after image. Earlier in my career, when my works were selected in the Dento Kogei exhibition for the first time, I used green tea to dye them. At that time, I was interested in extracting the natural characteristics of the works of art. Recently my main concern shifted to having black as the foundation of the artwork using the other colors as accents. These accent colors are derived from plants such as sappan wood, madder, gardenia, turmeric, alder, and safflower. I like to use these pigments because they were passed down to us craftsmen since ancient times. I find that they are very compatible with bamboo so I have been incorporating them in my artwork for many years.

I like to express the tension that is much like the wire construction of the Golden Gate Bridge through composition in line construction. I am also interested in the negative space as an important aspect of my composition. I like to use the metaphor of sound that is created by the Japanese guitar called Shamisen. The deep sounds of the Shamisen gradually disappear and create a pause in the music, but this pause, without any sounds, is part of the composition in music.

I would be very pleased if you feel something soulful when you look at my work.

See more work by Tanaka: https://taimodern.com/artist/tanaka-kyokusho/

Видео Tanaka Kyokusho канала TAI Modern