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In
conjunction with Masters of Bamboo, the Asian Art Museum held
a reception featuring one work each from ten artists considered to be
the next generation of this truly amazing art form. This extended display
was then kept for a month beyond the week of the reception (February 15–March
18, 2007) before the pieces returned to their owners. More important were
the artists themselves, who were present at the event.
At the
opening reception, artist Honda Syoryu, a disciple of Kadota Niko, addressed
the large reception. He attested to the fact that the bamboo medium
takes decades to master, noting that at age 55, he's "finally about
to graduate from of the realm of the younger generation of bamboo artists."
He echoed the sentiment
of his colleagues when he spoke of how the new Western market affords
the bamboo artist the freedom to try things they haven't had the courage
to try before. "For me," he said, "who spent most of my
career making traditional flower baskets and offering trays, the encounter
with this new American audience has allowed me to make a quantum leap
in my art into the realm of free sculpture using the motifs of nature,
time and space, and the universe." Absent from mention was the reality
that patronage in Japan is dwindling along with the space of a contemporary
home, with seldom room for the luxury of a flower basket anymore.
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A little
later, we spoke with Nakatomi Hajime, a student of Sensei Honda. Although
he looked the youngest, he was dressed in the most traditional Japanese
style. Beside him, under glass, was The Sound of the Moon,
an ovoid orb with a vertical cylinder down the center. On first glance,
it looked very traditional next to many of the free-form creations on
display, yet just a breath of modernity changed everything. The strands
weren't plaited right flush against each other, but rather had ample
widths of space between them: thus, both the ovoid sphere and the concave
cyllinder could be viewed simultaneously. He compared the effect to
jazz, whose appreciation consists in both the parts and their interrelation
to form a whole.
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We asked if he'd had
an opportunity to see the work of Ruth Asawa while he was here. (Her major
retrospective at the De Young had just closed before Masters of Bamboo
opened.) His face lit up. It seems the artists all visited the De Young
Museum and had their horizons widened to see her work and the catalog
from her show. Mr. Nakatomi found her work wonderful and noted the similarities
between her work in wire and theirs in bamboo. It was like a bolt of lightning,
he recalled, to consider what a trail-blazer she was. He says he now lists
her among his favorite artists, along with Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Buckminster
Fuller.
Speaking
of great people, without question the man of the hour was Mr. Lloyd
Cotsen, who invested his attention to this relatively obscure art form
when its future was tenuous at best. For this special occasion, he offered
Asianart.com the following statement.
"For
better or worse, it seems to this outside observer of the art of the Japanese
basket maker, the emphasis on a tradition is loosening, thus allowing
a flowering of individual artistic interpretation, direction, and innovation.
However the discipline and links of these new artists to the old ways
are secured by the mentorship of their teachers and by the power of their
basket-making heritage. . . . This ensures a continuation of the Japanese
basket-making tradition, albeit with the recognition that the future ultimately
depends on the creativity of succeeding generations.
"Mentors
understand and protect the tradition. The next generation, represented
in this exhibition, seeks to bend, if not break, that tradition. These
opposing aims create a wonderful dynamic that can be seen in Japanese
society as a whole and here in the microcosm of bamboo basket development."
Also on
hand at the event was Koichiro Okada, who worked closely with Asian
Art Museum curator Melissa M. Rinne on the Masters of Bamboo
exhibition, as liaison, teacher, and collaborator. He told us he agreed
with Mr. Cotsen's notion of a loosening of emphasis on traditional response.
He finds it's true now even in the most conservative school of bamboo
art in Japan.
Mr. Okada
notes there are two major professional artists organizations to which
bamboo artists belong. "One group," Mr. Oakada points out,
"is called Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and the other is
Nihon Kogeikai (Japan Craft Artists Association). While Nitten artists
emphases 'sculptural beauty,' Nihon Kogeikai artists work in a framework
of tradition and craftsmanship. The notion of a creative edge has been
very important to Niiten artists, but it is also carries weight to the
Nihon Kogeikai artists, especially in recent years.
"Two
of the leading bamboo artists in the Nihon Kogeikai are Hayakawa Shokosai
V and Katsushiro Soho. Both are Living National Treasures and both favor
innovation and imagination in their works. Some of the artists who submit
'old-style' baskets recently have been severely criticized by these leaders,
and as Mr. Cotsen points out, Hayakawa and Katsushiro nominated two of
the raising young stars from the Niiten world for the 'Next Generation'
event."
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A week
later, we caught up with curator Melissa Rinne, and learned that the
artists were not only able to absorb a diversity of art as well as meet
collectors and lovers of this art form, but also to network amongst
themselves. "The event," she said, "brought together
most of the important younger artists in this field for the first time.
Though they all knew one another by name and by work, this was the first
time that most of them had really spent an extended amount of time talking
with their peers about their life work. There were very serious conversations
about the future of their art forms, and the artists agreed among themselves
to mount an exhibition together, which would be a wonderful breaking
through from the traditional divisions within the bamboo artist community,
based on the two major artist associations — which have fairly
different emphases."
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Last but
not least, also present and speaking at the event was Rob Coffland,
owner of TAI Gallery, where Mr Okada works. Ten years ago, Lloyd Cotsen
had asked him to look for baskets. He recalls he made mistakes at first
-- buying baskets simply because he liked them. Now he's not only the
expert in the field, but his gallery is in a unique situation of being
The One to permanently feature this art form. Thanks to his good eye,
sensitivity to the culture, nurturing of good working relations, and
selfless devotion, visitors, collectors, artists, and the art itself
are in good hands.
We might
emphasize that the diverse bonds Mr. Coffland has formed with individual
artists are as important as works exhibited or sold. As Lloyd Cotsen
points out, "An art is nothing without its artists, for they are
the ones responsible for the culture, tradition, and the creativity
their work reflects."
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