A fascinating show of a revered Japanese art form is open for one more week at Melbourne’s Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts on the Florida Tech campus.
“Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art” features 38 sculptural works of woven bamboo by 17 masters of the medium. The traveling exhibition was curated by Dr. Andreas Marks, head of the Japanese and Korean art department and director of the Clark Center at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; “Modern Twist” is weighted with objects drawn from the Clark’s permanent collection. The show was organized by International Art and Artists of Washington, DC.
The exhibition includes pieces by two craftsmen, Fujinuma Noboru and Katsushiro Sōhō, known as “living cultural treasures” in Japan. And that’s the popular designation; the official title, awarded to elder notables by Japan’s government, is Preserver of Important Intangible Cultural Property.
The official designation of Fujinama and Katsushiro does not mean that the 15 artists in the show who are not Living Treasures are less skilled or talented, says the Funk Center’s assistant director, Keidra Navaroli. She explains that the title is given to artists whose work addresses a Japanese preference for traditional form and function.
Taking in the gallery with a glance, Navaroli points out: “A lot of these artists who are experimenting with unique materials and form – many of whom appeal to Western audiences – aren’t necessarily as popular in Japan.”
Luckily for us, such designations are lost in the marvelous breadth of expression and exquisite quality exhibited by all of the woven bamboo objects on display.
Navaroli marvels that the same artist can vary greatly in style from one piece to the next. Even a traditional master like Noboru “has a more experimental style when he is creating works for his own personal taste,” says Navaroli.
Take, for example, the muscular flower basket by Fujinama called “Spring Tide” (1996). Made of long, springy strands of dwarf bamboo in a coarse plait, it stands in marked contrast to his finely woven “Gentle Heart” (2006). That basket bears an overall diamond pattern woven of slender, light- and dark-lacquered bamboo strips.
Both of those artworks were woven with the same traditional purpose in mind; as vessels designed to hold flowers petals for Buddhist ritual or for the practice of ikebana, Japanese flower arranging.
And then there are the artists whose works recognize their utilitarian forebears but do not bow to them. Those strictly contemporary works stand as sculptural objects in their own right.
An artist who bases his work on functional forms, including tray and basket shapes, and then pushes into the realm of sculpture, is Uematsu Chikuyū. The 68-year old has 10 works on exhibit in “Modern Twist.”
Uematsu’s “Sound of Wind” from 1991 graces the card for the show. It resembles a complex Mobius strip. Constructed of slivers of bamboo and rattan, it has no discernible beginning or end, inside or outside. Another poetically titled work by Uematsu, “Passing through the Wilderness” (2009) is a rectangular tray of knobby bamboo that curves gently upward at both ends, and presents a swelling wave of bamboo strips at its middle. The umber-colored coating of lacquer that finishes the piece makes it look almost like a dimensional brush drawing on the low white riser that supports it.
Uematsu’s titles hint at the effect the artist was aiming for in his work. In the case of “Passing through the Wilderness,” the artwork’s “organic sense of flow is meant to capture the motion of wind rushing over the plains,” according to its exhibition label.
“Nature and geometry are two very prominent themes in this show,” notes Navaroli.
Uematsu is not all poetry, however. His sense of humor is on display, too, in the wall-mounted work “Tie” (1992). Composed of rattan and bamboo and finished in honey-colored lacquer, the sculpture resembles the back of a feminine head adorned with a long plait of hair.
The joke, it seems, has more than one interpretation, depending on who is viewing the piece. According to Navaroli, many visitors read it as an elephant with its trunk delicately curled under at the tip.
As an artist, Uematsu’s position is an enviable one. His creativity is financed by a patron who believes in Uematsu’s creative genius.
“He really can experiment at this point, because he is not dependent on having to sell his works for a living,” she says.
Experimentation is the watchword of another artist in the exhibition, Nagakura Ken’ichi. In the world of Japanese bamboo craft, he is a bit of a wild and crazy guy. For one thing, he is mostly self-taught. That is rare in a medium where aspiring artists apprentice themselves for a decade or longer to a master craftsman. For another, he incorporates such non-bamboo materials as driftwood into his woven compositions.
Nagakura’s “Round Web, Fan” needs no translation. Using a driftwood branch as an anchor, the artist has skillfully mimicked a spider’s web using woven bamboo and rattan. Neither does his “Circle,” a large, roughly textured piece that was created by applying wet clay over a circular bamboo basket, and then selectively wiping the clay to allow the bony structure to peep through.
The effect is of a slice of tree trunk, balanced on one edge that has been exposed to the predations of insects and damp rot. A patina of dark lacquer over the whole unifies the materials and imparts the appearance of antiquity.
The work of one of the youngest artists in the show also refers to times past. Tanabe Shōchiku III is 42. He represents the fourth generation in a family of bamboo craftsmen. As heir to his family’s artistic reputation, Tanabe Shōchiku III will soon adopt the name of his late father, Tanabe Chikuunsai III (whose work is also represented in the show) to become Chikuunsai IV.
Tanabe’s “Warrior” (2006) is an ikebana basket, complete with a bamboo vase tucked inside for flowers, but its traditional purpose has nothing to do with its status as a work of art.
Oriented horizontally, the cylindrical body of the piece refers to the upper body armor of a samurai. The sculpture’s material, arrow bamboo, honors the artist’s father, who made a specialty of using it in his own work. As its name suggests, arrow bamboo was used in feudal times to make arrow shafts.
Tanabe, who presented a demonstration of his craft at the Funk Center earlier this month, gave curator Navaroli some insight into the concept behind “Warrior.”
While a samurai was a warrior, he was expected “to be more than that. He would be someone who was one with nature,” says Navaroli.
Just like the samurai of old, “Warrior,” the artwork, refers “to having a balance of mind, meditation and power, all these things in one,” she adds.
The same came be said of the bamboo artists in “Modern Twist.”
The last day of the exhibit is April 25. The Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts in Melbourne is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 pm. Admission is free.