Monday 21 January 2013

Beehive Cubism


Beehive boxes, dried Hydrangea, Mitsumata, Pine.

It's time to post another avant-garde style ikebana arrangement. My Sogetsu ikebana teacher challenged me to use some old wooden boxes from beehives that she had found out in the forest. The boxes have a strong expression and a lot of wabi-sabi quality to them. You just have to let them play the leading role, letting their straight lines and the heavy mass feeling define the arrangement.

As I wrote in an earlier blog post, cubism was one of the modern art movements that inspired Sofu Teshigahara to leave out the flowers for untraditional materials in his modernized avant-garde approach to ikebana. Cubism and beehives goes well together. The obscure darkness and the flowing lines of Mitsumata also ads a dreamlike surrealist influence.

This other photo shows an earlier an more complex version of the beehive arrangement. This one has more of a Fernand Léger cubism feeling to it. On the other hand it is not as peaceful as the later version. Which one do you prefer?

Beehive boxes, Mitsumata, Ornamental kale.

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