Patrick Dougherty - Twisted Logic

My journey exploring the relation between Land art and Ikebana has taken me to New Jersey's Grounds for Sculpture and Patrick Dougherty's 2004 installation Twisted Logic.

Dougherty is known for working with sticks creating outdoors sculptures that relates to the environment. So why have I chosen a show with works in an exhibition hall? First, this show relates to the building structure of the exhibition hall in much the same way as Dougherty's outdoor sculptures are in dialog with the environment, which is interesting. The only difference being that this installation works with the surroundings from an indoor position. But the main reason why I choose this installation is that it consists of a group of works with quite different characters, making it easier to discuss similarities and differences between Dougherty's work and land art ikebana.

In my opinion the first sculpture shown in the video has quite a lot of ikebana quality to it. The difference between this work and the tower like sculpture in the middle of the exhibition hall is striking. Although they are both structures that invites you to explore and come inside, the first one refers more to natural forms while the last one is clearly architectural in its structure.

Dougherty has named his way of working "natural architecture", comparing it to human architecture, bird nests, and his own playing and building with sticks as a child. It's an example of how many land art artists deals with man made phenomena, like technology and architecture. I'm thinking maybe one significant difference is that an ikebana artist would more likely chose to work with natural forms and phenomena? What do you think?

There are of course also inspiring similarities between Dougherty's work and contemporary ikebana. The most obvious is that he is working mainly with plant materials. But also his way of working the materials into intertwined structures is similar to ikebana techniques, the way he is working with space and maybe even more so his use of lines in the structures. Working with long naked branches of trees gives clear lines in the structure of the installations. Dougherty refers to the lines of the sticks as sweeping lines of pencil drawing. In ikebana clear lines are used to define space and create an asymmetric balance.

Holy Rope, photo: Tadahisa Sakurai

It would be interesting to know if Dougherty himself would relate his work to Japanese esthetics. He's been working in many countries and cultures. During a residency in Japan in 1992 (quite early in his career) he stayed in Riniyo-in Temple in Chiba, where he created three large site works. The one in this picture is named Holy Rope, made from bamboo and reeds (7.6m x 3m). Isn't this sculpture also quite interesting from an ikebana perspective?

And now for some more goodies on "Twisted Logic":

• Interview with Patrick Dougherty part 1 and part 2
• Training talk for volunteers at GFS
• More information on the website of Patrick Dougherty

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Abstract Interludium

Gladiolus leaves and Gerbera.
Moribana, abstract free style, straight lines, surface leaves.
Swedish midcentury ceramics by Rörstrand Atelje.

Behind Ise Shrine

unseen, hidden by the fence

Buddha enters nirvana

Haiku by Matsuo Bashô, 1644-1694

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Munich - Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974

Right now and until end of January the exhibition Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974 can be seen at Munich based museum Haus der Kunst. This first large-scale, historical-thematic exhibition to deal broadly with Land art, is organized in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, MOCA.

"The exhibition highlights the early years of untested artistic experimentations and concludes in the mid-1970s before Land art becomes a fully institutionalized category. Rather than romanticizing notions of "return to nature" or an "escape from culture", the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview that reveals the complexity of the movement's social and political engagement with the historical conditions of its time. Ends of the Earth exposes Land art as a media practice as much as a sculptural one, focusing on the extent to which language, photography, film, and television served as an integral and not a secondary or supplementary part of its formation."

Among the artists presented is the Japanese artist Tatsuo Kawaguchi, b. 1940, based in Kurashiki, Okayama. He is represented with the two film works Land and sea, 1970, 4:14 min, and Location, 1960, 7:23 min, focusing on the meeting point of water and land. Kawaguchi was a founding member of the Japanese artist collective Group "i", included in the exhibition with the work Hole, 1965.

The exhibition runs 11.10.12 – 20.01.13.

An extensive 264 pages hard cover exhibition catalogue can be bought on Amazon.

Click here to see an interactive presentation developed by MOCA.

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Land Art - Keita Kawasaki

I'm planning to do some research on ikebana artists who are approaching land art from an ikebana tradition. If you like you're welcome to join me on this educational trip. I'll also swing by some well known land art artists who's works can be seen as similar or related to land art ikebana.

First stop is the Japanese flower artist Keita Kawasaki. He's a well known personality in Japan and has been working creatively with flowers for more than 20 years. The Kawasaki family runs the Mami Flower Design School, founded in 1962 by Mami Kawasaki.

Although also working with ikebana, Keita Kawasaki is definitely not a traditional ikebana artist. I would say he is merging Japanese and western flower design, keeping a clearly Japanese attitude to flower art. The inheritance from ikebana tradition is obvious also in his land art projects. I have chosen two works that I like. The first is a very delicate work with spiderweb, yellow and orange autumn leaves and what looks like parts of flower buds or small berries. From an ikebana perspective I would say this is a line and mass arrangement. It also relates to hanging ikebana, which is an old traditional category of ikebana. The use of spiderweb is similar to the use of mesh and other untraditional materials in modern ikebana.

The second work that I have chosen is a work with bamboo forest and yellow leaves. The leaves are glued to the bamboo trunks so that a zigzag pattern appears when you're standing in front of the work. The zigzag line emphasizes the straight lines of the bamboo forest and plays with the light in between the trunks. Bamboo is a traditional ikebana material that symbolizes strength of character. Working with lines and the space between lines is one of the main characteristics of ikebana. Classical ikebana made for the tokonoma is always designed to be seen from the front only.

To see more land art ikebana go to the website of Keita Kawasaki. Click on the beetle to enter. Then click the large leave to the right where it says "Works". Choose the category in Japanese to the right of "Natural art". Sit back and enjoy. You'll find a lot of inspirational photos here, and quite a few land art works.

Photo credit: www.keitakawasaki.net

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Basket Finale

Modern basket ikebana. Bamboo sticks, Sun flowers, Gerbera, Gladiolus leaves.

This welcoming sunflower "gift basket" is another modern interpretation of the tradition of using bamboo baskets in ikebana. Note that in this mass and line arrangement the mass has been placed inside the transparent basket to emphasize the volume of the basket itself. The straight lines of the bamboo sticks are contrasted by the circular and curved lines of the flowers and the basket.

This will be the last posting in a series focusing on ikebana and Japanese baskets. I hope you have enjoyed the postings, and maybe learned something useful.

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A Collection of Baskets

The museum of decorative arts and design in Oslo hosts a small collection of Japanese bamboo baskets. The 15 ikebana baskets dates from the period 1850-1900, and they are exhibited permanently in the downstairs stairwell area. I went there the other day to take some pictures and was surprised by the variety of the baskets.

Flower baskets were quite popular in this era of the Meiji Restoration, especially the formal style inspired by Chinese culture. The opening of Japan to the west made collecting Japanese items more accessible. Still only a few Europeans travelled to Japan at this time. When the Swedish woman Ida Trotzig moved to Japan 1888 to live with her husband who was a businessman, she was one of very few Westerners to study ikebana and Japanese culture. There is no information on where the basket collection at the museum in Oslo comes from. So I guess we're free to let the imagination loose and make up our own stories about how the collection ended up in Norway.

Which one of the baskets is your favorite? What kind of ikebana would you create in "your" basket if you got the chance?

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Kaïdin - Nomadic Art on the Path of Bashô

The Museum of Asian Arts in Nice, France, invites you to follow the French Vietnamese artist Kaïdin on her nomadic wandering across Japan. Following the trail of Matsuo Bashô, the great master of haiku poetry, the artist Kaïdin began to listen to nature. Inspired by the haiku she creates art installations in the natural environment. 

Taking her time, the artist uses the space, setting and materials at her disposal: water, wood, earth, stones, sand, rock, etc. She neither adds nor subtracts anything, but adapts and transforms the nature. Like the extremely stripped form of haiku poetry her work is based on the brilliance of the moment to convey an emotion. With a direct reference to land art she seeks to link art and life.

The works are being presented through photographs by the renown photographer Uwe Ommer. There is also an exhibiton catalogue in French, Japanese and English that can be bought through Amazon.

The exhibition Nature et haïku - Quand le poème devient art éphémère will be up until January 7th 2013, so there is plenty of time to schedule a visit if you're planning a trip to Nice.

 The Arch, Koriyama, Lake Inawashiro, 2008.

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Woven Chair Seat

Modern basket ikebana. Calla lily, pine and bamboo stick.

You'll find woven baskets and other objects in most cultures. By using and old cane chair seat as an ikebana basket this arrangement gives new life to a woven object from a western culture. Doing so it is honoring an old crafts tradition. At the same time this odd ikebana basket is suggesting a kinship of crafts around the world using plant materials for weaving. Life is full of new opportunities - and you always have to work with what you have.

The flowers in this ikebana are a bit heavy for the basket, but with the space created by the curved line of the bamboo stick there is enough volume to get a balance.

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Basket - A Modern Approach

Contemporary ikebana always builds on centuries of traditions. References to tradition can be hidden or obvious. Some say that there are no rules in freestyle ikebana - you just do what you like. I would say creating modern ikebana is very much about respectfully playing with inherited esthetics.

Modern basket ikebana.
Snapdragon and lily leaves.
Nageire, freestyle, naturalistic, mass and curved lines, with two containers.

This modern interpretation of ikebana in a flower basket is drawing on the lightness and the volume of woven baskets. The lily leaves also refers to the weaving process as a meditative and time consuming work.

Light coloured baskets are used in the warm summer season, often together with pastel coloured flowers. I've used pink Snapdragon and a vase with light blue shades to refer to this tradition. At the same time the leaves are clearly marked by early autumn. To me this ikebana evokes the beauty and melancholy of a warm day of indian summer, slightly out of season and full of good memories.

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A Basket Case

Japanese bamboo baskets have a long history and have been used for many different purposes in everyday life. From the 16th century bamboo baskets have also been valued for their beauty as objects related to ikebana and the tea ceremony. There are two main styles in basket weaving. The rather stoic, finely woven Chinese influenced karamono style reflects the formalism of the Confucianism, and presents a perfect symmetry in form and a regularity in their woven technique. The more loosely woven wagumi style baskets on the other side, are simple and unpretentious with forms inspired by utilitarian and rustic objects. This Japanese style is more related to wabi-sabi esthetics.

Traditional wagumi bamboo basket.
New Zealand flax and Gerbera.
Freestyle, vertical arrangement.

My ikebana teacher challenged me to make an arrangement in a beautiful wagumi basket, asking what style of ikebana I thought would fit this rather bold basket design. I made a vertical style autumn arrangement using New Zealand flax, white Chrysanthemum and field flowers.

I thought the somewhat withered leaves and the humble flowers looked rather good in the basket. Still I had to agree that the much more simple ikebana design that my teacher suggested, with just a couple of leaves and one kind of flower, draw more attention to the basket itself. I was quite surprised by the result. The lesson learned: When arranging in a wagumi style basket all the focus should be on the unique shape of the basket. The flowers are there to complement and draw attention to the basket as an artwork.

Autumn ikebana in bamboo basket.
New Zealand flax, Chrysanthemum, Tansy, Rumex longifolius.
Vertical arrangement.

Hanakago, flower baskets, were particularly popular in Japan in the late Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods, from around 1900 - 1950's. While Chinese influenced styles were the most popular in the late 1800's, the bold wagumi style flower basket epitomizes the free-wheeling styles prevelent at the turn of the century. Today good wagumi baskets are sold at quite high prices.

According to a website that I found, "wa (和) in wagumi means “peace” and “harmony”-the essence of the Japanese spirit-and hence stands as a symbol of Japan. Gumi (組) can be translated as “team,” and thus the name wagumi expresses collaboration founded on wa, the gentleness and warm-heartedness that can be found in nature, the land, human character, emotions, and other aspects of our world".

If you want to learn more about Japanese bamboo baskets I recommend these two illustrated articles:
Dana Micucci, Weawing Beauty: Japanese bamboo baskets hold their charm through the ages.
Jan Lee, Japanese Basket Art.

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