suku-shi
Kyoto, Japan

private collection Hervey Bay Queensland

830 x 485
'painting' with paper pulp, assemblage

silk Noile, recycled Arches cotton rag paper,
washi, bamboo blind, found object
 

Paper is an essential ingredient in the aesthetic culture of Japan. Its uses are seemingly limitless. One day I happened upon an exhibition of huge works that consisted of raw, monochromatic, mulberry paper pulp manipulated around an unprimed canvas base. This collection of works was one of the best examples I’d seen of the preoccupation with, and appreciation of, the subtleties of tone, texture and “wabi sabi” qualities that define the Japanese aesthetic. It was an exhilarating moment for me for these concerns matched my own, and I had at last found a context that validated my work.

On my return home I experimented with recycled Arches watercolor paper on silk noile stretched over a frame, and this was the result. The title is my own compilation: suku means to make paper, and shi means paper.