Phoenix

ArtistKAKINUMA Koji
Year2013
Material/ Techniqueblack ink made from burnt pine on drawing paper
Size/ DurationH750 × W1100cm
Copyright Notice© KAKINUMA Koji
Year of acquisition/ donation2015（作品購入年月日：2015/03/31）
DescriptionBorn in Tochigi, Japan in 1970. Lives and works in Tokyo.

Began studying under TESHIMA Yukei, regarded as one of the three great calligraphers of the Showa period, in 1986. Graduated from the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Tokyo Gakugei University, in 1993. Traveled to the US in 2006 to spend a year as a visiting scholar at Princeton University. Continually posing the questions “Is calligraphy art? Am I an artist?” Kakinuma has established his own unique style based on the techniques of traditional calligraphy and the spirit of the avant-garde. His practice is wide-ranging and includes creating the title graphics for the NHK historical drama series "Fu-rin-ka-zan (Wind/Forest/Fire/Mountain)" and the KITANO Takeshi-directed movie "Achilles and the Tortoise", and producing calligraphy in various styles, from traditional calligraphy to dynamic, large-scale works using enormous brushes, and his signature “tranceworks” in which he repeatedly writes the same word or expression.

Kakinuma’s work goes beyond the concept of socalled “calligraphy” and closes in on the very origins of human expression. It represents the results of his inquiry into the possibilities of contemporary calligraphy while honoring the history of calligraphy in Japan and around the world and the tradition of Japanese avant-garde calligraphy. Created for an audio equipment manufacturer, "ONE -BOSE Ver." takes as its subject the first non-zero natural number, one, and is a clear representation of Kakinuma’s great powers of expression. The Chinese character for “one” is one of the simplest characters to write but it is also an important character in terms of acquiring the three basic skills of calligraphy: the beginning, middle and end of a brushstroke. Rendered incisively on pure white paper using dark-shaded ink, the basic form of the character manifests the “space” (ma) that is a feature of Kakinuma's work through the clear contrast between white and black. "Phoenix", on the other hand, is a massive work that pushes the boundaries of calligraphic expression, its overwhelming presence seeming to subordinate the surrounding space to itself. The thick, heavy brush loaded with large amounts of ink, the giant sheet of paper that turned into sludge whenever the brush is moved, and the grappling with the form and meaning of the character for “phoenix.” Though it took less than ten minutes to complete, this work is underpinned by the long history of calligraphy, said to be thousands of years, as well as the many years Kakinuma has devoted to practicing classical "rinsho" (writing by observing a masterpiece or a classic).

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