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Read the writing on
the soul
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| Photo by Jennifer Kettler Japanese calligrapher Tokou unrolls one of her artworks, which reads, "Only One Life." "I always hold my breath when I paint," she says. |
Her gold-dipped brush first touched the
rice paper mounted in the temple of the dragon. Tradition.
The paper, black as the deep sea, was a piece of art in itself,
made in the old style by a master craftsman of a dying trade.
Power. A majestic government had built the temple to commemorate
the immortal presence of a nation’s ancestors. Pride.
She drew in a deep breath. She always held her breath when
she painted: It helped create the long, free lines she was
known for.
Life. She closed her eyes, her body becoming a bright, seething
mass of scales and coils. “I am the dragon,” her
soul whispered, and she knew the meaning of history, strength
and vitality. Then, powerful scaly wings unfurled from her
delicate shoulders, and she began to fly.
Calligrapher Tokou’s paintings weave in uncomplicated
lines: two, three, 10 total in one piece. Yet behind this
deceptive simplicity lie scores of practice, hundreds of hours
doing research and thousands of years of tradition.
A year ago, Stephens College faculty brought word of the artist’s
remarkable popularity all the way from her native Japan. This
September, Tokou is bringing her art to Columbia in an exclusive
exhibit that showcases her knack for transforming a practice
deeply rooted in custom into individual expression.
Although her work may appear simple to the American eye, there
is nothing hasty about Tokou’s art. A man once commissioned
her to paint the character for “aikido,” a martial
art. It seemed a foolproof assignment, but Tokou discovered
that each time she put a brush to paper, she found no inspiration.
After a few failed attempts, the artist decided the problem
lay in her ignorance about the topic. A couple of months and
many aikido classes later, Tokou finally completed the character.
Tokou, whose chosen name means “to go forward,”
works, as many Japanese calligraphers do, with the Chinese
writing system. She has gained acclaim for her modern take
on the traditional art by dissecting the standard characters
and reforming them according to a hard-won understanding of
the concepts behind them.
Lillian Sung, an art professor at Stephens College, says that
in recent years Chinese calligraphy has become a dynamic field,
thriving thanks to increased awareness in the West and in
part to commercialism. Tokou is not one of the crowd, Sung
says.
“What [other calligraphers] learn is from the old master;
they never try to make their own style,” Sung says.
“She tries to add new life to an old art form.”
Besides her own paintings, Tokou has been commissioned for
various artwork, including the 2000 adornment of a Buddhist
temple in Japan dedicated to the legend of the dragon. She
recollects mentally donning the spirit and trappings of the
scaly creature to get “in character” for the assignment.
Often sporting red tennis shoes and a polka-dotted smock,
the small woman readily tackles big concepts. The Chinese
zodiac, an astrological system of the symbols for 12 animals,
is particularly complex. Tokou just completed a 12-year project
on the zodiac, spending one year on each symbol, studying
the animals and their place in history.
After a year of planning her first U.S. exhibition, Tokou
has finally arrived in Columbia. About a year ago, a Stephens
College professor visited Japan on other business and met
the artist after hearing of her fame. Then, another Stephens
professor returned from Japan with high recommendations; the
faculty extended Tokou an invitation.
Eager to share her vision and work with more people, Tokou
quickly accepted though it meant paying many of her trip costs.
Most of what she makes is donated to charities anyway, Tokou
says, and she decided that the trip would be a good use of
the small profit she keeps.
The Columbia collection doesn’t include any Zodiac pieces;
instead, many of the 25-plus paintings focus on symbols such
as that of a mother and child or the hands of friendship.
With six large pieces lining the walls and a seventh streaming
down from the room’s ceiling, the exhibit features a
cluster of smaller paintings. This modest display is dotted
by delicate works of origami, an Eastern art of folding paper
to create three-dimensional shapes.
Whatever she paints, Tokou says it all takes her back to that
day more than 30 years ago when she discovered the interaction
between ink and paper.
“The first time I held a brush, I couldn’t believe
how fun it is,” Tokou says.
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