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Trees, Small Fires and Japanese Joints

New work based on original research, part funded by a grant from the Anglo Daiwa Foundation, to visit Japan to study Modern Japanese Sculpture. This represents an extension of this research within my artistic practice, which was to explore notions of asymmetry through the depiction of trees which are popular subjects in Japanese art; these trees are usually twisted and gnarled. In Japan this is seen as beautiful and indicative of the beauty and transience of life. In Western art such depictions symbolise the sinister. A series of drawings resulted investigating these depictions and depictions of burning and using wood; some based upon the famous screen by Kano Eitoku (1543 – 1590), Cypress Trees, now in the Tokyo National Museum, some from other Japanese prints, some from observation, and others from comic books and a guide to Japanese carpentry. These resulted in a solo exhibition called Trees, Small Fires and Japanese Joints held at the Anglo Japanese Foundation in London which included: three new digital prints, produced at the Slade Press, two new works: paper on canvas and 15 new drawings. One of the drawings was acquired by the Anglo Daiwa foundation and the research is providing a resource for further drawings. I also delivered a lecture at the Anglo Daiwa Foundation, outlining my drawing practice, the research that had produced this body of work and described my research into Japanese modern sculpture. I am currently working on an exhibition with the Henry Moore Institute to bring a small number of very significant sculptures to the UK for the first time.