NYAB Event - Masako Inkyo "Illu­mi­na­tion"

Masako Inkyo "Illu­mi­na­tion"

Onishi Gallery

This event has ended.

Onishi Gallery presents Illu­mi­na­tion, the fourth solo show of acclaimed cal­lig­ra­phy artist Masako Inkyo. Expres­sions of the tra­di­tional art of shodo (Japan­ese cal­lig­ra­phy), the pieces in this exhi­bi­tion rep­re­sent pas­sages from famous works of clas­sic Japan­ese lit­er­a­ture, includ­ing Yuki­guni by Yasunari Kawa­bata and Hyakunin Isshu. They cel­e­brate the fes­tive and tran­quil natures of the win­ter sea­son through images of still win­ter night skies, snow-covered land­scapes, and illu­mi­nated fir trees, which embody both tra­di­tional Japan­ese forms and Inkyo’s cre­ative intu­ition.

Shodo is an art form cre­ated by brush paint­ing char­coal ink onto paper, wood plaques, and fab­ric. Tra­di­tion­ally, shodo demands adher­ence to rigid rules of dimen­sion, pro­por­tion, stroke order, brush angles, and pres­sure, which leave lit­tle room for the artist’s per­sonal expres­sion. In order to accom­mo­date this, var­i­ous con­tem­po­rary styles of shodo have devel­oped over time. The art­work dis­played in this exhi­bi­tion includes sam­ples from both tra­di­tional and con­tem­po­rary styles.

When express­ing her indi­vid­ual style, Inkyo is most inspired by nature, not nec­es­sar­ily by objects and images but rather by feel­ings and moods. The themes of peace­ful­ness and har­mony often serve as the basis of her cre­ations, if not also the back­drop of the scenes. The mate­ri­als that Inkyo uses fur­ther empha­size these themes while bridg­ing tra­di­tional and con­tem­po­rary cre­ative forms. Illus­trated on scroll paper, Inkyo’s art­work uses a tra­di­tional Japan­ese mate­r­ial that sig­ni­fies the open­ness of nature through its lack of fram­ing. The gra­da­tions, spac­ing, and rhythm of the images fur­ther illu­mi­nate this theme.

Masako Inkyo began Japan­ese cal­lig­ra­phy train­ing at the age of three. She received her degree at the Japan­ese Cal­lig­ra­phy Depart­ment at Yasuda Uni­ver­sity, and is a mem­ber of the three largest shodo pro­fes­sional asso­ci­a­tions in Japan. In all three, Inkyo holds the high­est rank based on the work she has sub­mit­ted. She has also received many awards, includ­ing first prizes in both shodo and pen cal­lig­ra­phy in national com­pe­ti­tions spon­sored by the Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion. She has been a shodo instruc­tor at Japan Soci­ety New York for over 10 years, and con­tin­ues to teach there today.

Media

• Calligraphy

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