A Word About Oriental Brush Art...

Background

Shodo was introduced to Japan from China in the 5th century AD. And, as in China it also became considered to be a skill necessary to be attained by the cultured classes. It is still introduced to all grade school age children in Japan, China and Korea.

The influence and interest in shodo, along with its cousins sumie (ink drawing), tougei (ceramics), ikebana (flower arrangement) and to a lesser degree sado (art of Tea) has gradually but steadily increased in the West. Indeed, shodo has been embraced. Notably, Matisse and Picasso both declared its influence in their work. Picasso is said to have admitted that if he were to have started art with the knowledge of sho he would likely have been a calligraphy artist rather than a painter. It has influenced Western industrial art in advertisements; one frequently finds the use of Oriental calligraphy-like free form lettering and by brush effect in lieu of the mundane font lettering. And indeed Western modern art has influenced Japanese sho in the form now regarded as zen’ei sho – avant garde which began to appear in Japan approximately 30 years ago as an influence from Western art. It is truly one of the few successful hybridisations of Western and Eastern culture.

Expression

The thickness and absorptive quality of paper, the concentration and hue of ink along with the choice of brush, contribute to produce an infinite variety of expressiosn. The word shodo (stretched ‘o’ at the end) means 'way of writing.' In contrast to the often-neat uniformity prescribed by Western pen calligraphy and design philosophy, the diffused ink, dry brush strokes, and inkblots are an expression of naturalness rather than fault. Neither is it particularly necessary to know the meaning of the word or character to appreciate the work. In fact one may go as far as to say the word which is the subject and meaning is subordinated, nay becomes almost irrelevant against the visual/sensory experience of appreciation.

So with calligraphy, the execution is every much, if not more a part of the object as the finished work itself. One's personality or degree of equilibrium is perceived and revealed. In execution one can experience that one is freed from the slips, jumps and fettering of conscious thought. Thereby brush calligraphy developed along the Zen tradition into a discipline of focused relaxedness through spiritual and physical unity--the elusive shin shin toitsu (unity of mind and body). An important element of this is the notion of ippatsu shobu most readily translated as "one shot, win or lose". To this end the other most important discipline is mastering seidoichi, the unity of calm and action...